Matilda Posted June 22, 2004 Posted June 22, 2004 I'm really not sure where the best place is to post this, but I guess I'll start here. I've been thinking a bit about the incredibly easy availability of internet porn, and what effect it will have on society. I'm wondering not only what effect it will have on society as a whole, but what effect it will have on individuals. I guess I'm specifically thinking of kids/teens who are growing up with having internet porn always available. Will they grow up desensitized, or with unrealistic sexual expectations? I found the following article that speaks to some of the things I wonder about. http://www.worldandi.com/subscribers/searchdetail.asp?num=23779 It is somewhat frightening to me. I do believe that the sexual freedom that has come about in the last half century or so is a good thing, but can sexual freedom go too far? I've also been thinking about men, and their physical expectations of women. It seems that all we see in the magazines are perfect, young women; no cellulite, perfectly porportioned. And I think this leads some men to have undrealistic expectations. Of course, that is not how most women look. I wonder how, and if, it was different in the 1800's, when women wore clothes that covered them. Were men just happy to see a naked woman, no matter what she looked like, once they finally saw one that wasn't completely covered. How could they really make comparisons? And no, I definitely don't want to start wearing clothes that cover me from head to toe. And I definitely don't want to go back to a more sexually oppressive time. But, I do wonder if we are getting too extreme. I just wondered what others thought about this.
dyermaker Posted June 22, 2004 Posted June 22, 2004 I think I disagree completely. During discussions of porn, oftentimes some women don't give men any credit at all. It was Moi who brought up the brilliant point--it's all about looks. It's not the men who are holding them to pornstar/model standards, it's the women who hold themselves to that standard. You give yourself way too much credit if you think the only thing that keeps your man at home (or away) is your looks. You give your man not enough credit if you don't trust him to seperate sex from other things, which includes the very asexual aspects of porn (ab)use.
HokeyReligions Posted June 22, 2004 Posted June 22, 2004 dyer, I don't think she was talking about relationships, or 'what keeps a man at home...' Matilda, I agree. I think it does and has desensitized society and altered everyone's expectations - of themselves and others. It's not just internet porn though -- look at the commercials we see on prime-time TV. The advertisements in teen magazines, etc. It's everywhere. The availability and sexual presentation of visible skin and form is, I believe, a major contributor to the mores and values of our society. Yesteryear's pornography is now only a main-stream precursor to today's hard-core pornography and the abundance thereof. Sex is a big deal though to most people. We are not so far removed from the animals in the wild as we would like to believe ourselves to be. I can certainly see it in the way younger people post here, and talk and what they talk about. What my generation considered slutty and shameful is now considered normal and even healthy behavior. Maybe for this generation it is. They can talk about details more openly with each other, and not just blush and snicker and allude to sexual things. Condoms and masturbation were 100% taboo subjects when I was in school. Now, its not a big deal at all. To even say the word pornography got you a lecture (a visit to the principle if you uttered that word in school) about the evils of porn and why it is not mentioned in polite society. Hmm, maybe that is the difference now -- there is no more 'polite society'.
gobain Posted June 22, 2004 Posted June 22, 2004 Has anyone ever heard of "Porn Creep"? It's a syndrome in which people, mainly men, can no longer function sexually in normal, real-girl situations. And it can progress to where even watching porn with a woman cannot help. An interesting arguement for how porn can desensitize people, I think.
Author Matilda Posted June 23, 2004 Author Posted June 23, 2004 Dyermaker, Hokey is right, I wasn't asking about porn on a personal level. I don't care if my husband looks at porn, as long as it doesn't disrupt our family, or our the relationship between the 2 of us. Although, porn disrupting relationships is part of what I'm wondering about. We've all read so many posts on here about internet porn disrupting marriages, that is part of what got me to wondering about it's effect on all of us. It's just so available and easy. And I think for some people it's so much easier than having a real relationship, that they don't. Hokey, Yeah, I just really wonder where all this is going. I'm all for sexual freedom, but I do wonder how much is too much? gobain, I've not heard of "Porn Creep", I will have to do a search on it.
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