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Originally Posted by Pedestrian
It demeans and objectifies women, which is highly unfortunate. It's a pastime that I wish society would overcome.
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Not entiiiirely correct. That's a rather sweeping statement, and while I would agree with you if a "Much porn demeans..." edit was made to that phrase, there is definitely porn out there that doesn't demean or objectify women. Gay porn being a pretty good example of that
. Even in heterosexual porn though:
Quote:
Originally Posted by duga
Yeah, exactly. If I start watching something and it starts to involve really aggressive slapping or choking, my mood is immediately killed. I really can't get into that ****. I like watching porn where it appears both sides are satisfied.
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I feel exactly the same way. In support of Pedestrian's post, it's often really difficult to find something that doesn't involve some sort of unnecessarily painful domination on behalf of the man, but porn will always play to the majority audience - it's only relatively recently become "accepted" that pretty much everyone watches porn, rather than just the guys who guffaw loudly in bars with groping the staff, so it's hardly surprising that the porn industry has had its sights aimed squarely on that demographic.
Does it have a negative effect? Porn in general, No. Especially if it is accepted that people watch porn and is no longer something that shy kids who don't really feel comfortable talking about personal stuff feel the need to hide (I probably lied about that in my youth more than any other single thing. By "youth" I mean pretty much up until I was 21).
The fact that the dominating aspect of porn is that of "Man abusing woman sexually and her making it sound like she's enjoying it" however is a problem, because I can't help but think that it isn't helping innocently ignorant young men get a very, very wrong view of what sex and relationships are meant to be like. Sure, most people should know and recognise the difference, but if you aint taught better, porn sure as hell aint gonna teach you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mighty Salami
Awww no, I don't mean the weird violent stuff: I am referring to when you talked about porn where both people seemed to be happy and enjoying the experience. If that's the case, watching it with your partner ought to be OK, surely, and shouldn't really be awkward or discomforting?
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Amusingly, the main reason I am ok talking about the fact that I watch porn and hell, even the fact that I have masturbated is because my gf was so open about it from the day I met her. She's still far more comfortable about it than I am. Neither of us particularly feel the need to watch porn together, but she has clearly stated that she is dragging me along to a lap-dancing/strip club at some point because I've never been to one.
My views are that sexuality is nothing to be ashamed of. We all have libido, we all have urges, and porn is an outlet for those urges. Does it need to change? A little bit, yes. If the "standard" form of porn was made one where everyone involved was realistically enjoying it, it might piss off the guffawing louts in the bars groping all the women nearby, but it would be a lot less negative and hell, probably more culturally acceptable. Sure, keep the choking stuff if you want it - there are plenty of masochistic people out there who would enjoy it, the sheer number of fetish videos out there is proof of that, but provided it is listed as a fetish, it won't be considered as normal behaviour by those who don't know better.
Oh, and the STI's, debacle: it's true that the industry has got a lot better at controlling venereal diseases, due to regular checks etc. etc, but due to the claims of a number of big producers that "noone watches porn with condoms" (something which from the "ignorance" perspective could probably do with a change),
They don't always catch them.