Philosophical Vegan Forum

What are your thoughts on pornography? Im speaking specifically regarding adult only material (no children or non-human animals).
Is it wrong? Why or why not?
Is it okay? Why or why not

What are your thoughts?

Honestly, I don't care whether anyone watches it or not for whatever reasons. But it does become a problem when (for example) you watch it from 1 hour a day to 4 hours a day, if you get what I mean.

I just want them to stop with the bad soft core porn on TV shows now.

WTF Penny Dreadful? I want to watch you with my family. I don't need to see that.


I would be inclined to say against- not because it's objectifying, but because the porn industry seems to be bleeding over into prime-time TV, and reducing the quality and family watchability of otherwise very good shows.

Though, that's probably not the porn industry's fault exactly, so much as the viewers increasing ratings on shows that feature soft core porn scenes randomly throughout.

I don't see any problem with it. Everyone can make the decision for themselves whether they want to watch it or not. And since an enormous percentage actually watches porn, it seems that most people also don't have a problem with it.

The only problem I see with it, is that children can get the wrong impression about sex. But I think this has to and can be corrected with sex education on schools. It's sad that it's still a kind of taboo—and I know it has moved on A LOT—to talk about sex at some places (maybe because of religious influence?), although everyone is here because of it.

I'm curious to know what problems you see in it.

dan1073 wrote:Honestly, I don't care whether anyone watches it or not for whatever reasons. But it does become a problem when (for example) you watch it from 1 hour a day to 4 hours a day, if you get what I mean.

Why actually? They aren't hurting anyone. Why has every hobby that is different from the norm to be a bad thing? (although I can't really imaging somebody watching 4 hours a day)

I will play devil's advocate. I have heard it said that pornography is primarily focused on woman, and it is sexist. It has been said that pornography is about objectifying women's body parts and further entrenches sexism in patriarchial society. Thoughts?

Volenta wrote:

dan1073 wrote:Honestly, I don't care whether anyone watches it or not for whatever reasons. But it does become a problem when (for example) you watch it from 1 hour a day to 4 hours a day, if you get what I mean.

Why actually? They aren't hurting anyone. Why has every hobby that is different from the norm to be a bad thing? (although I can't really imaging somebody watching 4 hours a day)

Because in that case it'd be addictive. Porn can be addictive (like lots of other things that people do on a daily basis, so it shouldn't be considered 'wrong' because of it). It doesn't affect you personally, unless you're the one who's addicted to it or a family member.

However, the excuses people find to say that porn is 'evil', are laughable. Things like 'God doesn't want me to', 'You'll have problems with your genitals when you grow up if you masturbate' (yes I've heard that one), and it's just mainly considered wrong/weird in the mainstream culture. People talk about sex without that much shy (sometimes even with pride), but masturbation is still a topic to avoid at all cost while in public. Why? Because of religion/culture influence, and because of how judgemental people are.

The only valid reason I found is that it'd give a wrong impression of how sex is, but that is only if you're young and you haven't received a proper education on the topic yet.

TheVeganAtheist wrote:I will play devil's advocate. I have heard it said that pornography is primarily focused on woman, and it is sexist. It has been said that pornography is about objectifying women's body parts and further entrenches sexism in patriarchial society. Thoughts?

More pressing (and objectively), porn needs to use condoms (and the respective protections for other acts)- all the time. Both as an industry regulation (for protection of the actors), and to encourage and normalize their use for the viewers.

Porn objectifies men and women- it's a little silly to see it just one way. Porn is made for all kinds of audiences. So, I don't think that argument has ever been a very strong one.

thebestofenergy wrote:Because in that case it'd be addictive. Porn can be addictive (like lots of other things that people do on a daily basis, so it shouldn't be considered 'wrong' because of it). It doesn't affect you personally, unless you're the one who's addicted to it or a family member.

I don't think addictions are necessarily bad. Addictions are in my opinion only bad when other people (or themselves) suffer because of it. But because there are some people who can't deal with pornography in a proper way, it's like you said, not therefore a bad thing. Pretty much anything that people get obsessed about can turn into a problem.

TheVeganAtheist wrote:I will play devil's advocate. I have heard it said that pornography is primarily focused on woman, and it is sexist. It has been said that pornography is about objectifying women's body parts and further entrenches sexism in patriarchial society. Thoughts?

Not all porn is about men dominating women of course (and is certainly not what I would watch), and I'm not sure it would increase sexism in the society. It doesn't have to go beyond pornography and penetrate society. I'm certainly not a supporter of censorship or banning something just because you don't like it, but maybe that concern is a right one. Is there some data suggesting this?

TheVeganAtheist wrote:I will play devil's advocate. I have heard it said that pornography is primarily focused on woman, and it is sexist. It has been said that pornography is about objectifying women's body parts and further entrenches sexism in patriarchial society. Thoughts?

Women choose to be in porn. Nobody is telling them they have to, and most of society agrees that it's a nasty job to have. But, women do it and they really make it seem like they enjoy it. As long as there are no children involved, and there is consent all around, porn is awesome. We (almost everyone) have an intense and innate desire for sex, and it is natural and pleasant to recognize it.

Free From Religion wrote:

TheVeganAtheist wrote:I will play devil's advocate. I have heard it said that pornography is primarily focused on woman, and it is sexist. It has been said that pornography is about objectifying women's body parts and further entrenches sexism in patriarchial society. Thoughts?

Women choose to be in porn. Nobody is telling them they have to, and most of society agrees that it's a nasty job to have. But, women do it and they really make it seem like they enjoy it. As long as there are no children involved, and there is consent all around, porn is awesome. We (almost everyone) have an intense and innate desire for sex, and it is natural and pleasant to recognize it.

Absolutely. But even though women practicing porn like it (probably because of the money by the way), the societal outcome doesn't have to be positive. I think that even if women like being objectified, it would still be a bad thing. I mean, look at women that are being suppressed in Muslim countries. Some are totally fine with it (the reason is of course a bad one), but that doesn't make it right.

I'm still pro-porn, since I think that most people have had a good education and know that women are not merely sex objects. There are also movies/books with racism or child abuse in it, you also don't wanna ban those because of the possibility of a bad effect.