A few caveats about pornography

[Track01_Rebuild]

MachineMuse

Track01_Rebuild

MachineMuse

I think people who use pornography a lot should reconsider. Here are some reasons why. Some is more conjecture than others, but everything is rooted in multitudes of anecdotal evidence at the very least.

1) It makes you bad at sex.

2) It makes you extra-focused on the visual aspect of sex.

It's also bad for your sexual standards - you'll find it harder to be turned on by people who don't look like porn stars and might skip over a lot of people who are probably very compatible.

3) It promotes negative gender stereotypes. Still.

And what about lesbian porn?


Anyway, I know not all of these reasons will apply to all of you, but I do think at least one of them might mean something to almost everyone.

Ok, I cut out the filler explanation bits and left the main bullet points of your OP. Lols at the vast generalizations aside, I have had none of the problems you've mentioned. Maybe I'm some sort of "rare lucky" person. Or maybe, you're generalizing people who use pornographic media to masturbate to on a regular basis and assume they're all deranged addicts.

Bad at sex: I don't take sexual cues from porn. It's fantasy. I didn't learn to drive from movies or video games. Or how to shoot a gun. Why would I hold any entertainment media as a learning vice if it's not made for that purpose? I have discussed a few "techniques" with my fiance that I've noticed in porn, and he has enjoyed it. Then again, I used my brain, and I DISCUSSED it beforehand.

Yup, 1) engaged and 2) open lines of communication. You're lucky and not the target audience of this thread. Sorry! I thought I made that clear with the whole 'if you already have sex regularly it's not such a big deal' bit.

Engaged does not mean I have sex regularly. Isn't that the reason I look up porn regularly? Because I don't have sex as often as my sex drive wants?
Am I not the target audience because even though I get off to porn on average once or twice a day, I am engaged and that makes it magically ok? Or is it because I don't have the problems you posted as "at least one to almost everyone"?

Quote:

Track01_Rebuild

[...]So don't generalize that it happens in all porn.

I actually specifically pointed out that it doesn't apply to all porn. The very first sentence there! Jeez. If you're gonna cut stuff out, at least make sure you take it into account when you formulate a rebuttal.

My apologies for going back in and re-working my post and then not reading the whole thing through. That was supposed to be a separate thought about the overall OP, not about that specific point.

[MachineMuse]

Kasze

Consider still that I do not advocate pornography.
The idea that porn makes you bad at sex denies the agency of both parties to communicate needs and desires, and in itself allots the masculine party the role of control in sexual intercourse, bidding that viewers of porn (overwhelmingly male) could ruin sex with their technique alone.

Doesn't that sort of follow from #3 though?

I don't mean to imply that it's an acceptable paradigm. Only that it is common.

Kasze

It also suggests gender paradigms, invoking the notion that a male need be good at sex, let alone presuming he is interested in it at all. That said, sexual 'technique' is fairly simple and you really don't need much; the movies are no less absurd in their portrayal. Conjecture indeed.

You do need communication and reciprocation, though! And somebody has to either know what they're doing or want to experiment beyond the familiar scripts.

Kasze

Pornography also often employs the phonic side of sex. Execution and vocals are key in most mainstream pornography. Pornography doesn't simply invade all aspects of time and space to distract a regular viewer, even if less-than-savory thoughts arise. They arise regardless, usually.

It's true that such thoughts do arise regardless, but I doubt it's exactly the same.

Kasze

The idea that pornography skews your standards, though true for younger people, doesn't render a regular viewer incapable of being attracted to a regular-looking person by a long shot. It also assumes pornography has a single staple or standard to run on.

I haven't seen an 'ugly people' porn site. I guess one probably exists though. I recognize there are a lot of different preferences that are catered to, and some by definition aren't supermodels. But there are certain common denominators among the others.

Kasze

Your third point is entirely true.

I don't advocate pornography personally because of the rampant disease, abuse, degradation, objectification, and brutalization of the human beings involved.

Good! I noticed you don't say you oppose it. Is that out of some sort of universal tolerance policy or..?

[MachineMuse]

IronySandwich

Why does it being about sex mean anything? Why does this make it worthy of focus? Most people fantasize about driving before actually doing it too. Racing games promote an unrealistic image of what that's like.

People also get driving lessons.

IronySandwich

What is it about porn that makes it so much worse? Is it just that it's about sex? If so, how exactly does that make it worse?

The privacy aspect, maybe?

[IronySandwich]

MachineMuse

IronySandwich

Why does it being about sex mean anything? Why does this make it worthy of focus? Most people fantasize about driving before actually doing it too. Racing games promote an unrealistic image of what that's like.

People also get driving lessons.

That owes more to the higher cost of bad driving. Which, if anything, is a point against the notion of porn being worse since bad driving is several orders of magnitude more likely to cause serious injury or death than bad sex.

MachineMuse

IronySandwich

What is it about porn that makes it so much worse? Is it just that it's about sex? If so, how exactly does that make it worse?

The privacy aspect, maybe?

What privacy aspect? Are you referring to the fact that sex is usually done privately? If so, then why exactly is that relevant?


What I suppose I'm getting at here is: Sex just isn't a big deal, and treating it like it is isn't very "sex-positive". Honestly, it seems like a bit of a hold over from the "sex should make you feel guilty" religious view of it. Yes, porn is unrealistic, but it is unrealistic in the exact same way that all other movies are unrealistic.

[Lauc-Brege]

MachineMuse

Kasze

Consider still that I do not advocate pornography.
The idea that porn makes you bad at sex denies the agency of both parties to communicate needs and desires, and in itself allots the masculine party the role of control in sexual intercourse, bidding that viewers of porn (overwhelmingly male) could ruin sex with their technique alone.

Doesn't that sort of follow from #3 though?

I don't mean to imply that it's an acceptable paradigm. Only that it is common.

Kasze

It also suggests gender paradigms, invoking the notion that a male need be good at sex, let alone presuming he is interested in it at all. That said, sexual 'technique' is fairly simple and you really don't need much; the movies are no less absurd in their portrayal. Conjecture indeed.

You do need communication and reciprocation, though! And somebody has to either know what they're doing or want to experiment beyond the familiar scripts.

Kasze

Pornography also often employs the phonic side of sex. Execution and vocals are key in most mainstream pornography. Pornography doesn't simply invade all aspects of time and space to distract a regular viewer, even if less-than-savory thoughts arise. They arise regardless, usually.

It's true that such thoughts do arise regardless, but I doubt it's exactly the same.

Kasze

The idea that pornography skews your standards, though true for younger people, doesn't render a regular viewer incapable of being attracted to a regular-looking person by a long shot. It also assumes pornography has a single staple or standard to run on.

I haven't seen an 'ugly people' porn site. I guess one probably exists though. I recognize there are a lot of different preferences that are catered to, and some by definition aren't supermodels. But there are certain common denominators among the others.

Kasze

Your third point is entirely true.

I don't advocate pornography personally because of the rampant disease, abuse, degradation, objectification, and brutalization of the human beings involved.

Good! I noticed you don't say you oppose it. Is that out of some sort of universal tolerance policy or..?

I was talking about that idea, not porn itself. If porn creates or propagates such a negative paradigm, an argument against porn probably doesn't do well to support that paradigm, just to stop porn. If a male stopped using porn because you said it would make them bad at sex, the idea that a male must or should want to be good at sex, an advocacy of pornography, still lingers. Of course, the world does not work in absolutes, and two out of three isn't bad.

I doubt pornography would quell a sense of exploration in regular viewers. Given the...colorful nature of the content, it should spur it. But maybe there's a variable to porn I'm not considering.

You mean the archetypal 32D bust, 26 inch waist women drenched in make-up and bronzer, right? It's a fair assessment to say pornography doesn't help, but that is a part of the beauty debate that rages in just about every medium with a consideration for aesthetics. I'd say tackle it outside of porn to see the effects ripple through porn and beyond.

I oppose it in its current form. It's unlikely that it won't ever exist, and so I don't bother rallying against the notion of pornography itself.

[Keltoi Samurai]

Yoshpet

Why is every argument against pornography a laundry-list of general addiction symptoms? emotion_facepalm

WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!

[black_wing_angel]

marshmallowcreampie

1. Of course porn is about visuals. Porn isn't INTENDED to teach people about sex, it's so they have something to jack off to.

On the other hand, that would be an interesting take on pornography. Hosted by Bill Nye biggrin

Quote:

2. Eh, perhaps I can give you this. If your only experience with sex is through pornography, then it probably will warp your perceptions on what's normal, and what's good.

Nothing that can't be corrected with proper teaching. biggrin Hell, that just sounds like a new level of intimacy in a relationship.

Quote:

3. I can't really say anything about this, I don't watch porn so I can't say if it degrades women or promotes stereotypes or anything. Closest I've got to seeing porn, my sister dragged me to a sex shop because she needed to get an outfit for a sexy schoolgirl costume contest at her work. Though I will give the sex industry credit, judging from what I saw, their beauty standards seem to be a bit more flexible than Hollywood.

You have no idea....

[MachineMuse]

Track01_Rebuild

Engaged does not mean I have sex regularly. Isn't that the reason I look up porn regularly? Because I don't have sex as often as my sex drive wants?
Am I not the target audience because even though I get off to porn on average once or twice a day, I am engaged and that makes it magically ok? Or is it because I don't have the problems you posted as "at least one to almost everyone"?

Sure. It can be that I'm just trying to rationalize you not fitting any of the categories. I understand you don't fit the first because you're sexually experienced and communicate well with your partner. The second is pretty subjective although you didn't really address it. And as for the third, I guess we just see vastly different sections of the porn industry? It's not exactly a small world.

Regardless, all this really means is I don't consider your use of porn unhealthy or damaging. And that's great!

Quote:

Track01_Rebuild

[...]So don't generalize that it happens in all porn.

That was supposed to be a separate thought about the overall OP, not about that specific point.

Hm, I don't see how this could apply to any part of the OP honestly...if you're just being defensive about your porn habit, don't worry! You now have my stamp of approval.

[Rose die Valkyrie]

MachineMuse

I don't think pornography should be banned, but I think people who use pornography a lot should reconsider. Here are some reasons why. Some is more conjecture than others, but everything is rooted in multitudes of anecdotal evidence at the very least.

I'm just a bit curious as to what they should do instead?

Do you mean any form of erotica that's not in your own head or just pornographic videos or....?

Porn is about fantasy and can be used to explore things you wouldn't be comfortable with doing real life or are even physically incapable of doing. I've found that this exploration also can help make people more open minded to different kinds of sex. If someone who has absolutely no knowledge or understanding of sex beyond a man and a woman in a bed facing each other then they're probably going to react quite negatively to "deviant" but legitimate sexual acts, such as using paraphernalia or wearing costumes or having multiple partners etc. Not to mention sex between people who are of the same sex or some form of sexual minority.

Quote:

1) It makes you bad at sex.
Porn isn't designed to show good sex technique, obviously. It's made to provide visual sexual stimulation to the viewer. As a result, you get a lot of positions with very little touching because they have to get the camera in there. And a lot of positions with just the genitals because your options for 'simulating' the experience are limited when you have one hand on the mouse and the other in your underwear. Compare sex scenes in movies with pornography - it's like they're filming two completely different activities.

Granted, this isn't as applicable if you have sex regularly, but even if you do, think about how much of what you do is because you tried it every which way and found that to be the way you like it, as opposed to how much is because it's what porn actors/actresses do.

There is a huge variety of porn so that's a pretty bold statement to make since it's one that's impossible to apply to porn in general.

I'm certain that there is a substantial amount of porn out there that's geared toward a straight male audience that focuses on male stimulation and not any reciprocation whatsoever and that could lead to some dysfunctional sex, however I think that there's just as much porn out there that can be very sensual and even romantic and focus on both partners being stimulated.

Regardless though, porn isn't meant to be instructional so I think that's a bit unfair to critique it for since that isn't its intention at all and more importantly that's not why most people use porn.

From my understanding, porn is used simply as a masturbation aid and possibly a way to explore your own sexuality, not a strict source of education about the subject. People don't take notes while watching it, they're just trying to get off.

It's sounds like you're mainly speaking to teenage boys who haven't had sex but they aren't the only ones who use porn and most of those boys will eventually have sex and understand the difference between the fantasy they've seen and the reality they're experiencing with their partners.

Quote:

2) It makes you extra-focused on the visual aspect of sex.
If your sex life revolves around porn, then seeing things which remind you of porn are more likely to make you think sexy thoughts and get aroused and distracted from whatever else you were supposed to be doing. That might not be a bad thing, but I think generally if you need to focus on something else and sexy thoughts are distracting you, that's a problem.

This is especially bad if your experience of the opposite sex consists largely of porn. It's hard to think straight and treat someone like a normal person when you're imagining them undressing with you.

It's also bad for your sexual standards - you'll find it harder to be turned on by people who don't look like porn stars and might skip over a lot of people who are probably very compatible.

But there are many different kinds of porn, not just videos and pictures!

Written pornography is absolutely huge and in terms of popularity I think rivals the visual mediums.

In regards to having high standards, I think those people would have those prejudices ANYWAYS even if they didn't watch porn.

Quote:

3) It promotes negative gender stereotypes. Still.
This definitely doesn't apply to all porn. But there is a lot of degradation in the form of dirty talk and male-worship. I understand that can be a fetish and is an ego-stroke for the male viewers, but as someone who has to live in a world where women are slowly gaining equality, do you really want this paradigm to stay strong?

And what about lesbian porn? How much of it implies a third, male viewer who might want to join them? (I haven't watched lesbian porn in a while though so this might be less common these days)

Again, there are so many different kinds of porn! Different types of relationships and dynamics.

Having a woman in a position of power over a man is a HUGE category. Not that that's necessarily better since it's still a power-imbalance thing BUT it does counter-balance the male-dominating porn.

I think the big problem I have with your perception of porn is simply because you don't (I'm assuming) really use it or have much knowledge or experience with it.

Personally, I'm not a huge expert either but I've certainly explored and enjoyed porn in the past and I think it's all about what you bring to the table. If you're looking for porn where the woman is being raped than that's you bringing our own desires into the medium not the medium influencing you. Just because you find porn like that doesn't really mean anything because there's just as much porn about totally different things.

Quote:

---
Anyway, I know not all of these reasons will apply to all of you, but I do think at least one of them might mean something to almost everyone. And if it does, consider using your imagination more when masturbating. smile

But porn can help people expand their imaginations and consider things they'd never would have thought of before!

The big problem with your statements is that they're huge generalizations and it's impossible to generalize an entire medium because it isn't just a genre or niche, it's a vast and ever-growing microcosm of content being generated not just by commercial producers but also amateurs actively creating and expanding the boundaries of sexual possibilities, all with their own biases and desires.

I just don't think its usage is in any way unhealthy or inherently damaging.

[Track01_Rebuild]

MachineMuse

Track01_Rebuild

[...]So don't generalize that it happens in all porn.

That was supposed to be a separate thought about the overall OP, not about that specific point.

Hm, I don't see how this could apply to any part of the OP honestly...if you're just being defensive about your porn habit, don't worry! You now have my stamp of approval.

emotion_facepalm

It applies to the whole thing, because your entire OP is generalizing porn and its viewers.

[MachineMuse]

IronySandwich

MachineMuse

IronySandwich

Why does it being about sex mean anything? Why does this make it worthy of focus? Most people fantasize about driving before actually doing it too. Racing games promote an unrealistic image of what that's like.

People also get driving lessons.

That owes more to the higher cost of bad driving. Which, if anything, is a point against the notion of porn being worse since bad driving is several orders of magnitude more likely to cause serious injury or death than bad sex.

That doesn't fix your analogy about racing games, and saying 'x is worse than y so why do you care about y' is such a tired tactic.

IronySandwich

What privacy aspect? Are you referring to the fact that sex is usually done privately? If so, then why exactly is that relevant?

Because it's not exposed to social correction the way driving or delusions of magical powers are.

IronySandwich

What I suppose I'm getting at here is: Sex just isn't a big deal, and treating it like it is isn't very "sex-positive". Honestly, it seems like a bit of a hold over from the "sex should make you feel guilty" religious view of it. Yes, porn is unrealistic, but it is unrealistic in the exact same way that all other movies are unrealistic.

And social scripts learned from movies and TV shows are also an issue which relate to their respective topics.

Is it so terrible that I want people to think critically about sex and to have good sex?

[MachineMuse]

Kasze

I was talking about that idea, not porn itself. If porn creates or propagates such a negative paradigm, an argument against porn probably doesn't do well to support that paradigm, just to stop porn. If a male stopped using porn because you said it would make them bad at sex, the idea that a male must or should want to be good at sex, an advocacy of pornography, still lingers.

Hm. Do you think it's harmful to expect people to want to have good sex? Do you think people will assume the only way to get good at sex is to watch porn? I don't quite follow.

Kasze

Of course, the world does not work in absolutes, and two out of three isn't bad.

I doubt pornography would quell a sense of exploration in regular viewers. Given the...colorful nature of the content, it should spur it. But maybe there's a variable to porn I'm not considering.

...well, I perceive a broader problem of many people avoiding experimentation (in general, not just sex) for fear of penalty on mistakes. I assume there is a correlation between that and the sort of thing described in the article I linked about bad porn sex. So the missing variable could be something like 'performance anxiety' or 'false confidence'.

Kasze

You mean the archetypal 32D bust, 26 inch waist women drenched in make-up and bronzer, right? It's a fair assessment to say pornography doesn't help, but that is a part of the beauty debate that rages in just about every medium with a consideration for aesthetics. I'd say tackle it outside of porn to see the effects ripple through porn and beyond.

I oppose it in its current form. It's unlikely that it won't ever exist, and so I don't bother rallying against the notion of pornography itself.

Okay. (to both.) Also I realized I didn't address what you said about

Quote:

doesn't render a regular viewer incapable of being attracted to a regular-looking person by a long shot.

Where is the line? Are young people the only ones with their standards skewed? Do they grow out of it or is it safe to say it still affects more mature people, if not as strongly? I don't think the term '3DPD' was coined by horny teenagers alone. Although the argument could be made that adults who worship anime figures don't qualify as more mature.

[Lauc-Brege]

MachineMuse

Kasze

I was talking about that idea, not porn itself. If porn creates or propagates such a negative paradigm, an argument against porn probably doesn't do well to support that paradigm, just to stop porn. If a male stopped using porn because you said it would make them bad at sex, the idea that a male must or should want to be good at sex, an advocacy of pornography, still lingers.

Hm. Do you think it's harmful to expect people to want to have good sex? Do you think people will assume the only way to get good at sex is to watch porn? I don't quite follow.

Kasze

Of course, the world does not work in absolutes, and two out of three isn't bad.

I doubt pornography would quell a sense of exploration in regular viewers. Given the...colorful nature of the content, it should spur it. But maybe there's a variable to porn I'm not considering.

...well, I perceive a broader problem of many people avoiding experimentation (in general, not just sex) for fear of penalty on mistakes. I assume there is a correlation between that and the sort of thing described in the article I linked about bad porn sex. So the missing variable could be something like 'performance anxiety' or 'false confidence'.

Kasze

You mean the archetypal 32D bust, 26 inch waist women drenched in make-up and bronzer, right? It's a fair assessment to say pornography doesn't help, but that is a part of the beauty debate that rages in just about every medium with a consideration for aesthetics. I'd say tackle it outside of porn to see the effects ripple through porn and beyond.

I oppose it in its current form. It's unlikely that it won't ever exist, and so I don't bother rallying against the notion of pornography itself.

Okay. (to both.) Also I realized I didn't address what you said about

Quote:

doesn't render a regular viewer incapable of being attracted to a regular-looking person by a long shot.

Where is the line? Are young people the only ones with their standards skewed? Do they grow out of it or is it safe to say it still affects more mature people, if not as strongly? I don't think the term '3DPD' was coined by horny teenagers alone. Although the argument could be made that adults who worship anime figures don't qualify as more mature.

The target of this, for the most part, is the male demographic. Saying, "Guys, you don't want to not be good at sex, do you?" is both presumptuous of male intentions, however correct overall, and perpetuates the paradigms, including the idea that males are sex-crazed and should be ever concerned with sex, that inform the sexism inherent in pornography anyway, the masculine power fantasy. I don't think they'll assume you have to watch porn to be good at sex, quite the opposite actually. But saying porn makes you bad at sex is both incorrect and baiting.

Performance anxiety or false confidence are going to come more often and bigger for things that have nothing to do with pornography. Not a bad advocacy, tackling those issues, but focusing on porn as a point of departure seems problematic or just not practical.

No, they are just more susceptible, and still have their sexual careers ahead of them to make the mistakes older adults are making now as a result of sudden access to these things.

I'd say the same, about adults who worship anime figures.

[Fermionic]

I'd hazard that it doesn't intend to be anything other than those things.

[MachineMuse]

Rose die Valkyrie

I'm just a bit curious as to what they should do instead?

Just think. Take a moment to scrutinize the whole thing. If, after considering (and preferably testing) all these points for yourself, you come to the conclusion that you still have no qualms about watching porn, then by all means continue! I'm not trying (nor going) to get people to stop watching pornography entirely. Just to be aware of some of the problems with it.

Rose die Valkyrie

Do you mean any form of erotica that's not in your own head or just pornographic videos or....?

As much as the points can be applied to them. #2 doesn't make sense for non-visual media, for example, and #1 doesn't make sense for 'romantic' porn (which I would like to see actually ~ )

Rose die Valkyrie

Porn is about fantasy and can be used to explore things you wouldn't be comfortable with doing real life or are even physically incapable of doing. I've found that this exploration also can help make people more open minded to different kinds of sex. If someone who has absolutely no knowledge or understanding of sex beyond a man and a woman in a bed facing each other then they're probably going to react quite negatively to "deviant" but legitimate sexual acts, such as using paraphernalia or wearing costumes or having multiple partners etc. Not to mention sex between people who are of the same sex or some form of sexual minority.

Yes. Do you think porn is necessary, or even the easiest or most effective way to safely explore those possibilities? I worry about, say, this:

Someone explores a new concept and it becomes a fetish, then they might start to objectify people who fulfill that fetish. Unless people of that group conversely have a fetish of being objectified, that's not so good.

Rose die Valkyrie

There is a huge variety of porn so that's a pretty bold statement to make since it's one that's impossible to apply to porn in general.

I'm certain that there is a substantial amount of porn out there that's geared toward a straight male audience that focuses on male stimulation and not any reciprocation whatsoever and that could lead to some dysfunctional sex, however I think that there's just as much porn out there that can be very sensual and even romantic and focus on both partners being stimulated.

Just as much? Really? I would really like to see some of this 'romantic porn'... As a sort of unscientific test, I ran a google fight on "Hardcore Porn" vs "Romantic Porn":

Doesn't really prove anything, but...

Quote:

Regardless though, porn isn't meant to be instructional so I think that's a bit unfair to critique it for since that isn't its intention at all and more importantly that's not why most people use porn.

From my understanding, porn is used simply as a masturbation aid and possibly a way to explore your own sexuality, not a strict source of education about the subject. People don't take notes while watching it, they're just trying to get off.

It's sounds like you're mainly speaking to teenage boys who haven't had sex but they aren't the only ones who use porn and most of those boys will eventually have sex and understand the difference between the fantasy they've seen and the reality they're experiencing with their partners.

People don't have to take notes to learn from an experience. Especially when it's emotionally charged.

I understand that it's not the intention, but it is a significant side effect. And maybe it is mainly teenage virgins I'm speaking to, but to me it seems like a clinical, scripted sex scene between two real people who were both raised on porn is not going to shatter their ideas of what sex is supposed to be like except to be a disappointment. Maybe that disappointment will fuel exploration, I don't know.

Rose die Valkyrie

But there are many different kinds of porn, not just videos and pictures!

Written pornography is absolutely huge and in terms of popularity I think rivals the visual mediums.

In regards to having high standards, I think those people would have those prejudices ANYWAYS even if they didn't watch porn.

Yes, #2 doesn't apply very well to non-visual porn. Although... in my experience, erotic literature tends to describe perfect bodies.

Rose die Valkyrie

Again, there are so many different kinds of porn! Different types of relationships and dynamics.

Having a woman in a position of power over a man is a HUGE category. Not that that's necessarily better since it's still a power-imbalance thing BUT it does counter-balance the male-dominating porn.

I think the big problem I have with your perception of porn is simply because you don't (I'm assuming) really use it or have much knowledge or experience with it.

Personally, I'm not a huge expert either but I've certainly explored and enjoyed porn in the past and I think it's all about what you bring to the table. If you're looking for porn where the woman is being raped than that's you bringing our own desires into the medium not the medium influencing you. Just because you find porn like that doesn't really mean anything because there's just as much porn about totally different things.

It could be that I just don't know where to look, but I do feel like the overwhelming majority is geared in the way that I'm whining about. I don't go looking for man-service porn. What influenced me to click on them? It would probably be that I saw the high number of views and videos in that category, and thought 'maybe this is popular because it's really hot or something'.

Rose die Valkyrie

But porn can help people expand their imaginations and consider things they'd never would have thought of before!

The big problem with your statements is that they're huge generalizations and it's impossible to generalize an entire medium because it isn't just a genre or niche, it's a vast and ever-growing microcosm of content being generated not just by commercial producers but also amateurs actively creating and expanding the boundaries of sexual possibilities, all with their own biases and desires.

I just don't think its usage is in any way unhealthy or inherently damaging.

Inherently, no, but it can make for a dangerous combination with many other characteristics.

Should I rename the topic 'My opposition to various kinds of pornography used in various ways'?