The point about the widespread nature of porn is a good one. If porn is so awful, why isn’t there a demonstrable correlation between its existence and women treated purely as sex objects. You can make a case that the indicators run to the opposite conclusion. Frex, in Japan, where violent porn is commonplace, rape and attacks on women are virtually unknown. In Saudi Arabia, where images of women’s bodies are completely censored, so much so that actual living women are in effect censored, rape is rare, and I’d argue that the nature of Islamic culture as practiced there and in some other Muslim nations, constitutes a societally sanctioned assault against women.
My suspicion is that the openness about sexuality that generally comes with acceptance of sexually explicit images for adults generally works to the benefit of those who oppose things like rape and assault. Frex, the 1950s, when sexual imagery was very hard to come by and a lot of women were dying from back alley abortions, “wife beating” if not taken to extremes was considered just a sign of poor character not a criminal offense, and women who got raped generally fond little relief in the legal system or the courts.
Given how lacking such men are in the ability to distinguish fantasy from reality, it seems to me that anything that prevents them from reproducing is a good thing, from the point of view of the evolution of the human species.
Still reading the thread, so maybe this has been discussed, but thought I’d make a quick comment: Someone already pointed out that there are all types of porn out there for all types of preferences. How much of your narrow vision of “sexy” is due to porn itself, and how much of your narrow vision is due to your personal, pre-existing narrow vision, discovered by you after watching a variety of porn and then finding out what you liked and focusing on it
As previously mentioned, there are all types of porn stars. How does porn narrow one’s choices? Perhaps you like “mainstream” xxx porn. Others don’t.
[Caveat for next point: I’m happily married; I may look at the menu, but I never buy.] By the way, when I was younger, there were girls I did not want to date because their beauty didn’t match my template, which was very precise. As I’ve grown older, my appreciation for women of all types of women has grown. I now think nearly every woman has something beautiful about her. And this in spite of the fact that I now have greater access to porn than I ever had (true for anyone given the state of the Internet, I’d imagine). Paradoxically, this appreciation comes about after marriage, where I am fully (and happily, I hasten to add) committed to just one woman. Perhaps it’s just an appreciation for the greeness of the grass on the other side of the fence…upon which I will never step.
Congratulations.
By the way, I do think that porn can get a nasty hold of people just like any addictive recreation, like, for example, alcohol. But just like alcohol, I also suspect that it can be used in moderation. The occasional hustler or the occasional visit to a strip joint is no concern. However, start going to the strip joint 2-3 days a week or spending time on internet sex sites instead of engaging in normal human interaction, and you might have a problem.
Susma Rio Sep: I like porn because 1.) I like looking at beautiful partially clad or naked women and 2.) it helps keep my fantasy life fresh.
even sven: The line between fantasy and reality may be pretty thick for you, but there are a lot of sick puppies in this world, and I think it is mighty thin for some of them.
and a lot of women were dying from back alley abortions, “wife beating” if not taken to extremes was considered just a sign of poor character not a criminal offense, and women who got raped generally fond little relief in the legal system or the courts.