I am sure that there can be good porn, or at the very least that porn can be educational as well as titillating, but among the several sex addicts I have seen as a coach or therapist, porn is more addictive than most chemicals, and it's free. And if you have ever seen much porn, it's hard to believe any of it can be good.
My greater concern, however, is for the young men who are growing up watching online porn and learning porn-style sex as "normal sex." Porn-style sex is all about the orgasm, especially the man's, but none of it is about emotional intimacy and caring.
It's hard enough to learn about healthy, intimate sexuality as a young man, throwing porn into the mix is a recipe for disaster. Not only will these young men be ignorant of how female sexuality actually works, but they will have been conditioned to quick and easy pay-off of masturbating to porn, which might make the whole process of seduction, foreplay, and mutually pleasurable sexual sharing seem like too much work (I have heard this from sex addicts).
This article was posted in November of 2012 at the Psych Central blog, The Impact of Sex Addiction by Dr. Linda Hatch.
Is there good porn?
Take a look at this statement from an article called The Impact of Internet Pornography on Adolescents: A Review of the Research.
“Increased access to the Internet by adolescents has created unprecedented opportunities for sexual education, learning and growth.”
(Owens, E. W., Behun, R. J., Manning, J.D. and Reid, R.C. (2012). Journal of Sexual Addiction and Compulsiviy, 19, 99-122)Writers and researchers seem to feel obligated to acknowledge the potential benefits of pornography when in fact their own research as well as the vast majority of everyone else’s shows no such thing.
The above authors go on to document the damaging effects of internet pornography on adolescents. For example that youth who view porn develop unrealistic sexual values and beliefs, and that viewing violent porn is related to higher levels of sexually aggressive behavior. Also that viewing porn leads to body image problems with girls and performance fears in boys and so on.
Certainly research on the negative effects of porn is important. But there is always an opposing view out there that porn serves the useful functions of freeing men and women, reducing shame around sex, aiding couples, and educating the young.
The reporting of scientific evidence often seems to be an attempt to escape the good vs. bad debate about porn so as to avoid being seen as moralistic. Just the facts. And indeed that is what science does.
But proving that porn can be a harmful, addictive drug fails to address a larger issue that I think is given less attention.
The two sides of the porn debate
The conservative/religious anti-porn movement is pitted against pro-porn ideology. Supporters of porn can range from freedom of speech advocates to those who argue that porn is liberating and any opposition to porn is a moralistic attempt to impose rigid, outdated norms on everyone.
The pro-porn folks (or at least the porn industry) appear to be winning. The amount of porn consumed is increasing and the imagery is becoming more extreme in terms of erotic depictions of dominance/submission, degradation and violence against women.
Although women are starting to watch internet porn in increasing numbers, the majority of viewers are men (about 70%) and porn videos are typically depictions of male dominance.
The porn narrative
Professor Robert Jensen of the Austin School of Journalism says that porn typically tells a story. That story, he says, is that “all women are there for the sexual pleasure of men.”
Further, Jensen argues that porn conveys the message that there are no “good” girls, that all women are “whores,” and that women like pain. And he believes that part of the porn ideology is that when women play out these roles they will “become fully realized as sexual beings.”
Other writers have tabulated the frequency of the various sex acts in porn depicting a couple, the relative frequency of receiving oral sex, of male vs. female orgasm etc. and has found that it favors men.
Professor Jensen maintains that this pattern in the stories and the increasing extremity of porn, particularly so-called “gonzo” porn infiltrates the mainstream of visual media. This is referred to as the “pornifying of pop culture.”
The human values question
When the two sides face off in the porn debate it often comes down to values. So the scientists can prove that porn has any number of bad effects like addiction, erectile dysfunction, and divorce, but that will not convince someone whose sexuality has become fused with sexual objectification. They will feel attacked at a deep level.
The larger question that I feel is neglected is not whether your porn viewing is consistent with my values, but whether your porn viewing is consistent with your own values.
As Professor Jensen points out, porn as a whole is built around ideas like gender inequality and the comodification of a class of people (women). Subordinating and dominating any segment of humanity is inconsistent with most people’s value systems.
Along with the scientific data we need to remind ourselves as clinicians and researchers to bring the discussion back around to the values that we and our clients share, like the capacity for empathy and a sense of our common humanity.
~ Linda Hatch is a psychologist and certified sex addiction therapist specializing in the treatment of sex addicts and the partners and families of sex addicts. Linda also blogs on her own website at Sexaddictionscounseling.com
No comments:
Post a Comment