So a little is OK but a lot is bad. Sounds like the moral verdict on chocolate, doesn’t it?

Speaking of “chocolate”…. to “the three orifaces,” the Incas were very big on the back door if their pottery and other surviving artwork is any indication. Maybe it was a state-encouraged method of birth control?

Men have enjoyed pornography for centuries; there’s porno up on the walls of bathhouses and bedrooms in Pompeii. And who’s to say the ladies didn’t enjoy it back in ancient times, too? As for our society, seems to me that women consuming porno is really just the endgame, or at least the next iteration, of nearly a century of female sexual liberation taking place across Western society. So I don’t think that we can call pornography any thing new; it’s as ancient a form of art as exists, and conservatives should understand that.

Now, I can see conservatives having caution about the erosion of social institutions — that is the essense of conservatism. Reasonable conservatism assesses actual evidence, though, instead of scare stories. So the evidence shows that despite the prevalence of pornography, people continue to be faithfully married, continue to have kids, and continue to behave normally in public despite what we presume to be all the masturbation and non-procreative sex inspired by the porno. So after nearly ninety years women behaving in an overtly sexual fashion can be called “mostly harmless.”

One thing I would add — sex in general, and porno in particular, is a whole lot more fun when it’s a little bit naughty, something that “nice people” don’t do (but which you do because it’s fun and feels too good not to). So we all have social conservatives to thank for keeping the whole subject a little bit taboo. But at the same time we should keep in mind that this is really not a big deal.

Aside from a couple of gratuitous slaps at conservatives, I generally agree. I personally don’t view pornography as a problem at all. I also think it an outmoded concept that porno as an “art form” or simply an adjunct to partner sex undermines anything. I wrote a piece a while back on why conservatives could support gay marriage and pointed out the changing definition of marriage over the years and how society’s mores change with them. What was once taboo - gay sex - is now viewed as “normal” by the vast majority. As far as I can tell, this hasn’t toppled the republic or created a “moral crisis” that so enamors those on the religious right.

Bottom line; nothing more personal or private than sex. And while the making of porno may exploit and harm some men and women, it is still an individual choice made by performers to participate in the industry. Sensible restrictions relating to age as well as some self-regulating guidelines in the industry regarding violent imagery and the like are about as far as I would go in limiting what anyone should be able to view in the privacy of their own home.

ed.

“Believing this was something of an oddity, I researched the subject”

Did you research in the same way the rest of the male population does when their girlfriend breaks up with them? Or was this more clinical?

Interesting article, Rick. Although I’m always dubious of surveys or polls that are sexual in nature. I firmly believe there is a tendency in these types of topics to exaggerate or fantasize through the act of answering “naughty”. Your point is still made, but I’m not sure we can ever get a real accurate measure of these kinds of statistics.

Personally, it doesn’t bother me at all, except when certain, very specific lines are crossed, regarding, specifically, consent or age.

It’s hard to know what to say about this; for me, what’s most obvious is that the people making it are likely more damaged, psychologically and spiritually, than the married couple who simply use it to spice things up between them in the privacy of their own bedroom.

Personally, little of it sits comfortably with me, although I admit to finding erotic drawings less uncomfortable than films with live actors. Maybe that’s TMI, I’m just saying: while making porn is probably a lifestyle some enjoy, I think it’s pretty obvious most don’t in the long run and that it’s destructive to them. There should be some guilt associated with that if nothing else.