Top Ten Sex Questions of 2006

I have a comment on your response to the porn question. Watching porn is not okay. it is not normal. it has become ‘normalized’. men often seem to confuse looking at porn as part of normal sexuality…obviously the porn industry is selling this idea really well. with porn easily available on the internet, it has become a huge and massive problem. more men are addicted than will be admitted. i don’t think it is right to downplay the negative effects of porn and say it is ‘normal’. you acknowledge that porn addition like any other addiction is not healthy, has it’s consequences…but seriously without an addiction, is it really harmless fun to masturbate in front of images of women where the majority of them are victims of child sexual abuse. what a weak male image. your stance on porn seems to downplay the effects…. is it too scary to encourgage men to think critically about porn and the negative effects it has on men, women and relationships. our culture normalizes porn…i know you know more about this so why is your answer so supposedly safe?

Hi Penny,

Thanks for reading and for offering your thoughts on this. My position on this is guided by research, and there is simply no compelling body of research that says viewing legal pornography is harmful. As a sex educator, and someone who has also worked in sex shops where they sell adult films, I can tell you that the tens of thousands of people who I have talked to about this don’t experience it as problematic. Of course this doesn’t mean that you need to approve or condone it. In terms of your question about watching people act who have experienced childhood sexual abuse, first off, there really isn’t any research that has looked at sexual abuse history among adult film performers versus the general public. Sadly, many many people have experienced sexual abuse, but this isn’t only true of people who get involved in sex work, it’s true of hollywood actors, bankers, postal carriers, all of us. Lastly, while I don’t think you were confusing this, I wanted to make it clear that what I am talking about is legal adult films, ones that don’t depict any actual violence or contain overtly racist, sexist, homophobic, or hateful speech.

Hello,
I don’t think there is anything wrong with watching porn. I find it rather interesting to say the least! If someone is trying to bring porn into the bedroom and their partner doesn’t approve. Well, in that case I assume there would be some issues. Everyone see’s porn differently and has their own perspectives on it. I believe that if someone is mislead by porn and is they have sick or demented thoughts or ways! One can’t blame everything on porn itself! I can watch all sorts of porn and have no strange or weird hangups. And yes, everyone is well aware that there are many people male or female who have very sickened thoughts and ideas after watching porn. I believe that it’s not the porn that caused them to act out or have what some might call, sick fantasies. The problem was there long before they started watching porn! And yes, it seems that we have all been molested or abused as children. And the only bad porn to me has to be anything that has children involved. I’m not going to go as far as to say anything negative about someone who would enjoy watching children. It’s seems nasty to me but it’s not for me to judge others. I would have hatted growing up in the days when things seemed or appeared so innocent. When we couldn’t talk about sex! When porn is watched on a individual level (alone time)… Or with a partner it can be very educational and a lot of fun

Watching porn is definitely not wrong! It can even spice up your sex life if you watch it with your significant other.