All men watch porn, scientists find.

[82_28]

I'd be lying if I said *I never have* watched porn -- like when I was 14 or something. Always found it soul "sucking" and left me feeling horrible. Too many female friends who have been abused. Count me in as one straight man who hates porn.

Seriously?

I love porn, as long as it's porn that I like. How's that for a tautology. Which usually involves the woman looking like she's REALLY enjoying whatever it is she's doing.

I'm not sure I can trust a guy who says he doesn't like at least some porn! I'm not saying that as an insult, to you directly, just saying that when I hear a man saying something like that I can't help but think he's trying to be politically correct for the sake of the women in the crowd.

Well, you can "trust me". I really, actually, for realz don't care for it. I feel like once you've seen it and can get "it" (sex on it's very own), I find very little interest in it. I don't like the way that many men speak of women and believe me, "I am a man's man". All of my friends talk in the classic bar stool way and that is fine. I understand this is how things are and always have been. It just isn't for me.

Though I do admit, I love making off color, lude jokes *with* women who happen to be my friends (and men for that matter). But it gives me the willies going down to the corner 7-11 and witnessing some quintessential fat fuck stocking up on a stack of nudie books a Rockstar and a Cup O' Noodles.

But like, things like nude art, other forms of nudity and sex in the context of a greater story or purpose, I do not mind. But porn for porn's sake -- I absolutely hate and also, very much so, fear.

[82_28]

Is Hardcore Porn Played Out? A Site Showing Real People Orgasm Gives a Sexy Alternative

By Cherry Trifle, SeXis Magazine
Posted on February 27, 2010, Printed on March 5, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/145809/

Real people, having real sex… by themselves. On camera. On the Internet. From the neck up. Each video is an intimate portrait of individual orgasm, and it’s the stuff that Beautiful Agony is made of. When it comes to “the money shot,” can reality be more erotically charged than fantasy? According to BA founder Richard Lawrence, yes, it can indeed.

Cherry Trifle: What is the appeal of Beautiful Agony over offerings from more traditional studios?

Richard Lawrence: We get a lot of subscribers who’ve run the whole porn circuit—from softcore to X to hardcore—and wind up at Agony telling us it’s the first time they’ve actually been turned on for years. Most people reach the point where it all gets filed away with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. I think empathy is the key. When you watch a porn video you know it’s acted, whereas to be aroused requires that you believe there is some actual sexual and emotional interchange happening.

Obviously the mainstream porn industry is incredibly successful, but that’s largely because they’re selling something that, until streaming video became watchable, had limited supply and almost limitless demand. Consequently the producers didn’t have to try very hard at all, and were able to get rich producing mundane and repetitive content. I can’t think of any other industry in the world that has such low standards, puts almost nothing into R&D, is more regressive, and yet still successful. Of all the people I talk to, nobody likes the sort of porn that fills the shelves of adult shops, but there’s hardly an alternative, and certainly the large producers and distributors are content to just make more of the same.

Cherry Trifle: Let’s talk a little about your business model and content. I’m assuming the overhead is extremely low?

Richard Lawrence: The contributors are all paid, and the site gives the details where you’re invited to submit your own Agony. I don’t know that Agony even makes a profit. It’s hard to say because it’s one of several sites we run commercially and they share overhead, but there are significant expenses and not all that many members compared to what I imagine mainstream sites might have. We have a full-time editor and people doing admin, and we still loan out cameras to local contributors where we can, so there’s probably a lot more going on behind the scenes than you might imagine.

Cherry Trifle: How do you select which videos to post?

Richard Lawrence: [My partner, Lauren] goes through the process of sorting the videos, and some people, despite their best intentions, seem unable or unwilling to let go of the idea that this is documentary rather than performance. So, the choice is subjective to some extent, but if you were to look at the videos at the back of the drawer you’d probably agree that they don’t capture the rapture of the human face in orgasm.

Cherry Trifle: You say that these videos are documentary, rather than performance…

Richard Lawrence: I think one of the biggest problems with the porn industry is that it doesn’t do a good job with its responsibility as a sex educator; which it is, regrettably—and not just for adolescents. Plenty of grownups have more sexual experience, in fact way more, through porn than with partners. As hardcore porn becomes more mainstream, people are developing these ridiculous notions of what women like, or what men like, and what people look like, or what is acceptable sexual behaviour.

I recently met a woman in her late 20s who told me she didn’t like anal sex, but had been doing it for years because she thought it was expected of all women, just as she’d seen in all the porn DVDs. And isn’t it incredible that not all women like to have five guys come in their face at once? In gonzo porn, it’s shown that all sex acts have their price, and so does every woman, as the host picks up a “random girl” from the street and peels off $100 bills in the back of a van. In fact, through running Agony, I have come to despise [traditional] porn rather than just be bored with it; porn could do so much to enhance sexual relationships, yet overwhelmingly, [porn] works against them through the depiction of sexual practices without context or informed consent.

There is a whole other side to Beautiful Agony that many people overlook, the section called “Confessions.” In these interviews or self-filmed revelations, the “Agonees” tell us—usually very frankly—all about their sex lives, and their stories are often remarkable.

One of my favorites is the well-spoken 20-something who decided to try out her new sex toy on the commuter train home, only to find that the lock on the bathroom door didn't quite work, much to the astonishment of an older lady passenger… After listening to a few of those stories you start to take a bit more notice of, well, things.

Cherry Trifle: I’ve noticed in the sequences I’ve watched, that although the people seem very “real,” each video seems to have such a soft, ethereal look to it—a consistent one. Is that your doing?

Richard Lawrence: Not at all. If you go through the process yourself, you’ll find it’s a bit like getting gassed at the dentist: you’re flooded with a sort of warm feeling of liberation. It’s hard to describe. Try it. Then send us your tape!

http://www.alternet.org/story/145809/is ... ternative/

[No_Baseline]

Not a dude, but I used to love reading Penthouse Forum. I can't explain.

me neither

[AhabsOtherLeg]

.
Scientists Study Porno, Men Find

*High School science class enrollment amongst males increases 800%*

[82_28]

Tell us about your other leg, Ahab.

[slomo]

Speaking up for teh gayz.... I don't like filmed porn - too staged, too fake, too plastic. Excepting some old 70s stuff, which is hot because the men are not trimmed and are not muscle freaks.

But I do like pictures of naked men. My porn taste is pretty much the same as real life: 40 year old good looking guys who are fit (but not 'roid-heads) and somewhat furry, and maybe balding a little. In short, much like my boyfriend, only slightly younger, slightly buffer and (I'll admit it) a whole lot dumber.

I also like to read some erotic stories.

[AhabsOtherLeg]

Tell us about your other leg, Ahab.

Again? Okay, here's a story from my youth and young manhood, from the chapter called The MastHead:

It was during the more pleasant weather, that in due rotation with the other seamen my first mast-head came round...

...Saint Stylites, the famous Christian hermit of old times, who built him a lofty stone pillar in the desert and spent the whole latter part of his life on it's summit, hoisting his food from the ground with a tackle; in him we have a remarkable instance of a dauntless stander-of-mast-heads; who was not to be driven from his place by fogs or frosts, rain, hail, or sleet; but valiantly facing everything out to the last, literally died at his post...

Of modern standers of mast-heads we have but a lifeless set; mere stone, iron, and bronze men; who, though well capable of facing out a stiff gale, are still incapable of singing out upon discovery of any strange sight.

This is why retro stuff is usually better.

[barracuda]

Okay, I'll admit it - Saint Simeon Stylites doing 39 years atop an erect pillar: that's pretty hot.



I guess I had several thoughts about the Onionesque OP article. The Canadian researchers presumably advertised "seeking men in their 20s who had never consumed pornography", and they got no volunteers. I like the phrasing: "consumed", like folks are scarfing it down. It must have never occurred to them that the persons they were seeking might be the last people who would respond to such a call. Then, having found no subjects, they issued a press release announcing their lack of ability as an accomplished finding: all men watch porn - or at least these twenty do. I will have to admit to taking a certain desultory private embarrassment at having been caught in such a large and porous net.

I can’t think of any other industry in the world that has such low standards, puts almost nothing into R&D, is more regressive, and yet still successful.

I can think of one - fast food pizza. It's a compliment to even call it food, but nearly everyone "consumes" it when it's within arm's reach.

[blanc]

yet again, I'm taking issue with the 'she looks like she's really enjoying it' excuse/reason/idea/bullshit* - pick a word I can't. That's usually a subjective opinion based on next to no information about how any given image was shot, who the people on camera are, why they are there doing what they're doing for your enjoyment and money.

* also the excuse/reason/idea/bullshit flagged up by sadistic paedophile perverts about their victims.

You buy a product with less information and effective regulation about its manufacture than you have about the meat in your hamburger.

[82_28]

I didn't feel like typing this out earlier, but since I got nothing else to do, here goes. . .

When I turned 18 some 18 years ago (Jesus Christ 18 years!!!) my friend and I thought that on my 18th birthday a fun and "adult" way to spend it would be going to a strip club.

He was my best friend. We were both raised fundie assed Christian. My birthday is on the 10 plus 2 day of December.

That night it was snowing like crazy. Denver Colorado. The place was the "Red Garter". Completely empty, besides me and my buddy drinking four dollar cokes.

We stayed back a bit during the initial "dances". Nervous as fuck. Completely naked chicks showing us their "pink" from a ways away. Very odd for an 18 year old I would imagine. Then they started beckoning us to the stage with the pole and all that. With mucho trepidation we followed the orders. We were alone, mind you again, 18 years old, during a blizzard in a deserted downtown Denver strip club. Club deserted and city itself deserted. It was very eerie and very weird.

As for myself, my initial feelings were feeling sorry for these girls. But their pu__ies were there, smack dab essentially in our faces. One would thing AWESOME!!!! Right?

Yes, it was absolutely a fucking 18 year old kid's turn on. I do in fact, miss that hormonal response. It was very exciting.

But the night was so goddamn weird. And it got weirder.

The girls came to us when they weren't dancing and made us feel as though we were something special. After we'd gotten done staring up their vaginas, they'd put on their clothes and come sit with us. As a virgin at the time, I didn't understand this at all. In fact, it scared the living fuck out of me. I guess no pun intended.

But, as I said, me and my buddy were brought up fundie. We really felt like we had sinned, as the say.

So having had enough of it, we step outside and the entirety of downtown Denver was covered in about a foot of snow. Untouched! No tracks. No footsteps. Just my car sitting there in a pristine white parking lot, all alone, completely silent.

About now, my friend and I just simply could not believe what we had just witnessed. It was a whole other world of existence. But naturally, we felt the soggy sinful feeling, being virgins as we were, of sex, of women's bodies. But nothing warm! It bothered me that I could never look at my mom or his mom in the same way again. Because, after all, we were "sneaking around" by using our 18ishness to see what the rock looks like on the bottom once you unearth it. Our mommies would not have been happy knowing what we had done.

As I said, about a foot of snow now.

I start the car up and navigate to I-25 to begin heading south to a b-day party others were holding for me. Unlike the surface streets, the freeway seemed clear and ready to at least drive 65. And I did. I was cruising along, passing people going so slow it was crazy. I was too much of an idiot 18 year old to even consider the existence of black ice. But 65 did I drive.

As I was driving, my friend and I reflected on the "sinful" and very weird at that time in our lives' thing we had just done. We both kinda apologized to God as we were speeding along. Whisking past everybody -- wondering why everyone else was driving so slow.

Well, all of a sudden this yellow Subaru puts on its left signal and gets into my lane. I barely tap my brakes and that was all it took to send my car out of control. The girl driving it was at mostly a complete stop. There had been an accident on one of the right hand lanes.

As I am spinning out I say to my buddy, "I think we're dead". I think I said "goodbye" to him. My car is careening, my door headed directly to her stopped car's back right bumper, my tires are turned completely to the right, I'm basically going 55 or 60 MPH.

We impact. Nothing at all happens! Nothing!

I am gently pushed away from the car, wind up facing oncoming traffic -- which itself goes out of control on the ice. But I did not hit her car!!

Well, here's the deal. Both myself and she pull to the side and we are wondering what the fuck happened. How it wasn't a wreck of deadly proportions. We look at my tire, that had been cranked ALL THE WAY to the right and we realize, that that little "window" of rubber, where the tire exposes about an inch of itself outside of the plane of the vehicle's side is what impacted her bumper. That one inch of rubber, combined with the ice, is what saved possibly four people's lives.

Ah, fuck it. Rubber saves lives.

But that is my over-arching "porn story" and why basically I don't like it to this day. Something of a spiritually moral "dataset"
intervened for me on that day -- my birthday.

Perhaps even, porn saved my life. Whatever. But there you have it from me. . .

[82_28]

Tell us about your other leg, Ahab.

Again? Okay, here's a story from my youth and young manhood, from the chapter called The MastHead:

It was during the more pleasant weather, that in due rotation with the other seamen my first mast-head came round...

...Saint Stylites, the famous Christian hermit of old times, who built him a lofty stone pillar in the desert and spent the whole latter part of his life on it's summit, hoisting his food from the ground with a tackle; in him we have a remarkable instance of a dauntless stander-of-mast-heads; who was not to be driven from his place by fogs or frosts, rain, hail, or sleet; but valiantly facing everything out to the last, literally died at his post...

Of modern standers of mast-heads we have but a lifeless set; mere stone, iron, and bronze men; who, though well capable of facing out a stiff gale, are still incapable of singing out upon discovery of any strange sight.

This is why retro stuff is usually better.

That right there was a joke. Tell us about your other leg, Ahab. (Insert popping out of a hole worm emoticon here).

On the subject of pornography, I suppose jokes cannot be told. Far too serious a subject.

So here is what was meant by it and nothing against anybody on this board. Sometimes, sometimes in the porn realm, a man's penis is sometimes, sometimes, referred to as his "third leg". I thought the worm emoticon was funny and didn't expect to see it when I was trying to supply an emoticon that I was merely joking. You, Ahab, had a name that I thought was funny ONLY IN THE CONTEXT of this thread coupled with my posts therein insofar as being one of the only people that find pornography disagreeable.

[Nordic]

Goddamn, 82, that's so weird. My very first strip club experience was ..... the Red Garter in Denver Colorado. Same as you!

Yeah, it turned me off of strip clubs for a very long time. It was a nasty little hole (so to speak). A dive.

So strange. The only reason I ever went back to a strip club was in Denver, again, and I had to go there for a job. I am not making this up. I can't go into details, but I was hired to write something that was set in a "modern" (at the time) Gentleman's Club. So we went to Shotgun Willie's. You've probably heard of it if you're from Denver.

It was 180 degrees different from The Red Garter. I couldn't quite believe it. After that, I'll admit, I really enjoyed the high end strip clubs. I'll freely admit it.

It's like porn, only in person.

Such a Denver story, 82! The snow, the Red Garter, wiping out on I-25. One night I was driving down Colfax, right by the capitol, and nearly ran over a drunk dude who was sleeping in the middle of the street.

I miss Denver.

[Cordelia]

Not that it was a subject of small talk, but I don't think I ever knew a guy who didn't like porn.

...I don't like filmed porn - too staged, too fake, too plastic. Excepting some old 70s stuff....

I think that was about the time 'Deep Throat' and the Swedish 'I Am Curious' films were being shown in theaters other than just porn houses and creating shock, but at the same time, making porn more acceptable. One of my two adult viewings of hard core porn was in 1971 (actually, I was still a teenager) and I remember the year because 'The French Connection' was in theaters and, it was so good, I wanted to see it again. But my boyfriend, his brother and his girlfriend voted me down because we'd talked about driving to 14th Street (long ago the red light district of Washington) as an adventure to see a porn film. What we saw was so boring, and silly, I thought, I can't remember any of it, except that the only other viewers were a couple of dozen stereo-typed men scattered throughout the theater and I swear they were all wearing raincoats.

I think far more offensive than sex porn is violence porn. I made the mistake of watching a clip from 'Inglorious Bastards' and it made me physically ill. I thought, why did I put myself through that? (But, I guess violence porn is more than acceptable because IB's considered one of 2009's top ten films.)

A really good film about the sex industry, IMHO, is 'Irina Palm' with Marianne Faithfull as a grandmother who, to make money for medical costs to save her dying grandson, becomes a successful sex worker. It's shocking, touching (pun intended) and funny. (Faithfull might have lost her voice, but she sure can act.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9Hb3FWPOuM

Edited to add warning that the trailer may be triggering!

[Avalon]

But it gives me the willies going down to the corner

Heh.

[chump]

Such a Denver story, 82! The snow, the Red Garter, wiping out on I-25. One night I was driving down Colfax, right by the capitol, and nearly ran over a drunk dude who was sleeping in the middle of the street.

I miss Denver.

That was you!

Porn is a touchy subject for me. Braille Porn: Bummer! (Don't you need both hands to read braille?)

A friend of mine told me to go to Google and type in thigh; make sure the safe search is off. So I did: What the hell! Thighs, legs, tits, asses, a retinue of any kind of porn your horn dog may desire. The trouble is, any 8 year old kid on the Internet is actually likely to type in toys, and come up with 'hermaphrodite sticks toys up/in ... ' whatever!

I hate to say this, but when I was growing up, my Dad would keep a Playboy around the house, but that was it! The dirty bookstore and adult cinemas were over in another part of town. There was no cable TV. A pimply faced teenager had to use his imagination. Nowadays, there's no tellin' what your kids gonna be learnin' on the Internet.

The objectifying of men and women is mainstream now. Tough world.

(Buncha shit man)