The Pros and Cons of Porn

Sarah Gibson

Sarah Gibson is the brains and attitude behind the playful adult toy website sexgear . She is also our official ‘sexpert’.

The Great Porn Debate is a live show where porn megastar, Ron Jeremy, and Pastor Craig Gross come together to discuss their polar views on the merits of pornography. Pastor Gross thinks that porn is degrading, detrimental and addictive. Ron does not. We put forth some of the viewpoints for you to make your own conclusion.

CONS:

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Unreal Expectations:

The taut, tanned and toned, sexually uninhibited men and women in pornographic films are not necessarily  representative of reality. Therefore, some evidence suggests that, sustained viewing of pornographic material can lead people to have unrealistic expectations of how their sexual partners should look and behave.  In fact, a recent study revealed that, six out of 10 women believe pornography affects how men expect them to look and how sexually adventurous they expect them to be. Perhaps the issue is that pornography, rather than showing too much, actually shows too little. Because it only shows the sexual side of the actors (and let’s not forget that they ARE actors) it is easy to forget that there are other dimensions to a person. 

Desensitizes People:

Because a lot of pornographic imagery is, let’s say, not for the faint-hearted, the viewer may become desensitized to abnormal sexual practices. Because your average couples sex lives are not, on a day-to-day basis, as hard-core as those of porn stars, some men (and some women) can have troubles getting aroused. A study by Malamuth et al suggests that pornography can have a desensitizing effect on some and invoke a viewer to desire more sexually experimental acts.

Addiction

Globally, of those treated for sex addiction, the most common issue seems to be a specific Internet pornography addiction.  The advent of the Internet has enabled anonymous, always-on, and affordable access to pornography. And because pornography (like alcohol, food, drugs) is a stimulus that results in pleasurable feelings, for some, this can result in a desire to go back for more and more. Theorists of this addictive viewpoint suggest that the pervasive delivery of porn on the internet, aiding addiction, is similar to the notion that if you sent a bottle of vodka to every home in America every week for a year, you would see a rise in the number of alcoholics.

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Can Improve your attitude towards sex

On the other side of the coin, some suggest, that rather than causing the viewer to have a less respectful attitude towards sex, pornography can in fact help inhibited persons to loosen up. For the less inhibited, pornographic material can be deemed as simply a reference.  A tool to use that opens you up to experimentation and gives you inspiration for new ideas.

You both just love it

You and your partner have a mutual openness towards sex and your sex lives with each other, and to you, pornography is simply part of your sex toy kit. For some couples, viewing pornographic material together is simply a way to live out their sexual fantasies with each other.  Because, unless one partner in the couple shows more interest in watching the images on screen than their real life version, there is no issue. Pornography can be a satisfying aid to pleasure and needn’t become the source of sexual satisfaction. 

It’s not a big deal.

There is also the suggestion that pornography serves to satisfy a normal human need of voyeurism. In fact, it’s natural to be turned on by the vision of the naked human form. So for many viewers, pornography can be watched, without attachment or desensitization, simply as an aid to masturbation.  Just as many people are able to have a single drink after a long day to relax, many men, and some women, are able to have a quick masturbation session with pornography to release tension. But, similarly, for some people, one drink is not enough, and one 10 minute pornographic clip is not enough. The extent to which pornography features in one’s life is, like most of life’s indulgences, simply person-dependent.

It’s an interesting debate, so feel free to post your own comments below.

Take Care, Sarah Gibson at www.sexgear.co.nz

P.S. If there’s anything about sex that you’d like to ask, or a discussion you’d like to start just email me info@sg.co.nz and I’ll do my best to write about it for you here at getfrank.co.nz

 
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  • The Who!? says
    Porn is fantasy. People who can't tell the difference between porn and reality are the same people who can't tell the difference between TV and real life. And that's just sad.
  • endless says
    No one is debating the fact that porn isn't reality, but the male brain, after a while, can no longer separate the two.

    Studies done in Britain recently show that men addicted to porn have negative attitudes towards women, one man even said he could no longer socialize with female friends - not fcuk buddies, or potential dates, f-r-i-e-n-d-s - because he would be thinking about what they would be like in the sack, or how he wanted to preform a certain act on them. Another man got into hard core porn where mean slept with dead bodies...he then had to act out his fantasies, and murdered a prostitute.

    If those aren't pointers to the detrimental effect of porn on a guys brain, I don't know what is.
  • Ian says
    I agree with "The Who", as for "endless nights", where did you get that information: "A male brain can no longer separate the two", I don't believe it. I think any addiction can be bad for you, but watching porn does not mean that you will become addicted, nor does having one drink in an evening mean you will become an alcoholic.
  • Waples says
    Ian - just like any other addiction the hook of them all is the release of endorphins into your system when you experience or watch something that brings happiness or excitement and the more you get used to getting this high from the endorphins the harder it is to enjoy it so you seek out a bigger high or pleasure. it isn't to hard to see how a guy or girl can become addicted to porn or even turn from just getting a high out of viewing rougher or more hardcore acts to getting a bigger high off doing them yourself.
  • Richard says
    If you want to watch porn it's up to you and it's probably better for you than a drink and smoke at the pub anyway. But you will always find someone that wants to impose their views on you no matter the subject with the famous cry "wont someone think of the children"
  • I'm sorry, anyone that says there's a con to porn is sexually repressed. As for saying that it could lead to murdering a prostitute?? Well Hitler was a vegetarian, does that mean that vegetarianism leads to genocide??? Come on!
  • Phoenix says
    Oh dear. I watched Comando the other day. Must...resist...the temptation to destroy my neighbourhood. Aaaargh.
  • Have you ever tried to pick up a girl in a bar and she's told you she's just not your type.



    "I'm not inflatable"
    • JasonMantis says
      Harsh! But no, can't say that ever happened to me...
    • DeeDee says
      taut, tanned and toned umm hello Ron Jeremy is none of those...lol...

      I'd have to agree that some men would definitely expect women to perform as is in the porn films, but I would also suggest that women who also watch porn would expect their men to be just as adventurous too and really people we watch porn movies, for the sexual side of it, not for the riveting dialogue..buy a drama if you want to see different dimensions instead of different positions comes down to choice, rather amusing that viewing porn over the net adds to it O please....but to say that men cannot separate the two is ridiculous speak...if someone can't tell the difference then they are just stupid...or a nutter!

      Porn IMO definitely improves one's attitude to sex and can provide new, fun and exciting ways of expressing love if couples mutually agree, then why not, it is whether you choose to act on them all comes down to choice...those theorists sound overly boring and just speculate crap they sound like dear I say it that they could do with some action.....

      BTW I think Evan Stone is the man :-P
    • friends180 says
      I enjoyed watching porn when I was 18 and 19, but now it has become a problem. I have a slight addiction to it. For example I would rather watch a porn movie on a Friday night than go out with friends. I would rather masturbate over a really hot girl on a porn film than have sex with girl friends who are not as good looking as the ladies in the porn films.

      I also have started spending quite a lot of money on adult content, escorts and webcam chat sites.

      Overall I wish I had never laid eyes on porn, but my brain keeps thinking about watching it whenever it can.

      I would also say that more bad comes out of watching porn than good, especially when your a guy like me, because you will quickly find out that women are nothing like the girls in the porn films, so you will quickly realise it is a total fantasy world. That most of you will never become part of. My advice is to avoid porn get a nice girl friend and find other hobbies, unless you have a really good way of splitting reality from fantasy.

      Hope that helped, and I know I sound bias, but porn has done me more bad than good. Ok I enjoy watching the super hot girls and that, but I will never get to have sex with a girl as good looking as a model, so now I am just depressed and frustrated.

      Any replies are welcome. I have been as honest and as fair as I can be.

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