#1 23-06-21 05:42:54

_hyperballad_

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Registered: 04-08-16

Posts: 556

Brilliant article on anti-porn hysteria

"If children are, as they claim, getting their sex education from Pornhub then what the fuck does that say about the standards of education in our school system? Half of the problem is that we have such a 19th Century mindset that we try and ‘shield’ children from the realities of human development. Sex education, for many children, doesn’t even begin until they’ve started puberty, at which point the biological programming that’s trying to get us to spawn more mini-mes is fully in effect."

https://reprobatepress.com/2021/06/22/t … t-of-porn/

(Author is British, but in light on the Online Safety Bill barreling towards the house here in Aus & also it's a bloody brilliant rant I'm sharing it far & wide!)

privignus

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Registered: 29-12-15

Posts: 607

Re: Brilliant article on anti-porn hysteria

Yes, it is a scary time for corporate social media folks and for sex workers. 

The Girl on the Net thinks that US and British media have an unspoken code that main characters can make love but not fuck https://www.girlonthenet.com/blog/batma … give-head/

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MS2020

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Registered: 06-11-20

Posts: 199

Re: Brilliant article on anti-porn hysteria

I'm not really a fan of rants and much of what was argued here I'd heard articulated long before, but overall it did raise some very important points.

Particularly the long tendency to reduce all pornography to it's worse aspects. Something we really couldn't justify with other kinds of media.

I can't remember who said it exactly, but someone put it well in that arguments about pornography that don't recognize 'pleasure' not abuse as the primary reason it exists can't be taken seriously.

privignus

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Registered: 29-12-15

Posts: 607

Re: Brilliant article on anti-porn hysteria

Some people in the USA did a documentary on children in the USA turning to porn for their sex education because they don't get useful information from their parents or teachers: "Who's Your Teacher?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWf0msP2FEU  (I had to get part way through until I realized that they are just talking about the USA).

Does that match anyone else's experience?  I don't know many 12 to 20 year olds.

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_hyperballad_

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Registered: 04-08-16

Posts: 556

Re: Brilliant article on anti-porn hysteria

Yes! Accurate, relevant, pleasure based sex ed is a huge problem! That's not just a problem in the US, but abstinence-only 'education' is much more of an issue in the US. In conservative developing countries, the issue is more that there is an absence of any other info (besides porno).

One of the things I do as a budding educator is teaching 'porn literacy' & how consent is a fundamental aspect to extreme pornography especially - a lot of leg work goes into boundaries & consent in pornography, but just isn't shown on screen. I did some work with an org that works with boys in schools & one of the things they're working on atm is trying to help young men with the gaps in sex ed. Firmly underscoring that pornography isn't education, it's entertainment & it's really important to treat it thusly - I did a segment for their YouTube channel on porn literacy among other things It's really cool to see people out in the community trying to help young people where other adults feel too squeamish? embarrassed? whatever... to get involved.

I will also add that it's not just children + teens who need to be educated re porn literacy either.

privignus

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Registered: 29-12-15

Posts: 607

Re: Brilliant article on anti-porn hysteria

Thanks  _hyperballad_!  I meant that they framed it as "this problem in the USA" without talking about people in Vietnam or Italy.  I think that thinky people in the USA sometimes have a very US-centred network because its such a big country.

Congratulations on the vlog interview!  You really get around.

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Res est arduissima vincere naturam,
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_hyperballad_

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Registered: 04-08-16

Posts: 556

Re: Brilliant article on anti-porn hysteria

Yes, I understood you I was just speaking more generally!

Lol. That's certainly one way of putting it.

MS2020

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Registered: 06-11-20

Posts: 199

Re: Brilliant article on anti-porn hysteria

Part of the problem is that for the longest time censoring societies have tended to brand practically anything explicit sexual content as pornography. Heck for a long time even works were branded obscene for being merely 'implicit.' Thus sex education manuals and pamphlet were often banned from school or at least fast heavy challenges. That might still be the case is some more conservative counties.

Too often there isn't clear distinction made being truly qualifies as porn. Since the very word pornography has long described more of an idea than a thing. Which makes it easy for the unfamiliar to confuse something that is mere fantasy with something that is meant to be factual and informative.

_hyperballad_

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Registered: 04-08-16

Posts: 556

Re: Brilliant article on anti-porn hysteria

Honestly I just think it's all a symptom/hangover of a sex negative society. The people teaching sex aren't comfortable & confident with the content. And if they are, they have to stick to a rigid curriculum. Parents don't want to 'go there' with their children, so porn basically fills the void. Which is obviously problematic.

Also, like any visual medium porn is open to interpretation. What I find pornographic is likely to be very different to what you find pornographic.

For example my parents have known for years now that I work at Feck & the content produced, & they don't see it as porn. SWERFs or any radfems really, definitely see sites like this as porn & what we do here falls under their anti porn stance.

There is such a void in sex ed that I remember when PH actually produced some educational content & addressed the fact that people were using hardcore scenes as a guide. That was years ago now, but it's a pretty grim testament when MindGeek are providing more information on safety + pleasure that actual educators & parents!

I do see the tide shifting though & it gives me hope <3

MS2020

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Registered: 06-11-20

Posts: 199

Re: Brilliant article on anti-porn hysteria

Also, like any visual medium porn is open to interpretation. What I find pornographic is likely to be very different to what you find pornographic.

Of course. This is probably a culture thing, but anyone familiar with the history of free speech battles in the American courts over what counts as obscenity knows that infamous quote from Justice Potter Stewart. One of the most quoted statements in the history of the US Supreme Court. Often paraphrased as "I know what obscenity (or in some cases pornography) is when I see it."

The full quotes comes from the 1964 Supreme Court case of Jacobillis v. Ohio. Where in a supporting opinion overturning an obscenity conviction for a 1958 French film The Lovers, Justice Stewart wrote the following. "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description [hardcore-pornography]; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that."

Last edited by MS2020 (14-07-21 03:27:44)

_hyperballad_

Member

Registered: 04-08-16

Posts: 556

Re: Brilliant article on anti-porn hysteria

Oooooof. Don't get me started on 'obscenity laws' hahaha. It's even more open to interpretation than pornography & it's kept deliberately vague in legislation so that it can be policed & prosecuted however whomst is in power at the time pleases.

I actually saw a bunch of the 'Anti-Horror' propaganda on Twitter just last week, dating from the 80's - 90's & the anti-porn stuff really is quite literally just the same messages, in some cases the same phrases, being recycled.

The pearl clutching & moralising never ends, does it?

But still! I do have hope, people are understanding more & more just how important comprehensive sex-ed is. That porn is entertainment not education. And to quote Dossie Easton, that "sex is nice & pleasure is good for you."

privignus

Member

Registered: 29-12-15

Posts: 607

Re: Brilliant article on anti-porn hysteria

Honestly I just think it's all a symptom/hangover of a sex negative society. The people teaching sex aren't comfortable & confident with the content. And if they are, they have to stick to a rigid curriculum. Parents don't want to 'go there' with their children, so porn basically fills the void. Which is obviously problematic.

Also, like any visual medium porn is open to interpretation. What I find pornographic is likely to be very different to what you find pornographic.

For example my parents have known for years now that I work at Feck & the content produced, & they don't see it as porn. SWERFs or any radfems really, definitely see sites like this as porn & what we do here falls under their anti porn stance.

There is such a void in sex ed that I remember when PH actually produced some educational content & addressed the fact that people were using hardcore scenes as a guide. That was years ago now, but it's a pretty grim testament when MindGeek are providing more information on safety + pleasure that actual educators & parents!

I do see the tide shifting though & it gives me hope <3

I think there are some big issues with just understanding how human relationships work in general?  So much work goes in to promoting celebrity culture and online self-promotion and the things which do well on social media are often the exact opposite of what works in meatspace.  And then there are messages in Disney films or romance novels ...

I'd be interested if Ana_B or one of our European contributors have thoughts?  Marty Klein gets asked similar questions and hears similar complaints wherever in the world he goes (but he is a talky California person and I got disillusioned by those years ago).

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Res est arduissima vincere naturam,
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Hilda1958

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Registered: 22-07-20

Posts: 13

Re: Brilliant article on anti-porn hysteria

I’m a member of the LDS church (Mormon) and though our leaders guide us away from porn, they have been speaking out more about how parents, regardless of straight, gay, lesbian, etc…, should be addressing sex education to their children. Masturbation is no longer spoken about as a negative, but premarital sex is considered a sin. That said, they want our children taught at home about sex and not by pornhub or their friends. Sex is a wonderful thing to be enjoyed and shared to create the bond of the couple. They don’t tell us what we can’t do, just that it’s should be within the bonds of marriage of a man and a woman.
Our faith has possibly the best relations of any Christian faith with the LBGTQ+ organizations, and works very hard to get us as members of the church to love everyone and not just straight couples. Stop judging others.
This may sound ridiculous to most you, but it does work for us. I hold a calling of responsibility in my local ward or congregation, but I masturbate, we never told our children not to masturbate, and I love watching the videos on IFM because they are joyful, and erotic. I’m a widower, and damn if I don’t need a release every few days.
Don’t judge Mormons harshly please, the new generation of our faith is very none judge mental. Do what you want outside of our faith, that’s your right and God gave us the ability to experience pleasure as a gift. He did give women a clitoris after all. ?