8 years ago
7
Critics say that porn degrades women, dulls sexual pleasure, and ruins authentic relationships – are they right?
I don’t remember how old I was when I had my first encounter with pornography, but I must have been around 10 – the experience is entwined with the sound of the AOL dial-up tone. It was something relatively benign – a close-up photo of some genitalia – and I wasn’t much shocked. I grew up in a family not given to sugarcoating the realities of the human condition and I’d known what to expect.
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Having worked in the industry (web content, not content creation... /stare), I can say a few things.
Degrades women: Eye of the beholder. It's how the viewer interprets the content. The stars are stars for a reason, people want to see them. Only "big" male stars have gimmicks, like a freak show, the rest are generally unknowns. Touchy subject though as some content does, and the rest doesn't, but most of the content if not all legal content is done with the consent of the actors.
Dulls sexual pleasure: No comment, but what I will say is that over exposure (through having to work with the medium) makes you very... meh when it comes to content. I remember a moment when one of the guys that had to go through the content to categorize it called me over to look at a certain scene. 9/10 people would have either gagged on the spot or run out of the room, my reaction... meh.
Ruins authentic relationships: Been in a relationship for almost 20 years now. Even though I'm now in a totally different industry, the two times that I worked in the adult industry were no different to the times that I didn't, other than the fact that I had to be really careful about telling friends about where I worked.. you know they'd want content / passwords etc, and considering they were under age at that point in time, I was having no part in that discussion so I was selective in who I let know.
But I'm one opinion, others will have different views and I understand and support that they might not agree with what I have said. Just saying the way that I've seen / done it in the past in an effort to help others see a different side to an industry that most people demonize. Every industry/group has a few bad apples that spoil the bunch, but all in all, the actors and staff behind said sites / content are pretty down to earth, and overall nice people.
I think overall porn IS very degrading towards women. It doesn't matter that the acts are consensual. Most porn is all about male pleasure, and you have to specifically seek out videos that show women experiencing an authentic orgasm. Porn is extremely one-sided. Even lesbian porn is primarily made for male pleasure and lacks authenticity. I don't necessarily think that will affect personal relationships in real life, but I do worry that over generations the kind of porn that is common now will reinforce negative sexual attitudes towards women, and cause a shift in what is considered "normal" sexual behavior.
Very true, with the industry constantly trying to one-up each other, it's just getting really strange sometimes. 50 years from now, what we think is strange will probably be the norm. Apt name btw.
I found this TED talk that relates to this question (The Great Porn Experiment) I thought it was interesting to compare males who have been watching porn for many years to those who have stopped and look at how their brain activity changes.
This was great. I like how he put his references up so that we could find them ourselves.
Let's qualify the critics first. Understand their backgrounds, age, sex, agenda.
I am not going to say it degrades women. These women have a choice on what they will and won't do. I do believe it quickens a normal orgasm as most males don't masturbate to porn to learn to last longer. I also believe if you watch to much of it (or are exposed early enough) it will set you up for failure. My 11 year old was caught watching porn. I explained to him, that it is just a movie. I compared it to action movies with giant explosions and car chases. I told him that if he kept watching it, it would ruin what he would expect from any lady he might meet in the future. I told him that it is just a movie (like any other) and that movies aren't realistic. I explained that if he kept watching that, he would expect things from a real relationship that should just stay in the movies.