your views on modern day porn consumption

[Minimalist]

I'm too old to have an opinion but I do find most porn to be terribly boring.  There was a XXX version of Alice in Wonderland some years back that they actually put some effort into.  It was a musical.  There was one of Cinderella, too.

The Alice in Wonderland one seems a little creepy since Alice is supposed to be a child.

She wasn't a child.  I could tell the difference!

[Catholic_Lady]

The Alice in Wonderland one seems a little creepy since Alice is supposed to be a child.

She wasn't a child.  I could tell the difference!

Oh I'm sure they used an 18+ person to play the role, but traditionally and in the original Alice in Wonderland story, Alice is a kid.

[Minimalist]

Her singing voice was pretty weak, though.

[RobertE]

I've been curious for a while now to know how ya'll felt about today's consumption and unlimited availability of free porn. It is very different now from how it used to be 20 years ago, where one would *usually* have to go into an adult book/video store and show an ID proving that they are an adult in order to get access to porn. Now a days, any 9 year old can have access to thousands of videos of an extreme sexually graphic nature, just with the click of a mouse, and continue to grow up on that. Any loyal family man can easily fall into the habit of an "easy off" through porn consumption rather than work for/depend on intimacy and closeness with his wife (and vice versa). 

Is porn's unlimited availability and access nowadays harmful for society? Is it particularly harmful to our culture's perception of women and of sexuality? Or is there absolutely nothing at all wrong with porn and its unlimited availability? Should any steps be taken to educate and bring awareness about the possible damaging effects of porn, or at least, should it be more strictly guarded against children viewing it? 

This article makes the case that yes, it is harmful and it is a problem for society: 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opini...p_0=134894 

Here are some excerpts:

After 40 years of peer-reviewed research, scholars can say with confidence that porn is an industrial product that shapes how we think about gender, sexuality, relationships, intimacy, sexual violence and gender equality - for the worse.

A 2010 meta-analysis of several studies found "an overall significant positive association between pornography use and attitudes supporting violence against women." A 2012 study of college-age women with male partners who used porn concluded that the young women suffered diminished self-esteem, relationship quality and sexual satisfaction correlated with their partners' porn use.

The average age of first viewing porn is estimated by some researchers to be 11. In the absence of a comprehensive sex-education curriculum in many schools, pornography has become de facto sex education for youth. And what are these children looking at? If you have in your mind's eye a Playboy centerfold with a naked woman smiling in a cornfield, then think again. While "classy" lad mags like Playboy are dispensing with the soft-core nudes of yesteryear, free and widely available pornography is often violent, degrading and extreme.

Thoughts? 

PS: Please completely disregard the first paragraph. This isn't meant to be about politics or about any sort of biases for liberal or conservative views. So please don't let that influence your personal opinion on this issue.

Porn was available in your local shop, not just a porn shop. They were always on the top shelf if I remember correctly as a 14 year old and only measuring 158 cm tall. Secondly, we usually associate porn with men which can affect relations between him and his wife. By the same token, although it isn't strictly porn, a woman getting her rocks off with a vibrator/dildo or plastic bottle every single day must have an effect on the marriage too. Yes, I have watched porn, and to be honest, nothing wrong with a bit of milf or, if you are into it, why not a bit of GILF. At least I know why Pope John Paul II died. Watching too much porn and getting his rocks off with Mother Theresa in her see-through habit.

[brewer]

Since the Utah law was brought up I thought the thread should have a link:

http://www.lectlaw.com/files/sex03.htm

As for porn itself, it's not going away. There should be limited access for underage kids who do not have the capability to understand what they are watching and realize that porn for the most part is fantasy. I'm not a techy so in the age of internet porn I have no clue how to limit access, maybe others do.

As far as demeaning women, our society does that even without porn. Taking porn away will not stop it.

[KevinM1]

No matter how accessible it is, I still have no interest in watching most of it. Some are extremely comical but most are not remotely sexually appealing. Some oiled up grunting guy doing an over dramatic chick who makes eye contact with the camera while pretending to like it....nerp not sexy.

Yup.

I've watched a ton of porn (hey, I'm a perpetually single disabled virgin, what do you want from me? ), and I like the porn from the 70s and really early 80s the best, for a lot of reasons:

A lot fewer oiled up rage roiders with butt pimples for the guys
A lot less ladies with way, way too much/terrible plastic surgery
No staring directly into the camera, but actually looking at their partner (what a novel concept!)
Some actual sensuality, not just "imma jackhammer her for 20 minutes"
Some semblance of story and acting, even though it's still terrible
And when all else fails, I can make fun of their fashion and hair (porn staches were a thing, and they were hideously glorious!)

Modern porn sucks.  It's a literal meat grinder done on the cheap with GoPros and hotel rooms/rented offices/some buddy's apartment.  It feels skeezy all around.

[Minimalist]

As far as demeaning women, our society does that even without porn. Taking porn away will not stop it.

Porn demeans women far less than getting paid 77 cents for every dollar a man makes!

[vorlon13]

From WIKI:

L.A. Tool & Die is a 1979 American pornographic film directed by Tim Kincaid, better known as Joe Gage. It is the concluding film in what has come to be known as Gage's "Working Man Trilogy", the first two being 1976's Kansas City Trucking Co. and 1978's El Paso Wrecking Corp. It stars Richard Locke and features Will Seagers and Paul Barresi in a heterosexual scene with Becky Savage. Michael Kearns, who has appeared in mainstream films and television series such as The Waltons, has a cameo role in an orgy scene; a rare instance of a "legitimate" actor performing explicit sex acts in a hardcore pornographic film.

John Burger, the author of One-Handed Histories: The Eroto-Politics of Gay Male Video Pornography, describes the film as "the story of an unrequited love, in which Richard Locke follows the man of his dreams across the country. They eventually live happily ever after." Burger adds that this film came at the very end of the pre-AIDS filmmaking, when "all levels of erotic experience were faithfully documented by the porn industry... men could be whores, men could be monogamous or men could cruise the spectrum in between."


My take:
They definitely do not make porn like this any more. This entry even had original music produced specifically for the film, and it is hauntingly romantic. And, LOL, even the hetero scene has a gay angle in the form of a gay male voyeur observing the action, and masturbating later while remembering via flashback what he saw. IOW, someone actually put some thought into the plot and writing of the film. And even the romantic angle, fulfilled in the final scene does not seem contrived as the 'Hank' character has pursued his quarry during the course of the entire film.

So, as for 'modern' era folks (as opposed to the late 70s/early80s crowd this film was made for) I feel sorry for them not having interest/access to titles like this. And note that current porn is not bad, it's just limited and incomplete. OMG, a 2016 adult gay male title allowing the main character to fall in love with a partner ?!?!?! Perish the thought.

Even in the most expensive gay male film made up to the time, Centurians of Rome, the male leads managed to thwart all the pervs in the Roman Empire (even the Emperor!) and wind up with each other, but only as a result of a noble sacrifice by another character who was portrayed as having himself fallen in love with one of the leads. Films with plots like that aren't viewed as commercially viable anymore, and therefore, aren't produced.

[LadyForCamus]

Hmm...I'll be honest, I'm ignorant to what the current scientific consensus is on the subject, but from a personal stand point I don't see anything morally problematic with porn, or ease of access to porn. I mean, it IS degrading to women but I guess that's the whole point, right? Objectification purely for the sake of a biological, bodily function. I think a lot of it depends on the type person who is watching and how they process what they're viewing. My husband watches porn occasionally, and he is one of the most respectful and empathetic people I know when it comes to women and women's issues. I think you have to be able to mentally draw that line between fantasy and reality. Again, this is all just my personal opinion.

[FatAndFaithless]

I guess my previous response to the thread is pretty much "things are going to change, let's not freak out, the kids are alright."