Junior government and politics major
In a culture in which people are increasingly tied to laptops and smartphones, it’s not surprising that a significant portion of young adults watch porn. According to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, 25 percent of Internet users aged 18 to 29 watch pornography, although this figure could be unrealistically low because of respondents’ reluctance to admit to viewing on their phones.
Their hesitancy is not completely unwarranted; at large, the porn industry, as well as the product it generates is plagued with problems. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with turning to porn for quick sexual gratification, the representation of sex as it appears in most pornos is both misleading and degrading.
Mainly geared toward guys, mainstream porn is crafted to hit on common male fantasies. In a typical film, a gorgeous unassuming girl doused in makeup arrives on the scene and begins to engage in some perfunctory conversation with a stud male porn star. Inevitably, no matter the basis of the exchange, these compelling conversations lead to sex. While the realism or quality of the dialogue in these intros isn’t a huge concern, many have a key problem: There’s some form of coercion that spurs the sex.
Once they’re in the sack, these women audibly enjoy what’s going on, if only grudgingly. The perniciousness of these scenes, in which women rarely give consent but eventually enjoy the sex, is clearly expressed in the data: A 1986 University of California, Los Angeles study found that men who viewed porn depicting nonconsensual sex that the victims found pleasurable were more likely to believe women enjoyed rape in reality.
Consensual scenes have their issues too. Regardless of the scenario behind the sex, the action itself almost always focuses solely on the fulfillment of male desire. Often, the female actresses in the scenes are reduced to passive receptacles for men’s shafts. Despite these female porn stars’ acoustic performances, sex most women would actually enjoy is rarely portrayed. And women aren’t the only ones being objectified. The number of shots of men’s disembodied penises thrusting away reveals where their true value in the porn industry lies.
The lack of realism isn’t a problem in itself; people turn to porn for the fantastic. But the complete misrepresentation of female sexuality does a disservice to men and women. While few people would like to admit it, consuming porn is one way young people learn about sex. Supplying viewers with only outrageous notions of what women are looking for isn’t beneficial for anyone. Sex is a reciprocal act, and that should be represented on-screen.
Porn clearly has its problems, but some of the hysteria surrounding our impending moral demise is a bit misplaced. While the number of those admitting to watching porn continues to climb — the percentage of Internet users who said they watched adult video doubled from 6 to 12 percent in the past five years, according to Pew — rates of domestic violence and sexual assault have dropped sharply in the last half century. It’s clear that porn and sexual assault aren’t intrinsically linked.
As with most exchanges between consenting adults, it’s best for the government to stay out when possible; censorship is not the answer to porn’s problems. Ultimately, porn directors create cheap, degrading porn because there’s an audience for that sort of thing. If that market were to dry up, these sorts of videos would stop being made.
Charlie Bulman is a sophomore government and politics major. He can be reached at cbulmandbk@gmail.com.