Throwback: Porn doesn’t educate, only titillates
A centrist examination of porn’s value
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a response to ‘Porn should not be condemned’, published in The Daily Cougar on Feb. 11, 2009. It’s now been nearly a decade since I wrote this piece as a very-young college freshman, and obviously many of my views and beliefs have matured or changed. It’s an interesting case study in how my values have evolved, and I think the overarching theme — be careful what you learn about sex from watching porn — is as valid today as it ever was.
Pornography gets a bad rap. Feminists have railed the explicit misogyny and degradation. They claim it has inherently existed in the industry for years. In recent memory, several books examining the prevailing cultural attitudes toward porn have surfaced. Pamela Paul’s Pornified or Elisabeth Eaves’s Bare, an examination of the world of exotic dancing from an insider’s perspective are two volumes worth noting.
Two parties are vying intellectually over pornography and its place in the civilized world — apologists who feel that porn services a legitimate social need and detractors who claim it is degrading, both to those who produce it and those who perform in it.
This isn’t a question of what is or isn’t allowed. For adults, the right to produce and watch pornography is protected, as it should be.
‘If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable,’ Chief Justice William Brennan wrote in the famous 1990 flag-burning case that hinged on the question of free speech.
So porn is pretty clearly not forbidden or illegal. But simply because the government doesn’t expressly prohibit something does not mean it is worthwhile or edifying.
Thousands of anecdotes from viewers — mostly men, in the case studies I read — have aided the case against pornography. Most of these men claim that watching porn has given them unrealistic expectations about sex and skewed their view of women.
The case for pornography usually revolves around its supposed value as an educational tool. Americans are curious about sex, the argument goes, and watching porn answers questions in a healthy and safe way. Countless studies have been performed on people who watch porn (often by researchers with very large axes to grind), and results have been largely inconclusive.
Here’s the thing: porn, by its very nature, is a poor educational tool. It is designed to titillate, not inform. After all, when children ask their parents about sex, parents don’t respond by acting it out (hopefully). Simply watching sexual acts is not the best way to learn about sex, or even an especially good way.
One lesson that can be inadvertently learned from watching pornography is that anybody is up for anything, anytime, anywhere. Pornography is essentially a parade of surgically-enhanced bodies rutting in and on a variety of locations, scenery and props.
Those who disagree with pornography often make the case that porn is degrading toward the women who perform in it, and that endorsing or consuming it is essentially an implicit endorsement of misogyny.
That case is probably overstated, but it’s my opinion that a lot of pornography is degrading in general*. It’s essentially sex by surrogacy, using a performance by a total stranger to stimulate arousal.
Editor’s note: There are definitely counter-examples. One of my favorites is Sssh.com, which is porn ‘by women, for women’ and doesn’t have even a hint of that skeevy, ‘someone’s being taken advantage of or abused’ feel I get from so much other porn.
Ultimately, any justification for pornography rings at least a little false. There is little about sex that can be learned from watching paid professionals, except perhaps how to fake excitement and arousal.
If sex is viewed simply as a collection of skill sets (if we thought of sex similarly to, say, the NFL, NBA or other pro sports leagues), watching and absorbing tricks and moves might be beneficial. But viewing sex as a sport undervalues the emotional and psychological aspects in play.
I would defend with my life the right to make and consume pornography. Yet at the same time, I would strongly caution anyone against trying to learn actionable, useful tips or sexual strategies from pornography.
Want to watch pornography? Go for it — I do (more than I’d like, frankly). But don’t be afraid to think critically about what you’re consuming, and how it impacts your outlook.
Originally published at thedailycougar.com on June 29, 2009.
