Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Porn Problems

It seems that most often, porn is associated with male viewers and male sexual interests. Dialogue surrounding porn and its possible psychological effects tends focuses on males and their probable unrealistic expectations of sexual encounters.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/12/porn-women-myths_n_4944061.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular,love--sex

However, this article takes a different standpoint, highlighting the very real ways in which porn can mislead female viewers as well. Women were asked what porn had "taught" about sex, and they paint a very unrealistic picture. One of the misleading ideas is that orgasms are effortless. A woman is quoted, "I thought orgasms were much easier to achieve than they actually are. As a result I thought something was wrong with me for a long time. I just assumed that PIV= almost instant orgasm. I was so disappointed to find that wasn't the case".

We hear a lot of talk about porn displaying unrealistic female bodies and female genitalia, essentially vaginas are expected to look like a prepubescent girl in every scene. However, female porn viewers can also be mislead about male genitalia, expecting all to be circumcised and much larger than average.  "I didn't know uncircumcised penises existed, because all the porn I'd seen prior had circumcised male performers".

One of the more damaging by-products of porn viewing is that you have to do everything women in porn videos do in order for your partner to enjoy themself: " It didn't occur to me until like age 27 that I didn't have to let a guy come on my face if I didn't want to. Or I didn't have to swallow. Or that it was okay to not moan if I didn't feel like moaning." I think that no matter how confident a person is during sex and in deciding what they are comfortable with doing, porn can be have a greater effect on how we perform during a sexual experience than we might think.

It is strange to think of a time when we wouldn't have to worry about porn influencing the ways in which we think about sex and about what we should and should not be done during sex. I am wondering if we are moving to a place where it is difficult to have completely unbiased sex because more often than not, at least one person in a sexual encounter watches pornographic videos. It would seem to be very hard to not compare your body, genitalia, and sexual experiences with porn once you have viewed it, and especially if you view it regularly. Can people still watch porn regularly and have it not interfere with their sexual experiences? Do you think that those who watch porn are subconsciously trying to live up to some pornographic standard? Besides expectations for orgasm and how genitals should look etc., can porn influence the ability to be aroused by sex without the intense visual stimuli? Do you think there could be a "safe viewing amount" in regards to the previous question, where it wouldn't "hurt" your sexual arousal with another person?

5 comments:

  1. Personally, I think this post is really interesting. I have always been taught the issues that pornography has with women, but I have never looked at the problems it causes for men. I think more studies and insight should be put into men and women issues equally.
    In response to one of your questions, I think that if someone is consistently watching pornography, it would be really hard to have an "unbiased sexual experience." However, if the partner is okay with them watching pornography and they can communicate about it effectively, it should not be a problem.
    I think pornography is really subjective in many aspects, including how it affects a person and a relationship.

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  2. As far as an "unbiased sexual experience" I don't think there could ever be such a thing for a couple living in the modern United States. TV shows, films, music, and other media gives us ideas about what is supposed to be a part of sex and what isn't, not just porn. However, I do think that one could watch porn and have it be a part of their sexual life without harm. This can only happen with a background of comprehensive sex education and critical thought surrounding the content (both problematic and not) that one finds in porn.

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  3. Besides expectations for orgasm and how genitals should look etc., can porn influence the ability to be aroused by sex without the intense visual stimuli?

    I think porn influence ones ability to be aroused by sex without the intense visual stimuli. I think this is especially true for men, who may encode memories of porn visuospatially. Even with a determined "safe viewing amount", everyone has different memory capacities. Porn may have a temporal influence on memories and how a man or women becomes aroused. Porn is like any other media, even if one does limit the amount of exposure, indirect exposure and memory episodes still influence ones present functioning. It would be interesting to do a longitudinal study over indirect exposure of porn on someone's capacity to be sexually aroused.


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  4. I found this post interesting as well, as I have only really heard about and discussed the affects that porn has on men. I never really gave much consideration to its possible affects on women, such as the misleading idea that orgasms are effortless. Regarding your question "Can people still watch porn regularly and have it not interfere with their sexual experiences?" I would say that it is possible, though perhaps not probable. If a person acknowledges and recognizes the unrealistic and exaggerated tendencies of porn, I think that it would be possible for their expectations in their own sexual experiences to remain somewhat normal. However, I do think that this would be difficult, especially for regular viewers of porn, as constantly being exposed to such images would likely consciously or unconsciously affect one's expectations.

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  5. All the studies we hear about porn and how it affects people is focused around men. It gives males an unreal expectation from a woman which is interesting to look at from a female's perspective especially being a male. As a male though we also feel a pressure to perform at the the level of those in porn do. To look a certain way, to act a certain way, and to achieve an orgasm for ourselves and our partners. I think that the pressure goes both ways in porn for both genders and that it negatively influences sexual experiences between partners because of the unrealistic expectations.

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