Porn: The New Drug ?

[holliday1960]

Since this is the 'Sexuality Central' board, I hope this is properly posted. Trending on social media today is Elizabeth Smart speaking out against 'Pornography: The New Drug'.
God knows this young lady went through hell when she was abducted and sexually abused. In her statement today she indicates that she blames her abduction and repeated rapes on the fact that her abductor regularly viewed pornography.
In your opinion, is pornography, in any way, responsible for violent sexual assaults?
It seems to me that millions of people enjoy sexually explicit media forms, and most of them do not become assailants. Is society justified in blaming porn for violent crimes? Are all sex offenders influenced by porn? Is porn the "New Drug" of this period in history?
And, last but not least, will labeling porn as such and blindly accepting that view encourage a legal defense for those who view porn and then rape any individual? What do you think?

 

[SubmissiveMom]

Nonsense x Porn is the 'old drug", magazines and videos my Dad and his generation used to buy and the old instant Polaroid camera pics x I know because that was the 70's and into the 80's as I grew up x

May have been the case when she was abducted so many years ago but everything is real time now or virtual, porn is still porn, always will be but certainly not new at all x x x

 

[Trimjob69]

I think the abductor looked at porn because of who he was. It wasn't the porn that made him an abductor. Or something like that.

 

[bear175]

And what would happen if there was absolutely NO porn available ?

And anything can bring an individual to do bad things. For example, I am sure car racing influences some into driving recklessly.

 

[Trimjob69]

And some people blame alcohol for drunk driving.

 

[shewantsmore]

Think porn is as old as history,

 

[holliday1960]

And some people blame alcohol for drunk driving.

Okay...so, there are some great comments here. I personally feel that if we accept that porn alone induces rape, rather than the mental instability of the individual, we are setting up a precedence for a legal defense. Kind of like, "My addiction to cigarettes made me rob the corner store. Blame the tobacco company, not me!"
If that is the case, isn't she working more on the behalf of the perpetrators, rather than the victims?

 

[Hans101]

Blaming porn for the actions of a psychopath is like blaming a rifle for the actions of a shooter, or car keys for the actions of a drunk driver.

That being said, porn is fake and pathetic.

 

[Setanta84]

This is a sad case of the Mormon church using a damaged member's narrative to advance their own illiberal agenda. The LDS is actively pushing this on their social media channels and I wouldn't be surprised to find them on the board of the campaign associated with the video.

 

[jc199123]

Didn't people already try this with other media like music ( heavy metal) and video games? To be honest Elizabeth Smart only had a limited view into her captor's lives and porn just happened to be the part besides the rape she saw though she is entitled to say what she feels I think the media is just trying give people something to see/hear besides this election. I'm not saying that what happened to Elizabeth Smart wasn't wrong all that I am saying is that porn wasn't the reason for what happened to her happened.

 

[holliday1960]

Didn't people already try this with other media like music ( heavy metal) and video games? To be honest Elizabeth Smart only had a limited view into her captor's lives and porn just happened to be the part besides the rape she saw though she is entitled to say what she feels I think the media is just trying give people something to see/hear besides this election. I'm not saying that what happened to Elizabeth Smart wasn't wrong all that I am saying is that porn wasn't the reason for what happened to her happened.

I totally concur with this as well as the other posts. In my house, porn is totally for cheap entertainment. Sort of like watching wrestling...you know it's fake, and you usually end up asking yourself why you bothered to watch it in the first place. LOL However, I don't think viewing/sneaking a peek at porn is something we outgrow as adults. Most men and some women, especially as we get older, enjoy watching porn, and yes, as a marital tool, it adds to the pleasure of sex.
Most of us dont understand the criminal mind...we cant relate to "What was he thinking?" simply because our minds dont work that way.
In life's tragedies, whether acts of violence, or accidents, that cannot be sufficiently understood, or comprehended, we look for a place to lay blame. It's an outlet to direct our anger and hostility towards. Porn doesnt provoke rape anymore than trap-shooting incites murder. At least, not in the average, healthy mind.
We have to stop blaming movies, magazines, video games, and yes, even drugs and alcohol for personality defects. If you stop and examine a person who behaves "out of the norm" while doing any of these things, you will find the defect exists with or without the use of drugs, alcohol, porn, etc.

 

[suckonsimon]

We need lots more images of really classy, delicious sex where the best crescendos in the scenes are the women's orgasms. Real, awesome ones like good lovers know them. The men's cum as part of the after-glow.

Vids and Images like that are the real thing, and they inspire better sex. Oh my does the world need that.

 

[txgent101]

Like a Moth to a Flame...

In the last several years, I have been drawn more and more to (what I term) erotic materials; Lit stories & images for example, and Tumblr blogs. I prefer to use the word erotica rather than porn, because porn implies something cheesy, pedestrian, and derivative. Erotica (at least what I like) tends to be classy, striking, and visceral. Eye of the beholder to be sure, but I am very selective in what I view, read, and especially what I capture for future use.

It may be obvious, but the reason for it all (IMO) is sexual stimulation and eventually masturbatory fantasies.

Periodically I find the material taking over too much of my attention, and back away for a time. But I return, and usually with more fervor. At my age of 79, it is one of the remaining vivid pleasures I experience.

No, I don't think I am weird, but thought I would just say out loud why sites like Lit are so compelling to me.

So, yes, 'porn' (erotica) is not new. But the internet and sites like Tumblr have made it more compelling. And rather addictive. But I am single and erotica fills a void for me.

"If this be treason, let us make the most of it"
Patrick Henry, 1775

 

[loveupskirt]

And some people blame alcohol for drunk driving.

Or guns for the actions of killers.....

 

[LIVINRFANTASIES]

Look on cave walls. Porn was around as soon as Adam saw Eve without her fig leaf. The Serpent even took black and white Polaroid photos of the two of them having sex.
The great pyramids' walls are filled with pornograpy. That's where Manu got the idea for Literotica.

 

[gentlefeline]

it's one thing to occasionally whack off with some porn......it's quite another when you start thinking, "so much porn, and so little time!!!"

then you're an addict: an egomaniac with an inferiority complex (and control freak too, btw).

 

[J1biboi]

Okay...so, there are some great comments here. I personally feel that if we accept that porn alone induces rape, rather than the mental instability of the individual, we are setting up a precedence for a legal defense. Kind of like, "My addiction to cigarettes made me rob the corner store. Blame the tobacco company, not me!"
If that is the case, isn't she working more on the behalf of the perpetrators, rather than the victims?

I think you right on target.

 

[MakeMeSweat]

the question is how does porn rewire the brain.

 

[Mikeawh]

Porn

As a self proclaimed sex addict, I know porn has changed my life....I still remember the first time I seen ass to mouth, I never even thought about doing that, but once I did I loved it and couldn't get enough! So yes it can cause some unhealthy and unrealistic thoughts to grow inside our minds.....but with that being said, everytime I choose to watch porn or seek out sexual gratification, it exactly that, a choice! And it's nobody else's fault that I don't have self control.

 

[chitrashi]

Young men and women were being bought and sold as sexual slaves in Ancient Greece, India, China - you name it, there was a thriving market for it. From what I've read - some of the sexual practices in those civilizations, beats anything we can come up with, even now. did they have access to pornographic pictures/videos/magazines then? I seriously doubt it.

Elizabeth Smart has gone through a personal hell and she is trying to come to terms with what happened to her and why. She'll be arriving at a number of these theories all her life, as time passes by her perspective will keep changing. What she could accept at one stge, she would have difficulty understanding it at some other stage.

In India 3 years ago - a girl was brutally raped and murdered and it led to wide-spread protests. What emerged was that the rapists had looked at videos of Anal Sex and BDSM before they abducted her.

There are quite a few of us who are into both - Anal and BDSM. Does that mean any of us is likely to do what that girl went through? It is the sick mentality of the rapists alone that led to that brutal violence.

One thing we all need to understand is that whenever we find a reasoning like this - we are exonerating the rapists from the responsibilities of their actions. It's like the Brock Turner Case - it was peer pressure and party culture that made him do it, or it was the alcohol and drugs that made him do it, it was the short skirt of the girl that made him do it. No it was he and he alone who decided to assault a girl. it was not pornography or any other crutch.

 

[paulw128]

For me, Lit is the new drug

 

[holliday1960]

In the last several years, I have been drawn more and more to (what I term) erotic materials; Lit stories & images for example, and Tumblr blogs. I prefer to use the word erotica rather than porn, because porn implies something cheesy, pedestrian, and derivative. Erotica (at least what I like) tends to be classy, striking, and visceral. Eye of the beholder to be sure, but I am very selective in what I view, read, and especially what I capture for future use....

....So, yes, 'porn' (erotica) is not new. But the internet and sites like Tumblr have made it more compelling. And rather addictive.

I think this is fairly typical of most of us and I am so in agreement with the wonderful expressions of thought everyone made here. I, too, object to the term "porn" because in the U.S. in a suit brought about by the parent company of AdamEve (an adult video/toy distributor) "PORN" is defined (in loose terms) as anything OFFENSIVE to a majority of the general public. Thank goodness the jury on this one found only extreme things like snuff, child porn, etc. to be offensive to them.
In parts of the deep south like La. and Ms., today, it is still illegal to ship adult materials to these states, or possess videos and toys under some local and state statutes, despite the above mentioned ruling. I saw last week where some students protested laws in Texas regarding possession of guns on campus by taking adult toys to their protest and publicly displaying them...apparently, on this particular school campus, they view any form of phallus symbol as offensive.
Again, in the south, (and despite laws against distribution of marital aids, there are adult stores in operation there), you cannot buy except in black market situations, a video that shows a female bound by a male in any fashion. There are some of female/female bondage films, but even those require the bindings be removed before any real sexual contact occurs.
Erotica in all its forms do serve a purpose, just as has been pointed out in this quoted post...single male in senior years...how difficult is it in our retirement to reach out for sex partners? Erotica fills that need to some degree.
And what about the single woman who cannot seem to make a personal connection? Or, the person who travels for their job and is alone for extended periods of time? It isnt exactly safe these days to go out and pick up a sex partner at random in a bar. We live in a different world today, and the internet and erotica online are a great and safe outlet for many of us.
Yes, it has its downsides. Yes, it can be abused. So can guns, alcohol, pharmaceuticals, religion and anything else you care to mention.
Should we ban Catholicism because a few clergymen abuse their congregations? How about books on physics or chemistry because some people can learn how to build a bomb from them? Where do the rights of individuals who support censorship stop, and mine (or yours) start? If you don't like sweets, then just stay the hell out of the bakery section!

 

[Green_Knight]

Since this is the 'Sexuality Central' board, I hope this is properly posted. Trending on social media today is Elizabeth Smart speaking out against 'Pornography: The New Drug'.
God knows this young lady went through hell when she was abducted and sexually abused. In her statement today she indicates that she blames her abduction and repeated rapes on the fact that her abductor regularly viewed pornography.
In your opinion, is pornography, in any way, responsible for violent sexual assaults?
It seems to me that millions of people enjoy sexually explicit media forms, and most of them do not become assailants. Is society justified in blaming porn for violent crimes? Are all sex offenders influenced by porn? Is porn the "New Drug" of this period in history?
And, last but not least, will labeling porn as such and blindly accepting that view encourage a legal defense for those who view porn and then rape any individual? What do you think?

To deal with your last point first, that would be like denying a speeding ticket on the basis you'd just been watching Formula One racing on TV. It might well have encouraged you to think about driving fast but as a defence it wouldn't hold water. In fact a judge might just regard it as compounding the offence and up the penalty as a lesson to you and others. I doubt if any lawyer would seriously recommend such a tactic.

There is a suggestion from some recent mass killings that the perpetrators were into films or games of violence. The same may well be true of rapes and porn. That is not to say that everyone who watches porn immediately becomes a rapist but in a few people it may act as an impetus. There is also some anecdotal evidence - it's one of those cases where you can't help wishing for more in-depth studies - that porn does affect the behaviour of a larger number than the odd few. For example, some women report that their boyfriends have demanded that they shave because all the women in their porn films do. Women also say they've been pressurised into anal because that's what happens in every porn film and I've heard occasional complaints that the boys haven't used lube because you rarely see it being applied on-screen in porn.

If ordinary men are being influenced by porn to that degree, then the likelihood is that a few will be influenced to a far greater degree.

The risk is that porn could become a substitute for real life and, faced with a real live woman instead of an image on the screen, all sorts of problems might occur - from inability to perform with a real woman, upwards.

I don't know about it being the New Drug. That implies the involvement of addiction and, although one might suspect that some people do get addicted to porn and find it impossible to do without, I'm not sure if it's ever been proven, nor what the outcome of such an addiction would be.

 

[Green_Knight]

Think porn is as old as history,

It may be, but it is available far more readily these days. Back in my youth there were top shelf magazines. Most of those revealed breasts but little more - eventually a few started to display bushes - unless you were able to get hold of real hard core stuff and that was a rarity - in the UK it generally had to be imported from the continent. I can't remember when I first saw a porn film. You had to be very dedicated, join the dirty mac brigade and go to private clubs. A strip club was about the closest we came to 'live action'.

All of that is in complete contrast to the internet. It's like comparing mice with elephants.

 

[holliday1960]

The risk is that porn could become a substitute for real life and, faced with a real live woman instead of an image on the screen, all sorts of problems might occur - from inability to perform with a real woman, upwards.

I don't know about it being the New Drug. That implies the involvement of addiction and, although one might suspect that some people do get addicted to porn and find it impossible to do without, I'm not sure if it's ever been proven, nor what the outcome of such an addiction would be.

Sir Knight...I agree with you on both points. Addressing the addiction issue you raise, I have often wondered at the "craze" of the late '90's and early 2000's in America where "sex addiction" and "porn addiction" were on the front burner in the field of psychiatry. I know a lot of people with a very high sex drive, but I wouldn't call any of them addicts.
I have even known one who lost a good job due to his affinity for viewing porn online. Even though this indicates a significant problem...I still would not call him an addict for this reason: When he ran out of funds, he stopped watching and got another job! He had no therapy or rehab to "break" his addiction. And, he still views porn online, but to a lesser degree due to a reduction in his income.
Take a look at the Tiger Woods scenario...he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar more than once...I suspect it was his managers and publicists who screamed "addiction" and let's face it, there has been more than one doctor willing to rake in big bucks for unnecessary treatment, whether physical or mental. I've said this more than once: "Even true addictions are no excuse for bad behavior."
You also raise a very good point about performance issues associated with expectations that might arise from viewing porn. I agree with you that there could be problems in some people with that. But, even in one on one sex, the same thing can happen. Those little things that we see or experience and find to our liking can quickly turn into a fetish. (Which directly ties into my other posting regarding whether fetishes are learned behavior, or inherited traits, or both.)
As for men who want their women to shave, or demand anal because it is what they see in porn... it has been my experience that most men simply want to try something different. They see something they have never experienced first-hand and they want to try it. These two examples are a bit "unfair" if you will because they are simply not that outrageous. (At least, to me, they seem mild and not that unreasonable.)
My s/o asked me to shave some decade before it began to be a "thing" in films. I did, and we both liked it, so that is just how it remained. By the time my daughters became sexually active, it was a trend. Believe it or not, very few women are shaved just to please their partners. They prefer it for more personal reasons than that.
The same standard applies to any act or sexually oriented request. If one partner does not like anal, it just isnt going to happen, no matter how much the other begs, pleads or demands. There's not much we can do to change that. However, that having been said, I should point out that with time, patience and a great deal of effort, it is possible to change one's opinion or liking.
For years, my s/o didnt like to receive oral. (can you imagine that?!) It was because of an unpleasant past experience. It took over 10 years of building trust, and showing him that oral can be extremely pleasurable to bring him to the point where he now asks for it.
Again, I am impressed with the comments and ideas everyone is expressing. Thank you for all your input and discussions.