Caitlain's Corner

Sex Education

Pornography

Pornography is a word derived from the Latin Porne (prostitute) and graphos (depicting) and literally means a depiction of prostitutes or prostitution. The term is now used generically to describe any material that is sexually explicit and intended primarily for the purpose of sexual arousal.

Erotica: Generally differs from porn in the degree of "hard core" portrayal of the material, and typically focuses more on the emotional and relationship aspects of the interaction as opposed to the physical acts of sex. There are those who do not believe there is a difference, however. The old saying, "One man's pornography is another's erotica" is very demonstrative of the problem delineating the two concepts.

Obscene material or "obscenity": A term typically applied to material that has "no serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value" and that is patently offensive to the "community standards" in a given community. This test (called the "Miller Test" from the U.S. Supreme Court decision that established it) allows individual communities to decide what is offensive in their own area. This has some serious problems in that a vocal minority in a community may declare skimpy swimwear or the Venus de Milo statue obscene, thereby removing it from the public view. Further, something that may be perfectly legal in one place may be patently illegal in another.

Is the famous Kama Sutra sex manual pornographic; is it obscene, or is it erotica? You'd get different answers from just about everyone you ask.

The use of pornography

Pornography in one form or another has been around since the invention of the writing utensil. History is replete with examples of drawings and art depicting people engaged in a variety of sexual activities. It is only a recent invention that pornography has been deemed by some to be "harmful" and needs to be censored. This generally coincides with religious decrees that sexual activity of one sort or another is "sinful" or needs to be castigated in some form or another. Not only has porn been around forever, but it has had some major positive impacts on our A collection of pornographic material on a desk

A collection of pornographic material on a desk

society. Porn is a $20 billion a year industry, so clearly someone is using it. And, porn was the primary driver behind such technological advances as the videotape and the DVD.

Contrary to popular belief, males do not represent the vast majority of porn consumers. Some 33% of regular porn users are female according to the porn industry. (1) Only recently have behavioral psychologists discovered that there is little, if any difference in male and female reactions to sexually explicit material. Many people have believed that the males, as "visual" creatures were the only users of porn to any significant degree. Today, it is very common to find females who will admit to being porn connoisseurs.

Like many other things in life, pornography can be a positive or a negative influence on an individual, or the relationships in which he/she is involved. It is important to recognize both sides of the equation when it comes to evaluating the degree to which your use of it impacts your view of sexuality. Note that, in the United States, it is technically illegal for anyone under 18 to buy, view or use porn for any purpose.

Can porn be "good" or have positive effects?

Definitely. Pornography can be a useful tool for providing ideas for you and a partner to use in the bedroom (or out of the bedroom). It can certainly provide examples of new positions or techniques to try. Porn can also be a useful aphrodisiac if you and your partner watch it together. Many people have a voyeuristic fetish and like to watch others have sex. Watching porn allows you and your partner to indulge in that fetish as a part of your sexual play.

Obviously, porn serves as masturbation material – that is largely its intended purpose, in fact. Masturbation is a way of working off tension (sexual and otherwise), and doing so allows you to satisfy your sexual urges in the privacy of your own room. This is also helpful in the context of a relationship where one partner has a higher sex drive than the other one does, for example. If the partner the higher sex drive can use porn as a sexual outlet, it helps prevent the buildup of sexual frustration that might otherwise lead to the destruction of a relationship.

Porn can be used as an educational tool if taken in the right context. For example, many people have a fear of anything to do with anal sex. You can watch people doing anal – vigorous anal in fact – in porn movies and see that it is possible to have anal sex enjoyably. Pornography does reflect how common and natural the sex act is. Though the acts performed in specific movies may be outlandish or bizarre, the totality of what you see in porn reflects that sex is extremely common. It can even be educational at the most basic core of sexual anatomy by showing the disparity in sizes, shapes, colors, and configurations of male and female anatomy.

Porn allows people to enjoy the possibilities of sexuality – possibilities that might be frightening to them in real life. It allows them to escape the stereotypes and social restrictions placed on sexuality in many people's lives. For example, a guy may have some wonder about how it might be to have sex with another guy. Porn will provide some insight into this in a way nothing else can.

Many believe the availability of pornography leads to fewer rapes and sexual assaults because it allows people to work off sexual tension and not allow it to build up to the point where a potential rapist seeks another form of release. (2) This is taken from examples in Europe where the incidence of rapes declined after pornography was made legal in countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands, etc.

Can porn be harmful, dangerous or have negative consequences?

On an individual level, pornography can certainly be harmful. As with just about anything else, it can be addictive. If your use of porn gets to the point where you cannot perform basic life functions, interact with society, or form and manage interpersonal relationships (especially with a partner), then it may be detrimental. It can damage relationships in that one partner might become oriented towards porn and prefer to use it to satisfy sexual urges and curiosity rather than doing so with his/her partner. This creates an unhealthy relationship that, left unchecked, can permanently damage the relationship.

There has been a tremendous amount of debate over long periods of time about the impact of porn on society as a whole. Many believe porn is harmful in that it degrades women, contributes to the breakup of marriages, and contributes to violence and rapes against women. Despite this, numerous studies have found no significant evidence that porn is harmful to society (if it is even possible to prove that). As suggested above, it can be harmful on an individual basis, but then, so can just about anything else in our lives. The key is to understand that what you see in porn is fantasy, and not necessarily reflective of reality; learn to treat it that way, and respect what it can and cannot do.

Porn can also be harmful to teenagers and young adults if not used correctly. Many people learn about sex by watching porn, and this can be problematic. Since teens are no longer getting real sex education in the classroom or at home, one of the few places there is to learn is pornography. It shows technique, it shows how sex comes about, and it shows how it ends, right? Of course, much of it is unrealistic, but many don't know that because of the lack of suitable sexuality education. So, in the absence of real education in class, they have little choice but to believe that what they see depicted in a porn video is the way sex is supposed to be. This is dangerous. As an example, porn does not show the potential for disease transmission as the result of a sex act, and, with the exception of mainstream gay porn, rarely shows the use of condoms or other protective devices. Most porn shows women instantly ready for penetrative intercourse at the drop of a hat when it almost invariably requires considerable foreplay in real life. Males may feel as though they're inadequate or their girl is inadequate because it "doesn't work like it did in the porn video."

Porn can also be damaging to some peoples' self esteem. Almost all females in porn have tight bodies and huge chests, and just about every female who watches porn is going to compare themselves to the actresses they see in the videos. Those who cannot understand that everybody is unique and sexy in their own way may feel that their body doesn't compare well to the actresses and feel as though they are not sexy or not worthy of sexual attention. Males, on the other hand, will see penises in the videos that are huge and may feel as though theirs does not measure up. They may feel as though they will have some problems pleasing females because of this. It is important to remember, however, that there will *always* be someone prettier than you, more well-endowed than you, etc. You cannot and should not live your life comparing yourself to others. Doing so only invites frustration and results in needless worry about issues over which you have little control. Learn to use what you have to your benefit and that of your partner(s).

Finally, some would argue that pornography and other mainstreaming of sexuality is harmful in and of itself. No one has been able to articulate how allowing sexuality itself to be "mainstreamed" is harmful, however. The typical anti-porn viewpoints tend to come from moralists, the majority of which see anything having to do with sex as forbidden territory. The frank, open discussion and debate about something that is so incredibly intertwined in just being human cannot be harmful – it can only serve to allow us to better understand ourselves. Pornography is, and should be one aspect of that discussion.

Basically stated, if porn is a "problem" then there are usually underlying issues and porn only manifests it.

Some other common question about porn:

Why do some people believe that porn is degrading or objectifies women?

People have a hard time believing that women can want or enjoy the sex acts depicted in most pornography. Why would a woman let a guy ejaculate on her face, they ask?

At its very core, every sex act, even those between two people deeply in love, sexually objectifies the other on some scale. At the height of climax, you are not thinking to yourself "I hope he's enjoying this" – you're thinking about how your body is feeling and what you need to do with the other person's body to achieve orgasm. That *is* objectification – removing the human element from it, and making the other person an "object" to satisfy your sexual needs. So, to suggest that porn objectifies women, while possibly accurate, paints that fact as if it were outside the reality of sexual intercourse to begin with.

As far as it being degrading, you cannot be degraded without your permission (in the absence of force or coercion, which would be a criminal act). Obviously, the women themselves do not see it as degrading; otherwise they wouldn't participate in it. There has never been a documented case of someone being forced to participate in pornography. And, just because someone finds sex to be degrading does not automatically make it degrading to everyone else. Those who find porn degrading have the option of not watching or using it, of course.

Is using porn "cheating?"

This is an issue that will have to be resolved between you and your partner. For most people, porn is simple, harmless fantasy and probably wouldn't be considered cheating. For others, the situation may be different, however. Obviously, if it is used to avoid sexual activity with a partner, then there are issues that need to be addressed. The best thing to do is discuss the issue with your partner and find out how he/she feels about it. Of course, you could also share it with your partner and use it to enhance your sex life as well.

Do the actors that make porn enjoy what they do?

Well, you can pretty much assume that the males do, since it is usually patently obvious at the conclusion of each scene that he has had an orgasm. Many people assume that women are "victimized" or "degraded" by participating in porn. The female actors in porn movies are just as willing to be there as their male counterparts. It is almost impossible to fake the enjoyment of sex when a camera is in your face.

Why is there always the "money shot" in a porn movie?

This is a very common question about porn movies. This came about as the result of the need to prove that the male participant in a porn video was actually having an orgasm and not faking it. There's no way to tell for sure if a woman is having a true orgasm (and if there was, we'd see it each and every time as well). With a male, however, you always have visible proof that he came, and you see this as the "money shot" or the ejaculation in most porn movies.

Why do guys almost always come on a girl's face?

There are differing opinions about why this is so popular. Those who argue that porn is degrading point to it as the ultimate degradation of the woman – allowing the guy to ejaculate all over her face. This, of course, presupposes that no woman would want a guy to do that in real life. Many don't, of course. However, just as with any other act seen in typical porn movies, different people prefer different acts, and some women don't have a problem with a "facial" as it is known in industry parlance. The prevailing belief about why this is so common is that it is the ultimate show that the female enjoyed having sex with the guy, to the point of allowing him to ejaculate on her face.

Summary

As with anything, pornography can be either beneficial or harmful to you and your relationship (if you happen to be in one). If you're going to use porn for any reason, be sure that you understand that it is a fantasy depiction of sex, and the stuff you see in the videos may not necessarily be reflective of what happens in real life. Use it to enhance your sex life with your partner if he/she is amenable to it.

(1) Consumer Technographics 2001 North America Benchmark Study. Forrester Research

(2) "Pornography, Erotica, and Behavior: More Questions than Answers" Fisher and Barak, Intl Journal of Law and Psychiatry, V.14, 1991

Readers have left 2 comments.

1. Untitled
Guest User, Unregistered

You're contradicting yourself with this statement by using the paraphrase after it: "Contrary to popular belief, males do not represent the vast majority of porn consumers. Some 33% of regular porn users are female according to the porn industry."

If 66% isn't a 'vast majority, what is?

Posted 2007-10-09 10:05:21

2. Untitled
Caitlain, Unregistered

"Vast majority," in my eyes, is the same as "overwhelming" majority. So, something on the order of 75% or more would be "vast" in my opinion. A 2/3 majority really isn't a vast majority.

Posted 2007-10-09 13:41:38