Treating porn as the norm

During these recent years, the world has undergone many massive changes. From the presence of advanced AI, virtual reality technology to the rise of the LGBTQ community and the alarming state of climate change, there’s no doubt that these problems are now seen with a different perspective than how they used to be treated. Homosexuality was once discriminated upon, and now it is considered to be the norm. However, even with the flow of time, one thing remains unchanged, porn. Until this point, porn continues to be viewed as somewhat a “taboo” topic. The opinions surrounding porn are usually negative, targeting at the sexual content as a whole and the people working for the industry in particular. Words like “dirty, uneducated, shameful, …” seem to be common when it comes to people’s idea on the adult industry. However, there’s more to the porno industry than what we believe it to be. Behind this so called “dirty” and “unworthy” industry lies facts that turn it into a normal, respectable field of profession.

To begin with, it is worth mentioning how porn is usually perceived amongst society. Often times, pornography is associated with bad images, negative comments, detrimental impacts and so on. Some examples include conflicts in relationships, addictive and harmful behaviors in children as well as mental damage, even dehumanization for those in the career. This is especially severe in some Asian countries like China, where people working in pornography can be disowned by their own family, or even worse, facing death penalties. Authors Richard and Rita of “Global perspectives on Social Issues: Pornography” made very interesting findings regarding this matter. Even though “the United States is the pornography capital of the world” (Procida and Rita 1), it turns out that “Asia is probably the most sexually open region in the world” (Procida and Rita 65), with countries like Japan, Taiwan and Thailand legalizing “vast amounts of pornography both in sex shops, in movies, and on television” (Procida and Rita 65). However, despite the wide coverage and popularity, people’s negative perspectives on the adult industry is still far from changing.

One of the very popular thoughts seems to be that porn can badly damage one’s relationships. In “Watching Sex,” author David Loftus gathered information from various men about their experience with watching porn from a personal perspective. Most of them received negative reactions from their partners when opening up about their secret stacks of adult videos and magazines. One of the explanations to this was “Porn somehow implies a failure on the part of a partner to be adequately sexual in the ‘right’ way” (Loftus 90). However, it doesn’t always seem to be the case. A study conducted by researchers from the University of Western Ontario showed 430 out of 464 participants claiming that porn had no negative impact on their relationship. Many of which also commented that “pornography use helped them to talk about sex more openly with their partners, and provided an alternative outlet if a partner was not in the mood for sex” (Burriss par.7).

The research by the University of Western Ohio was conducted during a short period of time. Another research directed by Samuel Perry of the University of Oklahoma took longer time spans into account. Analyzing the data collected from surveys from the same participants in 2006 and 2012, the researcher pointed out that the people who watched more porn during 2006 were less content with their relationships six years later. However, he also stated that there was no clear connection between porn and martial unwellness. “While the majority of…studies generally assume that pornography use is causing marital problems, it could be that marital dissatisfaction leads to the greater use of pornography," said Perry. Thus, it can be concluded that even though porn can provide negative and positive affects to relationships, there is no direct link between porn and marital inharmony.

However, once we dig deeper into the matter, the industry proves to offer more positive messages rather than just sexual content, which is why porn should be considered with more respect like any other normal profession. Pornhub, a leading platform in the adult video industry, has annually made donations to various charities and organizations to raise the people’s awareness on critical issues. Their first ever fund-raising event took place on 24 April 2012, featuring the “Boob Bus.” Dr. David Shafer – a double board - certified plastic surgeon along with famous ex-porn actress Bree Olson, toured several locations in New York City, giving free breast examinations to passers-by, in an attempt to raise the public’s awareness on breast cancer. This act did not simply stop there, from 2012 until 2015 during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Pornhub committed to donating a cent to charities and researchers of breast cancer for each 30 views on certain categories. The total views during October, 2015 ended at 104,562,744 views, which rounds up to nearly three and a half million USD. After that, the company continued to make donations to various charities, with different aims such as animal safety, women rights, disability aids, etc. During recent 2019, Pornhub launched two campaigns, both lasted for a month. The first campaign involved a completely new genre of porn, called “beesexual,” which was said to be “dedicated to saving bees” (Beesexual par.2). The videos all featured bees in their working environment with funny, quirky voice-overs. For its second fund-raising event, a video titled “Dirtiest Porn Ever” was unleashed, featuring a couple making out on a beach filled with trash, plastics washed ashore and a couple of workers trying to clean up after the mess. The fund-raising method remained the same. With every view, a donation is made to the related organizations, however, it is noteworthy how the content changed. Instead of sex being the center of the show, it is now an instrument to convey something much more meaningful. The disturbing image of a couple getting overly intimate at one of the filthiest sights on earth sends alarming warnings on pollution and plastic consumption. At this point, one must question whether or not porn is just to satisfy sexual needs and what hidden messages lie behind this seemingly naked profession.

Pornhub's promotion campaigns

One of the messages that stands out very clearly is women power. Often times, the image of women in porn has been regarded by the public as submissive, even to a “degrading” level. However, it is clear that a quite a number of females in the industry disagree with this. Responding as “a feminist sex worker”, one of the authors of Porn 101 rejects the very idea of females being degraded through actions like “spreading’s one’s legs or bending over” (Elias 210) as it meant “that degradation and submission are dictated by biology and anatomy” (Elias 210), or in other words, “to be female is to be inferior” (Elias 210). What is more, throughout the years, the rise in feminine strength became more evident in porn. In an interview with BBC News on September, 2019, University of Texas at El Paso graduate and also former porn actress, Mia Khalifa shared some insight into the adult video industry. “A lot of female employees [are] in the back office… like department of sales and people on the tech side, so the offices are filled with women,” said Mia when asked to share about how the females are holding authority position. Emiri Okazaki, a Japanese porn actress, discussed in an interview with Asian Boss how she felt that she was in a standstill with her entertainment career, so she chose porn as a way to keep moving forward. Wanting to achieve something from the industry, she felt that porn had positively affected her. “I don’t regret it. Why? Because I wouldn’t be the person I am today”, said Emiri.

Emiri during the interview on porn

Apart from porn actresses, female directors also strive to create a difference. A notable figure would be director Candida Royalle, who deliberately constructed her work from a female viewpoint, with women taking control of “their own erotic destiny” (Elias 215). This goes to show that the females working in the industry are not there because they were forced into the business. They’re there because they made a choice of their own, and they have their solid reasons to be there, be it financial needs, personal goals or even just having interest in the field. Educated women can choose porn as part of their career like any other normal professions. This shows no sign of degradation or submission coming from the female gender.

Though not commonly perceived, porn is also used as a form of art. Contemporary artists like Robert Mapplethorpe, Paul McCarthy, Sue Williams, etc. seek porn as a source of reference (Paasonen 88). This concept of using arousing images for the purpose of art is better known as “erotic arts”, and “there exists a fine and yet fluid dividing line between pornographic depiction and what has been called erotic arts” (Paasonen 88). The only thing that draws a certain line between “pornography” and “erotic arts” is the value of judgment, which can be changed accordingly with time and culture. Famous German photographer, Thomas Ruff, who is renowned as “the master of edited and reimagined images” by The Economist magazine, made a whole photographic collection of nude images called “Nudes” in 2003 to convey his visual idea. The pictures were distorted, enlarged and went through many procedures to portray the artists reflection on the genre of pornographic photography itself. This proves that porn can be embraced with more dignity and respect as a form of art in particular, and even a profession in general, however it fully depends on the perspectives of a person.

With the benefits of porn being brought to light, the only remaining question is: How can porn be viewed with less judgement and more respect? First, it is crucial that companies in the industry be more active in promoting their voices, with Pornhub being a great example through charity works and meaningful content. Throughout this paper, it is clear how porn can be used to convey meaningful messages like women power, art, social issue, etc. However, it is entirely up to the company and its people to bring more meaning to porn rather than just sexual arouse.

Secondly, the public needs to be more willing to accept this seemingly taboo topic. The adult video industry exists for a reason. Like any other businesses, it caters for a market. Porn is very much the result of basic human needs. Why should it be treated any differently from other industries? The individuals working in this naked business are giving their service to those in need, and yet why should they be facing mockeries and judgement? It may be hard to admit to the sexuality and dark sides of porn, but it is certainly not difficult to act decent with the people in the industry.

Of course, the negative sides to pornography still remains, however, that is not the reason why we should neglect the benefits it has been providing until now. Like any other business, porn has its pros and cons. However, if it is promoted and approached carefully, the potential positive results porn can bring can very much outweigh its negative effects. There are people devoting themselves to make a difference through this instrument like any other normal workers. And if the people directly involved in these so called “degrading”, shameful acts themselves are taking this normally and professionally, why should we, outsiders, be casting a judgmental eye upon people doing their normal everyday job? Of course, it’s hard to just willingly accept the industry as a whole. However, it is not impossible to treat those working in it with respect. With time, one’s perspective on the matter will change, and hopefully by then, society will be more open to accepting porn as a normal profession field.

Reflection 3

I really enjoyed doing inquiry 3 as it was an opportunity for me to clearly express about a topic that has never received much attention. The essay gave me more opportunities to discover more about my topic, not just from the Internet, websites, but from actual sources like books and magazines. Even if the sources dated back from a long time, it was still very interesting to learn how people used to think about that matter at that time.

In general, I felt that I did good with finding my sources and incorporating them into the writing. I’m pretty confident in being able to use these skills to find sources for other classes. My ideas I felt were very strong and original, however, I fear that my writing did not fully express the main point correctly. Rather than conveying “porn should be treated as a normal career”, it feels more like “porn is good, thus the people in the industry are also good” at the first half of my writing. Thus, I went to the writing center to get an outside view on my essay and fix it accordingly. Throughout the essay, what I’m most confident about was that I maintained an unbiased opinion, I am protecting my point of porn industry providing benefits, but I still acknowledge how it still has negative effects to a certain public in general.

Nonetheless, I am proud with what I did. I had a fun time writing about something I’m fascinated to, and overall, I think I did a good job doing so.

Works cited

“BEESEXUAL”. pornhub.com/cares/beesexual. Pornhub, n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2019.

Buriss, Robert. “How Pornography Really Affects Relationships.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 25 Oct. 2016, psychologytoday.com/us/blog/attraction-evolved/201610/how-pornography-really-affects-relationships

Kei. “Confessions Of A Japanese Ex-Porn Star | ASIAN BOSS”, interview by Kei, 7 May. 2018, youtube.com/watch?v=xfVwr2F26mQ&t=832s

Loftus, David. Watching Sex: How Men Really Respond to Pornography. Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2002.

“Mia Khalifa – BBC HARDtalk” Youtube, host by Stephen Sackur, 6 Sep. 2019, youtube.com/watch?v=i2qplvJ6SLs&t=637s

Paasonen, Susanna, et al. Pornification: Sex and sexuality in media culture. Berg, 2007.

Procida, Richard, and Rita James Simon. Global Perspectives on Social Issues: Pornography. Lexington Books, 2003

Elias, James. Porn 101: Eroticism, Pornography, and the First Amendment. Prometheus Books, 1999