Should we not watch pornography?

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Nowadays pornography is more available than ever. It is free and people only needs internet to access billions of bites of pornography. However, is it good for human development to have that access? Is it bad for young people who are only starting to experience their sexual life? Does pornography opposes to sex education? Are there any ethical considerations to have in mind regarding pornography?

It is correct to watch pornography

Arguments for

• Pro There is plenty of porn made in an ethical and safe way. There should not be any problem with watching this type of porn.
  • Objection It is not always possible to know if the porn you are watching is ethical.
• Pro Certifications allow consumers to choose porn with the consent of the participants.
  • Objection If a person could be coerced into making porn, wt:thon could coerced into signing a piece or paper or holding up a little sign.
  • Objection Feminist and ethical porn spaces represent a small proportion of porn overall. Most and/or Mainstream porn depicts the subjugation of women, including activities such as "facials", gaging and fake female orgasms. Such has and still dominates the internet porn world: and is probably getting worse. Also, porn such as BBC, indicates an unhealthy obsession with race.
    • Objection The issue isn't the actions, but context. e.g. women watching facials, gang-bangs, and choking isn't problematic, or at least as problematic, as men watching it.
      • Objection This doesn't respond to the problem of men watching it: who are also likely in the majority of viewers of such.
    • Objection There is no "feminist and ethical porn." Porn is the objectification of people—mostly women—and there is nothing feminist nor ethical about that.
  • Objection which is why countries such as the US, Canada, et al, get rid of their stupid laws against obscenity and pornography and allow people to produce porn more freely and officially.
• Pro Ethical porn focuses on treating performers fairly, showing a diverse range of bodies and representing more realistic human interactions.
• Pro Porn is made to promote arousal, entertainment and even escapism.
• Pro Masturbation is natural and beneficial, and porn is a useful masturbation aid.
  • Objection It is not beneficial if it reduces people's motivation to connect who may find partners and sex otherwise.
  • Objection Porn masturbation seems to reduce testosterone and may reduce androgen receptor density which can be problematic
  • Objection You don't need porn to masturbate. Over consumption might lead to needing porn to masturbate.
• Pro It’s the obligation of producers, platforms and law enforcement to ensure legal and ethical standards are met. On this basis (and also using your own judgment in addition), there’s nothing incorrect in consuming available material.
• Pro Pornography is like a style of music, such as rap, heavy metal, or blue grass: each is harmless fun some people engage in. Some people enjoy watching ball games, others "vanilla" soap operas, and some enjoy watch some porn actress partaking in "gang bangs": to each wt:thons own.
• Pro It has serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
  • Objection Such could be exempted: perhaps producers can try to have such reviewed by government boards.
• Pro Most pornography is for and/or consumed by losers who can't find dates or interest in sex with them from neglected and hardworking wives, but at least it's not sexual assault or bothering women for sexual favors.
  • Objection Maybe such "losers" should "get a life" and work on self-improvent, much like drug policies such as harm-reducting might be better than prohibition, but it would be even better if the addict worked on wt:thons addiction(s).
  • Objection Porn is probably a major reason why people aren't reproducing and population rates are falling.
    • Objection Good! The Earth has too many people already. (See also: Should we aim to reduce the Earth population?)
      • Objection National governments need more taxpayers, companies need more consumers, old people need young people to take care of them when they become too infirmed.
• Pro Since the 1990s with the internet, nay, since the popularity of video cassettes and photocopying, supression of porn is infeasible: resources are better spent in mitigating and controlling its harm (if any).
  • Objection The question is not whether it should be suppressed but whether people should make that personal choice (or make that choice often) or whether it should be as encouraged and promoted as it is in today's world with phenomena like for example OnlyFans.
  • Objection Just because it's considered difficult, maybe even impossible, doesn't mean we shouldn't try.
• Pro Sometimes porn can help individuals discover and explore their sexuality.

Arguments against

• Con People can become addicted to pornography, which is as problematic as drug or alcohol adiction. For example, porn acts affecting the reward circuitry, or causing the person to lose contact with the real world sexual situations.
  • Objection People can become addicted to nearly everything, including sex.
  • Objection Very few survey respondents in Australia reported that they were addicted to pornography (men 4%, women 1%), and of those who said they were addicted only about half also reported that using pornography had had a bad effect on them.
    • Objection Reality sucks: my fantasy partner(s) never let me down. (Let Chad have his harem; I'll have mine.) ("Goddess of Empathy" 00:00 to 00:44, and 01:44 to 02:13)
  • Objection Things such as drug addictions are individualistic insofar that if a person consumes a drug, or any other sudstance, no one else is required to participate. Normal sex requires two people and the second person might not be willing, hence the first person resorts to porn to at least somewhat please wt:thonself.
• Con Porn is damaging to relationships. One can get demotivated to find a real partner when they are satisfied by porn. It might be a problem, both personal and social.
  • Objection Porn can be used to improve a couple's sex life by bringing new ideas. It can also inspire one to find a partner to share the experience.
  • Objection Research suggests that there is no evidence of porn consumption being either adaptive or maladaptive when it comes to relationship satisfaction, closeness, and loneliness.
    • Objection That study only assessed 357 adults, too unrepresentative of the average porn consumer.
    • Objection That study says porn comes to replace affection deprivation, and fight loneliness and depression. The same situations that leads a person to drugs or alcohol consumption. Thus, porn is replacing a deep job the person has to do with itself with the help of psychologists.
• Con Watching pornography contributes to human rights abuses, including sex trafficking and gender inequality.
  • Objection It is possible to choose a platform that ony features material with high ethical standards (see w:en:Feminist pornography).
  • Objection no more than watching depictions of violence is being violent.
• Con People feel guilt and shame after watching pornography, which indicates that our conscience finds that the consumption of pornography is wrong.
  • Objection many LGBTQI2S+ feel shame for being LGBTQI2S+: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, et al has a lot to answer for here.
• Con Mainstream pornography engenders and cultivates a subliminally misogynistic or otherwise violent way of men seeing women.
  • Objection mainstream porn ≠ porn; mainstream porn ⊂ porn.
• Con wikisource:Bible (Tyndale)/Matthew#Chapter 5 "27 Ye haue hearde howe it was sayde to the of olde tyme: Thou shalt not comitt advoutrie.
  28 But I say vnto you that whosoeuer looketh on a wyfe lustynge after her hathe comitted advoutrie with hir alredy in his hert."
  
  By looking at a woman with lust in your heart, you are essentially committing adultery with her.
• Con One will not die if one is deprived of it.
• Con Children might see it, be it a magazine on a rack, a late night television show (and/or cable or video), or someone's computer, and such might scar their tender minds.
  • Objection Make sure they don't see it.
• Con Average consumption almost certainly involves parts of the psyche that are more vulnerable than the conscious intellect. Our minds are vulnerable beyond the scope of our conscious awareness which may lead to a confusion of what happens on screen with reality.
  • Objection One should be mature enough.
• Con Amateur porn is the 11th most popular genre on Pornhub, and it is possible a lot of that porn was leaked without the consent of one of the participants, or even forcing one participant to act.
  • Objection Maybe ban amateur, while keeping other forms of porn.