So, barring the slightly generalizing and sexist title, this is a thread to discuss, academically of course, porn, and everything about the porn industry in relation to society, to the individual, yada yada. Yes, I know it's completely sexist for females who watch porn to call it a male thing, but heck.
Right, so what do you guys think about porn? Is it immoral? Does morality even play a part in this debate? Is it good, bad, or just a thing? Healthy, not healthy? Art, not art?
Carry on, I'll just be by the side watching, *voyeur* and occasionally jumping in for some action.
Well, considering how you destroyed that other guy in his religion thread, what causes you, an atheist, to have any concept of true morality?
Lack of belief in god does not necessarily means lack of morality.
So, barring the slightly generalizing and sexist title, this is a thread to discuss, academically of course, porn, and everything about the porn industry in relation to society, to the individual, yada yada. Yes, I know it's completely sexist for females who watch porn to call it a male thing, but heck.
Right, so what do you guys think about porn? Is it immoral? Does morality even play a part in this debate? Is it good, bad, or just a thing? Healthy, not healthy? Art, not art?
Carry on, I'll just be by the side watching, *voyeur* and occasionally jumping in for some action.
Watching others getting it on is weird (but that was the way I knew sex at age of 13{a friend showed me the video he got from his elder bro's cell} and this thing creeps me that me I knew it way b4 I should have and same may happen to my kid brother) My point being this is making kids age(mentally) way ahead their actual age.
Meh... Most of it really don't do anything for me.
Is it immoral? Does morality even play a part in this debate?
Not really, I consider something immoral based on the unwanted harm it causes. In most cases the risks are taken willingly and knowingly. For those in the porn industry you do run a high risk of contracting certain STDs. For the watcher one could become addicted, no idea what the numbers are on that but I wouldn't imagine it to be too high compared to the number of people who watch the stuff.
Is it good, bad, or just a thing?
I regard it as just a thing.
Healthy, not healthy?
It can go both ways. It can be quite healthy to masturbate and can help give couples ideas for things to try or just get them in the mood. Again people can become addicted which would be an unhealthy use of it.
Art, not art?
I suppose some of it could be regarded as art, though I think most of it just seems to repeat itself which to me just seems lazy given the freedom the industry has to play around (no pun intended) with ideas that would otherwise not be allowed.
Ok, now for an actual response to this. I believe that viewing pornography at any age can be harmful to your sex life by giving you unrealistic images of what sex should be. It can also work to destroy your self-image by making you think that you are inadequate. It also destroys your image of what women should look like naked. If all you know at 14, 16, etc. is big boobed and round bootied porn stars, you're in for the shock of your life when you finally get around to doing it with the average American girl. And finally, it can destroy your relationships, not only with other people, but with your God. Unless your parents actually allow you to look at porn, you are going to be constantly hiding it from them. And at any age, you will feel some need to hide it from God, like Adam and Eve attempted to hide their nakedness from him. So, overall, porn is't the best thing in the world.
For many people, certainly. I'm simply not sure if this is justified. I mean, why would someone care about what another watches when at home? Why do we make such a fuss as soon as something contains genitals, but we're totally ok with people watching movies where zombies get butchered and gutted? You'd have to bring in better reasons against porn than just natural prudeness.
Is it good, bad, or just a thing?
It's just a thing. I don't consider it good, but there's also no reason why it should be bad per se. What is bad is the influence it can have on certain people, but I feel like a correct education should be enough for people to realize they shouldn't take it seriously (concerning actors for example).
Healthy, not healthy?
Masturbation can be considered healthy, but you need not watch porn necessarily for that. So really, the material itself has pretty much no influence.
Art, not art?
No art. Seriously, it's just calming our drives and there's only one important part in it, sex. The rest is cheap, ridiculous scenery so that they don't look all alike. Erotic photography, now this is art.
Concerning porn and society, isn't the main critique against it (apart from being a devils tool:P) that it creates a totally escapist image of how things turn in this world? It does influence most younger watchers, and I can definitely understand this critique, mainly because it's true. But as I said, I'm sure that educating people about it will help, making it totally tabu however is unrealistic in itself. Access to it is fairly easy, and when you've never been told about what it is exactly, you might get the wrong image. It's better if you've been told already that what is being shown doesn't reflect reality and simply is silly entertainment for adults (and a huge industry).
Well, considering how you destroyed that other guy in his religion thread, what causes you, an atheist, to have any concept of true morality?
Because I criticize him for deriving morality from a divine source and for claiming that morality can only exist with religion. I do not deny that morality is a concept we should not care about. So yeah, read properly before posting.
Ok, now for an actual response to this. I believe that viewing pornography at any age can be harmful to your sex life by giving you unrealistic images of what sex should be. It can also work to destroy your self-image by making you think that you are inadequate. It also destroys your image of what women should look like naked. If all you know at 14, 16, etc. is big boobed and round bootied porn stars, you're in for the shock of your life when you finally get around to doing it with the average American girl.
First and foremost, there is an inverse causal relationship between an increase in pornography and sex crimes. Thus, there is a-good- possibility that pornographic materials can act as a positive displacement activity for sexual aggression. An interesting study found that rapists were more likely than non-rapists in the prison population to having been punished for looking at pornography while a youngster. Hence, the non-rapists had seen more pornography, and seen it at an earlier age.
From this point of view, porn can be -in all likelihood- beneficial for society. However, it has to be regulated and needs safety standards. This is due to the fact that the pornographic industry, as it is now, is mostly controlled by shady individuals. The mob and many persons with extensive -violent- criminal records are -frequently- involved with pornography, so often times persons in the porn industry carry out -other- more serious and damaging to society illegal activities with a great deal of sophistication. Plus, there are several instances of the industry abusing its performers and not giving them a choice to leave.
The ethics of porn are generally in the eye of the beholder. Porn is neither inherently bad nor good. Pornography is made of various genres, some are terrible and nasty, others conform to high standards of ethics and aesthetics. Is all porn moral? No. For example, in my opinion the really sadistic and degrading porn is not exactly moral. I considered it unethical and plain ugly.
Also, the efforts to control pornography by various groups are -sadly- generally motivated, less by a concern for the welfare of women than by a moralistic fear of erotic expression. Arbitrarily saying that everything that depicts sex is "amoral" and "harmful" is absurd and frivolous. Frankly, the main concern should be the well being of the performers and persons who watch said product not some -alleged- prudish moral code.
Now on the question of porn being an art .. No, I don't think its an art. Porn is just too mainstream to be considered an art.
Conclusion: in my opinion porn is not perfect, actually its far from it. The industry has a lot of problems, nonetheless pornography can have positive effect on society. Said positive effect is enough to justify its existence.
Thank you for that @nichodemus. I guess for men it's not that bad, but what about the kids (14-ish and younger, maybe) that watch porn? It has been shown in studies (NOTE: This is coming from the book [i]Every Young Man's Battle[i/]) that youngsters who view porn are more likely to grow up with strange sexual fantasies and perversions, and unrealistic views of sex. Now I can understand older teens and adult men watching it, but to condone younger kids watching it will not pay off in the long run.
Now I can understand older teens and adult men watching it, but to condone younger kids watching it will not pay off in the long run.
I don't condone or advocate watching porn. Porn is just a thing, and if such research indicates youths are likely to grow up as such, it's up to the parents to decide for themselves how best to handle this. What I'm against, is prudes telling me and people that porn is immoral based on divine grounds.
Thank you for that @nichodemus. I guess for men it's not that bad, but what about the kids (14-ish and younger, maybe) that watch porn? It has been shown in studies (NOTE: This is coming from the book [i]Every Young Man's Battle[i/]) that youngsters who view porn are more likely to grow up with strange sexual fantasies and perversions, and unrealistic views of sex. Now I can understand older teens and adult men watching it, but to condone younger kids watching it will not pay off in the long run.
I looked the book up on Wikipedia.
"Every Young Man's Battle is a book written by Stephen Arterburn, Fred Stoeker and Mike Yorkey about topics such as premarital sex,[1] pornography, masturbation, desire, lust, and purity[2] from a Christian perspective for teenage boys."
That doesn't sound like a scientific book to me, that sounds like an old man who thinks way to much about young boy's sex. Can you bring out a non-biased scientific study on this?
Porn is good, I like porn. Porn is effing hilarious (terrible acting, naturally), and generally a fun pastime.
Why would it be immoral? American sensibilities make sex an ugly and disdainful thing, and society oftentimes has fun coming down on individuals who engage in 'erverse' or 'wrong' sexual habits, such as porn, but also including other such things as homosexuality, S&M, and various other things. When society things of it, they have a mental freakout, and sweeps it under the carpet.
Sensibilities from days gone by.
No, it is not immoral, not by my moral compass, but everyone's moral compass is different. Everyone's ethics and values are different. Some people will find it perfectly okay, and some people lose their **** minds. It's the same way with everything.
Gah. I should have known you were gonna get in here and start flaming, 314. Though the book was written by Christians, for Christians, it does still present scientific basis for some of its points. I tried to find my copy so I could quote it ver batim, but I seem to have misplaced it.
Oh, yeah. I wasn't saying that porn is immoral or anything like that. I am very open minded when it comes to societal issues like this. I just know from research (that I have heard about) and personal experience that it isn't that great from a psychological standpoint.
So far as I'm concerned an object has no real morality attached to it, therefore porn can be neither moral or immoral, it how the viewer acts that is important.
As others have pointed out, masturbation has proven health benefits, and since pornography aids in this way there is a plus side, however addiction is also a possibility and addiction is never good, regardless of extraneous circumstances.
As for its nature as an art form- porn is typically created by companies driven with the singular goal to pack a given amount of time with as much sex as possible, this results in lewd, crude, and frankly bad movies that have no given plot, depth, or reliability, They're useless as anything other masturbation material. However sex in itself can be an art form, nude photography is a growing practice and can be incredibly beautiful while maintaining it's erotic nature. Sex in mainstream media can also follow this structure happening with plot and depth rather than quick inserts of dialogue followed by sex.
So to conclude, pornography has no inherent morality or immorality, it's nature is subject upon the viewer and I suppose user. While it can enforce healthy habits, it can also lead to addiction which may lead to an overall degradation of the individual. And lastly while pornography rarely appears artistic, the potential is there.
