Watching porn: does it do real harm or is the reaction merely moral panic

I wonder how the male species would react to men being objectified in porn films?

Part of the problem has to be that we don't usually go into the specifics when we teach sex education, whether at home or in school. Therefore kids think that what they see in porn films is the norm. I do remember a TV series where they brought in a sex educator and the school kids were encouraged to discuss all aspects of sex

Having watched the TV programme about the development of sex robots, I wonder if it is fuelled by the porn industry inducing a need that cannot be fulfilled by a human?

I feel that much porn displays the nastiest aspects of sex and as a result it must bring out the worst in people.
Youngsters, who I'd expect to not have too much experience of real sex get an unrealistic and skewed view. It can only coarsen the human spirit, surely?

Each sexual encounter is a training session for the next one. In a genuine relationship, the sexual act gets better as the participants get more used to one another, get more practised at working together so that both get more out of it. Even when they have a different partner that experience can "carry over" the lessons learnt about consideration, mutuality and so on to another relationship.

Pornography has its place - it can be useful as a release when the real thing is unobtainable, or to prime the pump if it is running a bit slow, but that is as a temporary expedient - not as regular entertainment, or a way of filling in boring moments at work, or as an addictive drug.

What does an intensive course in pornography train the reader/viewer in? Nothing that is good for a relationship with a real person, only how to react as a voyeur to an actor/tress who poses in a series of fake titillating attitudes, or who is pretending to be ultra-submissive, or ultra-dominating. It provides the keen student with repeated virtual practice in how to release all their most sickening fantasies onto someone who doesn't retaliate or leave the building, fantasies which might have withered and died off in the face of a real person who said "No I won't!" when it was still just a slight inclination. Practice in how anything they do is accepted, and however contemptuous they are of the human being to whom they do it that person has to accept the insults, they have no power to call a halt.

And having learnt all the lessons, absorbed all the unspoken attitudes, rehearsed all the moves and internalised the ethos, how can they adjust all that to the the flesh and blood women who inhabit the real world? Instead, real women are expected to conform to the fantasy stereotypes. And not only grown women with some degree of choice, either.

It's just horrible in every respect plain and simple!

I would object very much to a colleague using time at work to look at porn. On the same grounds as most of the others, that it is dishonest to use your employer's computer and internet connection for private affairs.

If an adult wants to watch porn at home in his or own time, then that is none of my business.

I do, as a former teacher, feel that teenagers get a lot of ideas put into their heads that did not come there naturally if they are allowed to watch porn or for that matter read very explicit books and that parents should be aware of what their youngsters are playing around with and try to counteract it by discussing porn which can perhaps be considered as fairy tales for grown-ups.

Unfortunately, the porn industry, is like prostitution, not always something a young man or woman chooses to get into entirely of their own free will. Basically, I am old fashioned enough to consider all porn degrading and potentially harmful,

It's the curse of the internet isn't it. Years ago, no idea how many, weren't pornographic magazines always placed on the top shelf so they couldn't be accessed by children? And wasn't the harder stuff hidden under the counter? And didn't you have to be 18 to purchase it?

Responsible parents would ensure that if this type of 'literature' was in the home it was out of sight and reach of children but is is that easy to stop children accessing porn on the internet?

It must be a nightmare for parents trying to keep their children safe.

I started a thread on AIBU in the summer about my and horror seeing lollies in the shape of a penis on sale in a shop clearly aimed at families, and in reach of young children.

I wouldn't want to be seated next to anyone watching porn TBH regardless of where I was. Each to their own of course as long as the porn being watched is between consulting adults.

Maybe you'd better define the level of 'porn' that we're talking about? Page 3 pinups? Or sex acts?

paddynann,I agree but what can be done to stop the ease of accessibility to porn by children.

It makes me wish we could go back to porn being largely socially unacceptable and only available in a few shops. There is a link between watching porn, wanting more 'exciting' porn and sexually abusive behaviour. No offence meant vampire, I'm thinking more of men like the father mentioned earlier in this thread.

I watched a programme about young teenagers in a sex education class,the attitudes they had to women ,,their bodies and what was expected of them made my hair curl.These 13 and 14 year olds thought woman who had ANY body hair were disgusting dirty human beings,they thought it was ok to expect oral sex off a girl the first time they met,they expected her to send pictures on her phone to titillate him when he was on his own.No mention of any relationship ..no mention of the girl as a person with opin ions or even rights where sex was concerned.It made me very sad that watching porn was "normal" for them and so worried ofr my young grandaughters about the type of boys they'll come across before too long .Something needs to be done to stop the ease of accessability to porn for children ...13 and 14 year olds ARE children in my view

What people do in the privacy of their own homes is their business as long as it is not harmful to others. What they do in the workplace is however, not their business but that of the employer and if I saw a work colleague watching porn I would be asking for part of his/her salary to compensate me for actually doing my job while they were not. Porn is porn - doesn't matter to me whether it is 'soft' or otherwise, children don't need to be exposed to this and the internet should have some kind of regulation on it. I agree with others, men especially become desensitised by porn and then have to play out even more extreme fantasies on flesh and blood women.

One of our local vicars is up in court this month charged with having images of children on his computer.
Of course he may be innocent!
The trouble with porn is that it’s addictive, these, usually men, soon get fed up of the soft stuff and need more unusual scenarios to feed their addiction.
I would think that most of the porn available damages someone so how can it be anything but abhorrent.
When I was young I used to think Mary Whitehouse was a bit of a nutter. Now I think she had a point.
As an ex employer I would take an extremely dim view of anyone using my time to access porn. Apart from stealing time from me, what sort of trouble could I have found myself in?

That’s the problem with young boys watching porn, they cannot differentiate between fact and fiction. And has already been said here, the emotional complexities of a normal relationship are only marginally touched on in schools. If kids have sensible parents it is usually discussed when dating starts, however, so many have toxic home lives and no advice, just bad role models. When I worked part time in a senior school I was so shocked at the comments from the young boys during sex education. It’s very worrying.

Pornography = exploitation. End of. It is wrong.
Pornography distorts young people's attitude to sex, and incites expectations rather than a loving exchange. It is wrong.

As to the sexualisation of children - primary school children skimpily dressed and dancing with the whole pelvic thrusting thing - god help us.

You probably would if it was your daughter being filmed
and it is someone’s child

I don't feel degraded either.

I'd better say that I've never watched extreme porn in case anyone gets the wrong idea.

It is not always actors in porn videos , but films of actual children/women /men /people being attacked and degraded , so it is not harmless , whether on a work computer or at home .It degrades the participants and the viewer and is to be deplored in all its forms

It's just plain bonkers.

I have been known to read and watch porn at times. It's a form of entertainment as long as you keep it in mind that it's not real. Relationships in the real world are not just based on sex and sex is more that the act. Women are not always willing and 'no' means 'no'. Not all men have muscular bodies and can't keep going for hours and hours.

That said, I worry about the affect it has on children and teenagers who haven't yet developed their relationship skills or, in some cases, haven't developed the ability to realise that what they see on line or tv isn't real life. When it was confined to videos and magazines it was much harder for anyone to come across accidently and was usually only accessed by adults who chose to access it. Now the internet makes it freely available and that's not right. The time is coming when we have to put the protection of our children and future generations above the entertainment of adults.

Even though I don't dislike porn, it's something that should be enjoyed in private. I would not be happy to have a work colleague watch it whilst I was nearby. It's not only inappropriate but it could be embarrassing and intimidating.

I agree with dumdum. I think that there must be very little porn which is not abusive to the people involved.
It is definitely not appropriate to be watching it at work and should at least mean a formal warning of dismissal.
In the recent political case, the porn involved was made illegal 4 days later so it must have been quite severe. People really should not need to be told that this is not acceptable at work and if their judgment is that poor they should not be MPs.

Having observed a court case in national newspapers that involved a 13 month old child and its porn addicted father, in my estimation, any human that finds porn necessary in their life is sick in the head.
We need to teach our children that porn is used by those who cannot or are incapable of leading 'normal' lives and respecting others
Porn like a drug, not can, BE equally as dangerous.

I d have been annoyed as hell if someone at work was watching anything, including Corrie, on their work computer
I m another who worries a lot about children and what they see, even if you are a responsible parent the stuff is there, in other kids houses, on phones at school, on music videos, music channels, it’s all around and unless you live on a desert island the kids will see it I think all you can do is talk to them about it in the same way you talk to them about drugs, drink, condoms and general safety Unfortunately there are going to be some Who are left to their own devices I am appalled when the grandkids switch on the music channel on tv or even listen to the lyrics in the car
The most sexualisation I got as a teen was listening to an eeny weeny itsy Bitsy yellow polka dot bikini ?

I would hope for a good outcome i.e. a line manager having the nessacary conversation using company discipline rules to record offending behaviour. Altimatley job loss if it didn’t stop.