Is Porn Bad for You?

[82_28]

Barracuda, as we all can possibly fall victim to it's sweet attraction, sometimes we can all be too clever by half. You have said shit in the past about shit you take seriously and others may or may not take as seriously as you. Also, it works the other way.

I can see now how what you said was a joke and I took it possibly more different than meant, but that was where my brain was at. But to show that it was in good humor, I included a pic of ST (a band I happen to love), but also defines, in my upbringing what a renegade like you would look like growing up in So-Cal. There was humor there. How the fuck could that be taken without humor? You're just a crotchety ass motherfucker when it comes down to it who once skated the sidewalks of Venice Beach. Sweet brah.

"Nevertheless", porn is no joke and I don't think that it is "good for you" nor healthy. Objectification and the capitalization of the physical characteristics of other humans and what can be done to them by others no matter how hot or consensual, is no stand in for intellect and heart.

And no, that was a dumb joke. Rebecca does not "rool". Rush does.

[barracuda]

What an interesting group of assumptions. It seems only fair to let you know that none of them have just about any relationship to just about anything about me in just about any way.

[Project Willow]

Objectification and the capitalization of the physical characteristics of other humans and what can be done to them by others no matter how hot or consensual, is no stand in for intellect and heart.

What an odd comment of yours to read after innumerable encounters with your utter disrespect for the feelings and viewpoints of myself and other women when we speak to our experiences of objectification, most especially as exemplified by your participation in the misogyny thread.

[82_28]

Objectification and the capitalization of the physical characteristics of other humans and what can be done to them by others no matter how hot or consensual, is no stand in for intellect and heart.

What an odd comment of yours to read after innumerable encounters with your utter disrespect for the feelings and viewpoints of myself and other women when we speak to our experiences of objectification, most especially as exemplified by your participation in the misogyny thread.

Seriously? What did I say in any thread that even presupposed my objectification of women? Good christ, there is no need to be nuts here. Like, no need. Point me to one comment, ONE comment in which I've ever said anything which champions the objectification of women. And also be sure to add the self-deprecating parts with stories about how we can all be friends and leave the misogyny behind. I didn't "participate" in that thread. I tried to participate and was chased out, because my take, along with who knows how many others is not appreciated. Thus, I no longer post there.

[Project Willow]

Seriously? What did I say in any thread that even presupposed my objectification of women? Good christ, there is no need to be nuts here. Like, no need. Point me to one comment, ONE comment in which I've ever said anything which champions the objectification of women. And also be sure to add the self-deprecating parts with stories about how we can all be friends and leave the misogyny behind. I didn't "participate" in that thread. I tried to participate and was chased out, because my take, along with who knows how many others is not appreciated. Thus, I no longer post there.

Nuts? You occupy no ground on which to be insulting. You've objectified me both in person and on this forum, and yes, in service to your need for the preservation of your fantasy of some false peace. However, if you require concrete examples...

In my head, I've given females in my life everything I could according to my age at the time and then as I get to the age where I can recognize them as non sex objects, it becomes suddenly awful that I'm not "chasing" her with the youthful aplomb I once did.
Also our crazy moms have a bit to do with it too.

Where the fuck do I start with that? Three years and three misogyny threads ago I asserted that the starting gate of understanding "the woman problem" for most males is something akin to: "Shut the fuck up and listen." That gate is not even on your distant horizon dude.

[82_28]

What an interesting group of assumptions. It seems only fair to let you know that none of them have just about any relationship to just about anything about me in just about any way.

Whoa. Actually, no assumptions at all. I explained exactly why. WTF?!?!? It was a fucking joke. ST. So-Cal. My tomatoes are over 8 feet tall cos I'm in cali. Dude. It's not a big deal.

You guys take internet words far too seriously for good use in real life. Like, chill. There was nothing done or said here in the past few hours. If you're a fair mod, barracuda, you will lay off. Outta this thread for good too.

Peeps are mean.

Here's my goddamned original posts:

I am a total rarity and I am a dude's dude -- totally into sports, can talk the talk and all that. But I have made it known, that I fucking hate porn. In a loveless world, there is no room for porn. I'm a straight guy, all of my friends see no problem with it and I have no problem with them. Yet, I cannot stand porn. I cannot stand sex without love. There was this girl I used to hang out with a number of years ago -- yes sex happened. Well one day I went to pick her up and we were driving down the street and I decided to hold her hand. I never fucking talked to her again. I was GONE. Out of the picture. How dare one show affection in hipsterdom? Dirty sex is where it's at dawg!

Not in my life. And I fucking hate moralizers too. But I most hate, just hate it when I find out somebody I like and admire have nasty ass sex fetishes. It disgusts me. Thus, I hate all porn outside of a loving relationship and/or medium.

I've seen dudes I grew up with become total assholes to women and have nothing ever to say about a female that didn't have some sexual connotation

thats just bad parenting

Indeed. It is too widespread. (No pun intended -- well actually it was intended) :worm:

But! While it may be bad parenting, it is also bad "stewardship" of our human capability of empathy and compassion to say there isn't at least something 50% wrong with pornography. Sure, we may get our rocks off on it and that is completely natural. No problem there with me. Perhaps I should define myself better to all of you and myself -- perhaps it is society's preoccupation with it that is at root my problem with it. I dunno, just thinking.

Jesus christ, fine, let's outlaw all photographed porn, since it involves actual photographs of women doing nasty things that they must NOT like (because they're so pure!)

I'll be over here in the corner with my book of 1940's pinups .... with the "No women were actually photographed in the production of these erotic pictures" label.

Dolphin safe!

(and by the way, I've seen videos and photos of women at bachelorette parties getting pretty fucking nasty with the male strippers. It ain't all rainbows and unicorns)

Dunno if you're responding to me, Nordic. But I am not speaking from the standpoint of a woman. I am speaking from the standpoint of the man that I happen to be. These are my opinions. However, I hate it when people look at others with such a lust that their loving capabilities turn off. Again -- a preoccupation with porn, not porn itself.

I love my girlfriend. But as I tell her, since I love you, I am with you. Once you're in love, you've seen one vagina, you've seen them all. Don't even get me started on nasty throbbing penises. I have one. Except I try to make it less nasty in my eyes, as it were. A friendly appendage that I only use to love the one I love.

(and by the way, I've seen videos and photos of women at bachelorette parties getting pretty fucking nasty with the male strippers. It ain't all rainbows and unicorns)

This was way back in the 80's and if I've been paying attention like I think I have, there was no Internet back then and much less access to porn. There wasn't a societal preoccupation with it as thus. This is what concerns me. I was disgusted back when the camera phones came out and a girl I knew had her husband send her a pic of his dick. It has only gotten worse and I don't like it. All my opinion. Do what you will. However I hate porn in the same way I hate facebook. Some things need to remain sacred, as it were.

Goddamn that was a good article, username. Sums it up exactly.

Pornography, in other words, is a lie. It peddles falsehoods about men, women and human relationships. In the name of titillation, it seduces vulnerable, lonely men - and a small number of women - with the promise of intimacy, and delivers only a transitory masturbatory fix. Increasingly, though, men are starting to be open about the effect pornography has had upon them. David McLeod, a marketing executive, explains the cycle: "I'm drawn to porn when I'm lonely, particularly when I'm single and sexually frustrated. But I can easily get disgusted with myself. After watching a video two or three times, I'll throw it away and vow never to watch another again. But my resolve never lasts very long." He has, he says, "seen pretty much everything. I've even seen pictures of men being buggered by a pig. But once you start going down that slope, you get very quickly jaded."

Precisely. Love is what is needed. Not sex of any sort. Sex comes naturally after love. Love is most important.

I go down to this convenience store and there often men who buy their porn mags there. I am more worried about their lack of Internet usage. Kidding. But seriously, Porn to me is a symptom of a sick societal frame of mind. I don't even look at hot chicks anymore with sexual ambitions. I want to know who they are. I resent that being a male, I cannot get to know some of my brethren because it is assumed that all I want is hot dirty sex.

I have never had a problem with getting girls. In fact, in my past, I got the very best of the crop -- joke! Dazed and Confused reference. But you get to an age and through the intuitions given to us, you get over it. Some may call it aging. Sure. Aging. I am aging. It sucks. I would love to go back to the time I looked at every girl as a potential "sex partner". However, now, they are my friends and I prefer them that way, rather than objects of which I can have sex with. I have noticed that I can look at a lady's ass and I don't think about it in the same way any more. I can appreciate her beauty. But it is her beauty, not for me. Not because I am shit outta luck, but because, she is who she is. And I prefer to respect her rather than ogle her. This shit is very hard to prove to them though. Women assume you're a sicko when you are merely friendly with them. I don't like that.

As I have stated in earlier posts about all this bullshit, my girlfriend works for a huge cosmetics company. I go through this shit daily, listening to her stories about the industry, customers etc. It's no bueno. It's a fucking scam. Porn, cosmetics, lotions, creams, stupid ass unhealthy shoes, the constant flow of new clothes etc, are all scams meant to subjugate women. This is my opinion and only my opinion. I will continue to argue this, but understand any arguing by me will not be hateful.

Whatever. You can see there what it is I fucking think. That's all from this thread. I too am also fond of assumptions made of me. Sorry you never got a chance to skate down Venice Beach as a teen, barracuda. And I'm the one with the problem. Hijo de la verga.

[82_28]

Willow, you got me. I will now begin to power down all of my empathetic faculties as of midnight tonight. Thanks.

[23]

Needless to say, porn can be a highly inflammatory issue.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/0 ... porn-shop/
Man ‘Engulfed In Flames’ At San Francisco Porn Shop

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) — A man was hospitalized Wednesday evening with life-threatening, third-degree burns after somehow catching fire inside a San Francisco porn store, authorities told CBS 5.

The fire occurred at the Golden Gate Adult Superstore at 99 Sixth Street, near the intersection with Mission Street, in the city’s South of Market neighborhood around 6:20 p.m.

Police officers across the street from the porn shop saw a man run out the front door of the store “engulfed in flames,” SFPD Lt. Troy Dangerfield said.

Some firefighters who happened to be about a block away at the time were immediately summoned and extinguished the flames.

Arson investigators said it was not exactly clear how the man caught fire. Police indicated he had apparently been watching videos in a private booth at the adult arcade when the fire ignited.

The man, whose name has not been released, was being treated at St. Francis Memorial Hospital for severe burns over 90% of his body.

[Project Willow]

Willow, you got me. I will now begin to power down all of my empathetic faculties as of midnight tonight. Thanks.

Cool, so you'll stay out of my conflicts from now on? Excellent!

[Project Willow]

Just an offering for discussion...

Science teacher Gary Wilson explains the evolutionary forces behind porn’s appeal, how the brain changes in response to super-normal stimulation, what makes today’s porn different from static porn of the past, and what you need to know to regain your sense of direction if you're hooked on porn.

This presentation is not an argument against pornography. It was created for anyone who has a porn addiction, or wants to understand pornography addiction.

All videos are posted here:

http://yourbrainonporn.com/your-brain-on-porn-series

[Wombaticus Rex]

^^I felt like that was pop sci repurposed as "porn addiction" info-marketing. The neuro side of it was mostly quite outdated and oversimplified, although Gary himself is clearly a very agreeable and mellow fellow. I like him but I wasn't convinced.

He clearly stated the basic 90's era model of the human brain, provided a perfectly on point summary of addiction neuro-research, but I wasn't convinced that pornography viewing is really isomorphic to heroin and cocaine. If that evidence existed, it would probably be included, prominently, in the video.

I am, however, quite interested in what the neuroscience on pornography viewing actually is, so thanks for getting that ball rolling.

[Project Willow]

^^I felt like that was pop sci repurposed as "porn addiction" info-marketing. The neuro side of it was mostly quite outdated and oversimplified, although Gary himself is clearly a very agreeable and mellow fellow. I like him but I wasn't convinced.

Marketing what? His wife's book? Oversimplified, yes, it's intended for the general public and is narrowly focused. Would you detail what's incorrect/oudated?

I wasn't convinced that pornography viewing is really isomorphic to heroin and cocaine. [/b]

I do not believe that was what he said, just that they shared some reward center processes that contribute to addiction.

I am, however, quite interested in what the neuroscience on pornography viewing actually is, so thanks for getting that ball rolling.

I am too, I guess, although I was only half in the mood when I posted this.

[Wombaticus Rex]

Would you detail what's incorrect/oudated?

Just the entire narrative of specific brain areas being hardwired for specific purposes -- and especially the conceit that we know what those purposes are. The most that can be said is scientists have observed correlations between a specific stimulus and specific measurements.

That might sound like nit-picking, but it's a colony of nits at every level: conceit #1 is that our instrumentation is actually showing us something important (for all we know we're measuring the exhaust system of a computer and assuming we're monitoring the CPU's actual command line) ... conceit #2 is that the specific stimulus in their experiment was the source of the EM activity being measured (which we have no mechanism to test or prove), conceit #3 is that said stimulus, applied in a lab setting, approximates normal human behavior in the real world, and conceit #4 is that the brain is the stand-alone computational center of the human organism.

I'm sure many of you reading this have noticed the tonal similarities between coverage of neuroscence and genetics -- just like every Time headline in the 90's was about how "Who You Are" is determined mechanically by Gene X, Y and Z, the past 20 years of neurofads have been about areas of the brain controlling us mechanically thanks to area X, Y and Z. Journalists latch on to narratives, not actual findings, which are too subtle for headlines and too complex for their readership. Subsequently, scientists use these popular narratives to explain their work and seek more funding, and thus do lazy mistakes become institutionalized problems.

(edit - more often than not, conceit #0 is that experiments on tortured, half-dead lab animals yield results which can be accurately extrapolated to human populations.)

Neurology is in a pre-paradigm state, so pop sci neurology has been a steady, reliable source for dangerous metaphors....buuuut that's about it.

[sw]

From the viewpoint of a child who was used in porn filming.....I'd say yes, it was bad for me.

[JackRiddler]

Just the entire narrative of specific brain areas being hardwired for specific purposes -- and especially the conceit that we know what those purposes are. The most that can be said is scientists have observed correlations between a specific stimulus and specific measurements.

That might sound like nit-picking, but it's a colony of nits at every level: conceit #1 is that our instrumentation is actually showing us something important (for all we know we're measuring the exhaust system of a computer and assuming we're monitoring the CPU's actual command line) ... conceit #2 is that the specific stimulus in their experiment was the source of the EM activity being measured (which we have no mechanism to test or prove), conceit #3 is that said stimulus, applied in a lab setting, approximates normal human behavior in the real world, and conceit #4 is that the brain is the stand-alone computational center of the human organism.

I'm sure many of you reading this have noticed the tonal similarities between coverage of neuroscence and genetics -- just like every Time headline in the 90's was about how "Who You Are" is determined mechanically by Gene X, Y and Z, the past 20 years of neurofads have been about areas of the brain controlling us mechanically thanks to area X, Y and Z. Journalists latch on to narratives, not actual findings, which are too subtle for headlines and too complex for their readership. Subsequently, scientists use these popular narratives to explain their work and seek more funding, and thus do lazy mistakes become institutionalized problems.

(edit - more often than not, conceit #0 is that experiments on tortured, half-dead lab animals yield results which can be accurately extrapolated to human populations.)

Neurology is in a pre-paradigm state, so pop sci neurology has been a steady, reliable source for dangerous metaphors....buuuut that's about it.

Very nice deconstruction of the pretend bioneural paradigm! Thank you! (I'd like to see that on edge.org.)

That being said, I've no doubt on the intuitive level that seeking pornography can be pathological and kin to addiction, and that it can translate to physical dependency (wherever that may be centered or enacted). Also, that this addictive aspect (which does not mean "necessary" or "inevitable") is an outgrowth of an endless sex drive that couldn't possibly be satisfied in the real world; whereas sublimation, repression or various types of discipline were the routes before, suddenly there's an abundance of simulated goodies for increasingly temporary satisfaction that constantly engenders cravings (since it's always available).

Anyway, porn is often "bad for you," often very bad for the production workers (and obviously one of the worst possible things for the outright victims of rape or abuse), and corrosive of usually constructive social norms, such as commitment and self-control; and so? All that being said, and leaving aside the niche in which actual rape and abuse happens, I think that on the whole pornography makes for an average subset within the larger phenomenon of consumerism.

Besides, everyone knows the Internet would have never been financed without it.

.