Psychology Today - Does Pornography Cause Social Harm?

[theKed]

The Internet became a major force in everyday life in the late 1990s. Before then, porn was available in adult stores, through X-rated video rentals, and on some newsstands. But with the arrival of the Internet, porn availability exploded. It was just a click away 24-7 for free in tens of millions of homes and offices. In 1997, 16 percent of American adults used the Internet regularly. By 2005, the figure had quadrupled to 65 percent. The Internet has also made porn much more available to impressionable kids. How many kids, ages 10 to 17, have viewed Internet porn? According to a recent report in the journal Pediatrics, 42 percent.

If porn is a significant contributor to social harm, we would expect to see substantial increases in sexual irresponsibility, divorce, and rape since the late 1990s when the Internet suddenly made X-rated material much more available to those who might instigate sexual mayhem, overwhelmingly men.

Guess what. Since the arrival of Internet porn:

* Sexual irresponsibility has declined.
* Teen sex has declined.
* Divorce has declined.
* Rape has declined.

Why would social ills decline as porn becomes more widely available? No one knows. But the one thing porn really causes is masturbation. Internet porn keeps men at home one-handing it. As a result, they're not out in the world acting irresponsibly-or criminally.

I'm not arguing that porn is utterly harmless. Some men consume it so compulsively that it interferes with their lives. They need therapy. Some women become distraught when they discover that the men in their lives enjoy porn. They might benefit from couple therapy. And to the extent that porn is a sex educator, it teaches lovemaking all wrong. More about this in a future post.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-about-sex/200904/does-pornography-cause-social-harm

[libodem]

1. Now that's taking matters

Into your own hands. Society at large remains safe. Good article.

[Warren DeMontague]

2. "Some women become distraught when they discover that the men in their lives enjoy porn."

Which I think is the driving factor behind a lot of the 'angst' around it.

Important to any good relationship is clear and honest communication about expectations.

If, say, someone has drawn some line in the sand with their partner about naked pictures of women (or men) and then they keep discovering that the other person still looks at them, it's reasonable to figure that they may get bent out of shape, even to the point of endlessly ranting against it to strangers in incoherent non-sequiturs.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. And don't trivialize the "competition" some women may see...

when feelings of jealousy and/or inadequacy can make for a lot of angst.

Some of the comments were about the loss of control women have over us when we can satisfy ourselves without them. I'm not convinced, but just that some guys are talking about it is interesting.

[Warren DeMontague]

5. I've pondered that in other threads, actually (uh oh! "evo psych"!!!) that some of it may even be

hard-wired primate behavior suited to small hunter-gatherer bands, involving maintaining a lower level of general female sexual availability and as such a high general "value" on sex. This would explain why, often, it is women who engage in terrible forms of "slut-shaming"... starting in Middle School.

Of course, these behaviors are ill-suited for a global, media rich environment and go absolutely bugfuck haywire with a 7 billion person planet full of millions of people who insist on taking their clothes off and showing their bodies to others, oblivious to demands that they acquiesce to the demands of their erstwhile controllers.

[Bonobo]

9. I believe that also comes into play at times

when we see women who claim that feminism is the reason that they want strippers to be shamed into covering themselves.

Easy to don the mantle of self-righteousness but I suspect for some it is an issue of inadequacy.

Now that might hurt to hear and I can understand why it would sting some into retaliation. But that doesn't make it less true.

[Doctor_J]

22. this is probably offset by the ones who like everything about their relationship

except the sex.

[Warren DeMontague]

24. I'm not sure how it relates to the topic, but no doubt those people exist, too.

I don't know. To me, a vibrant, enthusiastic and healthy sex life is an important part of an adult relationship, but for some folks I guess it's just not important.

[opiate69]

23. Spikeboy95!!!

[TreasonousBastard]

3. Love the comments. They range from...

the author is a quack/fraud and should be hung by his thumbs to thank God for porn so we don't have to deal with women any more.

[nomorenomore08]

12. The Internet is certainly a useful tool for illuminating human nature in all its, um, "interesting"

forms...

[rrneck]

6. Pornography is fiction.

There's no stamping out people's imaginations.

[nolabels]

7. I had to fish all the way to bottom of the page to see this thread

Needs a good kick to the top....

Btw there really is a lot of interesting comments after the article in the link. Next someone should do an article on the disappearance of out-houses and why the convenience of plumbing and the modern bathroom has resulted in a lot less people being mauled by bears (there would be some parallel comparisons there )

[Major Nikon]

8. If you really want a hoot,

go listen to the Dworkin congressional testimony on the youtubes. She basically describes the proliferance of porn as the scurge of humanity with men getting all hyped up on porn like bath salts and then unleashing the penis of doom on women everywhere. Come to find out, the exact opposite happened. So much for the "theory".

[loli phabay]

10. lol. the penis of doom, cant believe nutjobs like this get any recognition at all

Sex in all its forms is healthy and fun, i see across a whole swathe of du remnants of the puritans. Who cares if i use porn or money changes hands for sex, or if i have multiple partners. Its nobodies business but mine.

[nomorenomore08]

13. And the worst part is these people don't seem to realize how self-defeating (and self-destructive)

their views ultimately are...

[Major Nikon]

20. Penis of Doom

[Eleanors38]

14. Not wishing to divert a thread, but hear much the same argument

In gun threads.

[Major Nikon]

15. Cause and effect

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

[Eleanors38]

19. I've always wondered on how porno images affect the

Slaughter in all those other countries. I rather suspect that in ours, a "porn" cause & effect model must be limited to "inner city" cultures since the violence is most concentrated there. But it is for the porn-centric social scientists to dance through that "mind field."

[loli phabay]

11. lol. i love my outhouse, put a screen door on it so i can have a view while i poop.

[opiate69]

16. Screen door? Fuck that .. I want a laser light show in mine!

[loli phabay]

18. lol mine is about two thousand feet up a mountain with a view to poop for.

[Warren DeMontague]

21. hope you bring a good lantern with you at night.

[galileoreloaded]

17. if it wasnt for porn and

alcohol, male suicides in 2013 would quadruple.

IMO