Poll: Pornography, good? bad? something in between?

[Evil Smurf]

Statistically there's less rape in states where porn is legal, compared to the states where it's not.

captcha: words of wisdom

wait.....porn is illegal places? We should be so lucky!

 

[Laser Priest]

Plenty of people enjoy it, that's enough to justify it's existence to me.

Personally, I think it could use some more dragons, though.

Captcha: "Window Dressing"

That seems appropriate...

 

[Rule Britannia]

I could live without porn, no problem. Though, if I were told "don't watch porn for the next three months" I think I would cave, although, if it was said "you can't watch porn for the next three months" (as though it was impossible for me to do so) I would have no problem dealing with it.

It's a billion dollar industry, I don't pay for it and I never will but some people do.

So...

It's a good, great, thing but in moderation. Watching porn for 2-3 hours a day is messed up IMO.

 

[Guffe]

Not a problem, Watch it very very seldom but if someone wants to watch more feel free, not aproblem for me. Plus it's work for pretty many people, but when you start getting addicted it's bad, like with everything else.

 

[Nexxis]

Personally, I don't watch it, so I don't care, but I don't have anything against friends that do watch it.

 

[Colour Scientist]

My wife and I watch porn together, picked up quite a few "hey, let's try THAT" tricks and it's been a fun and healthy part of our sex life when we use it.

Same here, except replace wife with boyfriend.

I think that anyone in a serious committed relationship has no need for it either.

Hey, just because you don't like it doesn't mean you have to ruin it for the rest of us!

OP: Porn is good but the industry tends to churn out the same kind of stuff, I've explained my view before but basically there needs to be more variety. I veer towards amateur stuff rather than some guy jackhammering a girl's vaj/mouth/ass and finishing on her face while she pretends to have like 8 orgasms because it's really not fun at all.

I would love to see a woman actually have an orgasm for once but women are more openly watching it now so maybe that will change soon enough.

 

[Zetatrain]

That is true.
I think simulated child-porn (Like maybe CGI or something) might be helpful. I mean, it would never compare to the same thing, but I imagine a-lot of people would be able to live with that for fear of being caught and stigmatized by their community.

Not in the case of child pornography, because in the case of pedophiles, you don't want to encourages their sexual thoughts, you want to suppress them altogether or change them to acceptable fantasies.

Therapy for child abusers generally involves gradually shifting their fantasies away from childre, and to acceptable fantasies. If what you claimed was correct, such an approach would never be used for therapy.

Reasoning the other way around, watching child porn keeps pedophilic desires alive and active, and thus increases the risk of committing sex crimes.

The difference here is that unlike most other sexual orientations and preferences, pedophilia can't be practised consensually without doing real harm, by definition. So channeling the desires to prevent crimes out of sexual frustration won't help.


Also, on a side note, the mods take a rather dim view of advocating child porn to any degree. Someone has gotten banned off R&P for saying drawn child porn should be legal for exactly the same reason you just mentioned. Just a bit fair warning.

Well if there is an outlet to relieve sexual frustration then why wouldn't be helpful. I mean, hasn't it been proven that places where porn is legal have lower sex related crimes? If so then wouldn't the same apply to child porn (CGI or hand drawn of course)? Now granted you're right that this doesn't discourage pedophilic desires and as long as those desires exist there is the chance they will go for the real thing. However, is one's sexual orientation something that can actually be changed?

The way I see it, sexual desires build up with or without porn, so making it illegal seems to do more harm than good, IMO.

 

[TwiZtah]

To be viewed for enjoyment purposes only its fine. But it is in NO way a realistic portrayal of sex, plus on a whole gender stereotyping viewpoint it is VERY flawed.

Actually, I think porn objectifies men more. You see the whole woman, how she writhes in pleasure (Usual sex, not strange shit), while you only see a cock going in and out of her slip-n-slide. That is objectification if anything.

 

[MetalMagpie]

There are stats that suggest there may be a link between an increase in distribution of porn and a decrease in sexual assaults on women. (Specifically, areas of the USA which have seen the most rapid expansion of internet access over the last two decades have also seen the sharpest decline in the number of rapes.)

Not conclusive by any stretch of the imagination, but still interesting. Maybe if perverts can "get their fill" using internet videos, then they don't feel the need to go outside and prey on real women?

As a woman, I approve of pretty much anything (within reason) that lessens the chance of me getting attacked!

 

[lacktheknack]

Even separating my views from my religion, I'm still very suspicious of activities with actual addictive qualities.

Wait till you hear about this new thing all the kids seem to be trying these days: they're called videogames!

...which don't have addictive qualities beyond that of clubbing, movies or reading a really damn good book.

Besides, I can break away from video games easily. I know this because I've done it for months at a time, and then didn't fall back on gaming for a while after I got home from wherever I was that had no games.

From what I can tell from people I know who watch porn, they do so compulsively, even if they don't feel a particular urge to do so. Don't tell me I'm wrong, tell my desperate friend that he's wrong.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

Sex is beautiful, or at least I consider it so, especially when it is drawn. Eroticism is not good or bad.

...which don't have addictive qualities beyond that of clubbing, movies or reading a really damn good book.

You'd be surprised, see those cases Korea? (and more recently Taiwan). Just a matter of the person involved really, anything can be addictive and perhaps even dangerously so.

 

[Wintermoot]

it,s a good thing if people want to get naked,shag and get filmed doing that it,s their own choice

 

[Bestival]

I watch absolute heaps of porn. Sometimes because I'm horny and wish to touch myself, sometimes because it's fucking hilarious. I don't see it as necessarily good or evil, it simply is.

 

[theSteamSupported]

My wife and I watch porn together, picked up quite a few "hey, let's try THAT" tricks and it's been a fun and healthy part of our sex life when we use it.

Same here, except replace wife with boyfriend.

I think that anyone in a serious committed relationship has no need for it either.

Hey, just because you don't like it doesn't mean you have to ruin it for the rest of us!

OP: Porn is good but the industry tends to churn out the same kind of stuff, I've explained my view before but basically there needs to be more variety. I veer towards amateur stuff rather than some guy jackhammering a girl's vaj/mouth/ass and finishing on her face while she pretends to have like 8 orgasms because it's really not fun at all.

I would love to see a woman actually have an orgasm for once but women are more openly watching it now so maybe that will change soon enough.

You heard the lady!

While I don't think porn is bad (in fact I think it has a stimulating effect rather than encouraging effect), I don't like how mainstream porn portrays sex and sexuality. Treating women like dumpsters and men like machines is just sickening in my eyes. How about people genuinely enjoying the stuff, rather? How about some Fornication-Under-Consent-of-the-King-ing realism and honesty?

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

I never got the point of it. I just don't find sex appealing when someone else is having it. But is it something bad? Nah, i don't think so.

 

[SpectacularWebHead]

I don't know if it's beneficial, though it could be argued that it prevents sexual violence. (Maybe?) since it can be simulated legally and such. (That's totally made up, though I'd imagine it would. Not that I'm qualified to make a statement like that. )

Japans obsession with hentai and extremely low birth rate backs that up.

OP: Umm, I dunno, I pretty much agree with Lucem712. Porn is also something for anyone, theres always something for someone of any gender, race, sexuality etc. Theres more for straight guys, but still...

 

[Infernai]

Yeah, a man can't fix the plumbing that fast.

I watch it for the plot.

Ah yes, who could forget the EMOTIONAL TURMOIL, SUPERB character development and CLASSIC cinema moments that only Pornography can give us. It made me rethink my entire life you know and taught me morals and life lessons that still hold true to me to this day.
And who can forget hentai? Which has given us such MEMORABLE characters and EXCELLENT archtypes to play with: Such as the EVER LOVABLE..."Generic Tentacle Monster #3129" or the INSTANTLY CLASSIC "Psychotic Rapist guy who for some reason the protagonist doesn't just call the cops on" Archtype.
Yes, Clearly Porn is Full to the Brim of THOUGHT PROVOKING and INTELLIGENT plots!

[Infernai was later charged with the sudden destruction of every Sarcasm Detector within the Escapist Forum and is set to face Court next Tuesday]

Ok, more seriously i guess my opinion is more akin to this:

I think it is beneficial when it helps people become comfortable with the idea of sexuality, and also become more comfortable with and aware of their own sexuality, get a better idea of what they might like, what they might not like, etc.

I think pornography is harmful when people base their ideas of sexuality off of it and develop unrealistic ideas about sex, the body, relationships, etc, and when it degrades the importance if intimacy in a relationship. Porno is a form of entertainment, it is not a guidebook that will teach you better ways to have sex, how real people have sex, and it ignores the potential consequences of sex.

So, as with all things, there is a good side and a bad side, and it all depends on your personal perspective. I think this is one of the main reasons that we should have age restrictions on porn, and also why sex ed should be taught in school. If you have the context to view it properly, then it's great and harmless fun, if you don't have that maturity and knowledge then it can be damaging.

 

[kurupt87]

[a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1723811/"]Shame[/a] is a film about a guy who has a porn and sex addiction, who struggles with intimacy because of it. It's a good film, the lead is played by Michael Fassbender.

 

[kurupt87]

Even separating my views from my religion, I'm still very suspicious of activities with actual addictive qualities.

Wait till you hear about this new thing all the kids seem to be trying these days: they're called videogames!

...which don't have addictive qualities beyond that of clubbing, movies or reading a really damn good book.

Besides, I can break away from video games easily. I know this because I've done it for months at a time, and then didn't fall back on gaming for a while after I got home from wherever I was that had no games.

From what I can tell from people I know who watch porn, they do so compulsively, even if they don't feel a particular urge to do so. Don't tell me I'm wrong, tell my desperate friend that he's wrong.

Anything that is fun and makes you happy is addictive. It's the having fun and being happy that are addictive though, not the activity itself.

What a person may or may not become addicted to depends entirely on what they enjoy doing and, when/if they realise they're addicted, how much willpower to stop that they have.

Edit: The difference between an addiction and normal behaviour is that an addiction comes with a heavy cost whereas normal behaviour does not. Humans are addicted to socialising; it doesn't really come with a cost though so, to the vast majority, it isn't an addiction.

 

[Relish in Chaos]

I use it as a masturbatory aid and outlet for my sexual fantasies: nothing more, nothing less. I don?t use it as a template to base my perceptions of sex on, since I?m not an idiot (most of them don?t even use condoms). However, you really have to look for the good stuff amidst all the fake orgasms and clichéd plots that bog down mainstream porn. I think there should be more female-friendly porn too, since people seem to forget that females are, like, half of the world?s population and, therefore, should be catered for too.

But porn is vast, with a lot of variety and multiple genres, and which one I venture into depends on my mood at the time. That?s why I think it?s naïve to say that all porn is bad. I mean, what is bad? Stuff like shotacon is pretty disgusting to me, but I?m not sure if I?d say it?s immoral or something like that, and you honestly could argue that it keeps paedophiles from actually going out and molesting little boys. But then you have the artistic types of porn, those that focus on features other than the sexual attractiveness of the male/female: engaging story, emotion, juxtaposition, etc.

And people moaning about the objectification of women?yeah, of course. Porn?s designed for you to get off without thinking about this random girl?s background. You?re not in a relationship with this stranger; she?s there to help you reach orgasm and that?s it.