# Do you believe in demons and is pornography sinful? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 22, 2025, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184 "2025-07-22T16:27:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/123 "2025-07-25T04:17:20Z")
I will disagree. When my partner was attempting to masturbate while I was awake in the other room, it was a deal breaker. Its a complete rejection, to me. Ymmv. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/124 "2025-07-25T04:50:42Z")
Umbro is a sportswear company: [Old Commercial: Umbro - Pumpin’ Balls - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROMIOGSWzVg) ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/125 "2025-07-25T14:04:32Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > As literature, I would rate “Shades of Grey” _better_ than a lot of popular books. Perhaps even better than _most_ popular books (which, are, as an observed fact, read more by women than by men now.) I used to think romance was uniquely full of badly written books until I read a few modern thrillers and other genres and nope, there’s just a lot of schlock out there. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/126 "2025-07-25T16:31:30Z")
I heard this as a podcast and hearing her read it was fun, but still may be of interest. > **[Erotic writing is becoming more explicit](https://www.economist.com/culture/2025/02/27/erotic-writing-is-becoming-more-explicit)** > > Gardening metaphors are out. Other things are very much in > [@](#): > > Start with the nipples. The lover does in “Mistress and Mother”, a steamy romantic novel from the 1990s. Though, since it was written three decades ago, they are not always called “nipples”. Instead, the author also discreetly describes them as “little buds”. > > Other erotica from this era has a similarly hearty, horticultural air: in another novel, the paramour enjoys his lover’s “rosebuds”; in a third, he moves lower to her enfolding “petals”. In other books there is swelling, blooming and, of course, “seed”. … > > … Hardy perennials are out. Words like “hard” are in—as too are words including “cock”, “fuck” and “straddle”. And people are buying it. Sales of erotica are booming: thanks to pre-orders, “Onyx Storm” had already been on Amazon’s bestseller list for 19 weeks by the time it was published in January. After release, it shifted almost 3m copies in a week. It sold faster than any novel in America in the past 20 years. > > There is now a vast variety of erotica available, including cosy erotica (knitwear is torn off), Austen erotica ([Mr Darcy](https://www.economist.com/the-world-ahead/2024/11/19/jane-austen-still-universally-acknowledged-at-250) has assets even more impressive than £10,000 a year) and fairy erotica. There is even erotica featuring—readers may wish to brace themselves—physicists. These titles contain such explicit lines as, “Your dissertation on liquid crystals’ static distortions in biaxial nematics was brilliant, Elsie.” … > > … It is easy to smirk, but writing about sex is tricky—as a trawl through the back catalogue of the Bad Sex in Fiction Awards shows. The now-defunct prize, which ended during the pandemic, was set up in 1993 by Britain’s _Literary Review_ to “highlight and gently discourage redundant, poorly written or unnecessarily pornographic descriptions of sex in fiction”. Given that the contenders in its final years included such phrases as she “offer[ed] her moist parts to my triumphant phallus” and her vagina was “slowly chugging my organ as a boa constrictor swallows its prey”, perhaps the discouragement was too gentle. … Anyway. If schlock sells then schlock it shall be. But I doubt schlong will ever be the featured thing to call it! 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/127 "2025-07-25T16:51:54Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I used to think romance was uniquely full of badly written books until I read a few modern thrillers and other genres and nope, there’s just a lot of schlock out there. So is bad romance fiction cock schlock? ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/128 "2025-07-25T17:15:53Z")
My mother-in-law is a romance writer, and wished that Harlequin would let her use the word “cock”. I think they started a more explicit line at some point where she got to use it. ---
**Author:** ![Hakushon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hakushon/32/5503_2.png) [@Hakushon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakushon)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/129 "2025-07-26T05:48:16Z")
@a_dudes_thought_s - I am addressing you directly because this may be an urgent health matter - I’m speaking of your _physical_ health. I had a sister who started having interactions with a “demon.” Long story short: she had brain lesions that were causing hallucinations. While her “demon” didn’t kill her, her brain lesions did. I strongly urge you to get an MRI, sooner rather than later - if you wait, your condition might progress (as my sister’s did) to the point when you may not retain enough lucidity to seek medical treatment. If it turns out you _don’t_ have brain lesions - then I apologize in advance for having inconvenienced you to get a medical test you didn’t need. However, it’s better to be safe than sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/130 "2025-07-26T06:19:04Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I used to think romance was uniquely full of badly written books until I read a few modern thrillers and other genres and nope, there’s just a lot of schlock out there. [Sturgeon’s law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%2527s_law) applies to erotica like it applies to everything else. > **Sturgeon’s law** (or **Sturgeon’s revelation** ) is an [adage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adage) stating “ninety percent of everything is crap”. It was coined by [Theodore Sturgeon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Sturgeon), an American [science fiction author](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction_author) and critic, and was inspired by his observation that, while [science fiction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction) was often derided for its low quality by critics, most work in other fields was low-quality too, and so science fiction was no different. > [@DSeid](#): > > … It is easy to smirk, but writing about sex is tricky—as a trawl through the back catalogue of the Bad Sex in Fiction Awards shows. The now-defunct prize, which ended during the pandemic, was set up in 1993 by Britain’s _Literary Review_ to “highlight and gently discourage redundant, poorly written or unnecessarily pornographic descriptions of sex in fiction”. Given that the contenders in its final years included such phrases as she “offer[ed] her moist parts to my triumphant phallus” and her vagina was “slowly chugging my organ as a boa constrictor swallows its prey”, perhaps the discouragement was too gentle. … It could be worse. There’s a bunch of older erotica that was written in a style I personally nicknamed “exclamation point porn”. Because every sentence in the sex scenes! And sometimes! Every! Word! Would end in an exclamation point! It is! Very! Distracting! ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/131 "2025-07-26T08:50:11Z")
The worst thing about romance crappola is its formeliac style. I say worse, I don’t mind it in Mystery books. Even shitty ones. As example…I love “The Cat who…” books. There’s more rooms to go in than the “boudoir” in the Castle. My sister is a successful soft porn Romance novelist. I hate everyone of her books. Well, at least the ones I gagged through. They sell like hot cakes. People, women primarily, love them. I do not get it. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/132 "2025-07-26T12:06:29Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > (Arousal was measured by, um, blood flow to the penis/clit, iirc.) I’ve read about instrumental measurement of “arousal”, and what passes for arousal in women seems to me to miss what most of us consider the point of arousal. In men the instrumentation goes around the penis and detects swelling, presumably in preparation for penetration, which seems to me a plausible proxy for arousal. But in women, the instrumentation detects lubrication, also in preparation for penetration, though as an evolutionary response to help prevent tearing and damage to the vagina. This doesn’t necessarily mean the woman wants penetration, only that she predicts somehow that it may happen. This could include the anticipation of forcible penetration as “arousal”, which seems to me to go way outside the meaning of “arousal” as we often use it. It makes sense that the body would have an evolved response like this to help prevent injury, but it doesn’t make sense (to me) to declare this a proxy for “arousal”. I don’t believe in sin or demons, and don’t believe consuming (or creating) pornography is immoral per se. I do suspect the industry has some problematic tendencies and should be better regulated legally. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/133 "2025-07-26T12:19:12Z")
But this study didn’t measure lubrication. It measured erection of the clitoris. 🤷‍♀️ I agree that there are issues with parts of the porn industry, serious enough that it is evil to consume certain types of porn. (Child porn springs to mind.) Anyway, to answer the OP’s question, i don’t think porn is inherently evil, but i think certain uses of porn can be unhealthy, and that might have been a problem for the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/134 "2025-07-26T12:27:06Z")
The great majority of the porn I consume is either written, CGI, or drawn, which does at least neatly avoid any issue with the actors being exploited or abused. No actors means no actors mistreated. At any rate, if porn is “sinful” then so is having sexual thoughts at all; that’s just providing your own porn with your imagination. The idea that finding sexy things appealing is immoral leads nowhere but to self hatred and misanthropy; something historically demonstrated by puritanical movements of all sorts. They are very good at turning followers into people who hate everyone, including themselves. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/135 "2025-07-26T14:18:09Z")
Very well-said there @Der_Trihs ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/136 "2025-07-26T16:11:02Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The great majority of the porn I consume is either written, CGI, or drawn, which does at least neatly avoid any issue with the actors being exploited or abused. No actors means no actors mistreated. And yet it can still be super illegal if the drawings look like they are underage. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/137 "2025-07-26T16:30:19Z")
I think that varies by jurisdiction. And also, it’s getting pretty off-topic. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/138 "2025-07-26T16:52:44Z")
Well it relates to the idea of “sin” … I think many of us would agree with their illegality despite the lack of a victim. Maybe some thought of risk of acting on it otherwise. But some just because of the “wrongness” … for those who think that, related to “sin” in some way? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/139 "2025-07-27T01:05:15Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > > > actors means no actors mistreated. > > And yet it can still be super illegal if the drawings look like they are underage. Which is illogical, and likely destructive to society since it forbids people inclined that way a legal, harmless outlet. Yes, yes, I know the argument that allowing porn of something “bad” will encourage people to act it out in real life yet despite all the times it’s been claimed reality never _actually_ works out like that. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/140 "2025-07-27T04:11:38Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > never _actually_ Boy that’s a strong claim. Never? I don’t know if there is going to be good data on that either way. I wouldn’t know even how to search for it. Remember “real life” victimization includes being the consumer demand for product that abuses children to create. Would you exempt the current ultra realistic AI imagery in the same manner? A hyper realistic interactive toy? Is there a point that still has no definable victim having (yet?) occurred that would cross your line to saying that no definable victim is required; it should be disallowed as simply wrong? To me this is a circumstance where the burden of proof is to prove the complete safety of allowing it, not on proving its danger. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/141 "2025-07-27T06:16:09Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > To me this is a circumstance where the burden of proof is to prove the complete safety of allowing it, not on proving its danger. That’s just a disingenuous demand for a ban, since “complete safety” is _impossible_. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184/142 "2025-07-27T06:19:24Z")
If a pedophile is arrested for say, interacting with child online. The investigation leads to his collection of child porn. He has a stash of hand drawn children in sexually explicit poses or situations. Do you think they’re gonna excuse it because it may have kept him from “acting” on his perversion? What about photos? He didn’t take them, the kids are unknown. Yeah, no he will be charged with every item, as a crime. He may very well get less sentence, because, well, dumb reasons. But each item in his collection is a crime against a child. Even the manual artwork. Very few artistic works are painted of no person, if a person is in the art. Even anime, manga and comic book type art. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-demons-and-is-pornography-sinful/1021184.md?page=8)