Is porn a net negative to society?

[Basman]

Access to porn is positively correlated with a decrease in rapes and an increase in emotional closeness.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/all-about-sex/201601/evidence-mounts-more-porn-less-sexual-assault

Edited Monday at 05:22 PM by Basman

[Schizophonia]

19 minutes ago, Sugarcoat said:

I found in my past imagination plus porn watching simultaneously to be the strongest hit. It’s like you watch the porn, while simultaneously adding your touch of fantasy to it that matches what you’re watching. If that makes sense

 

Yes i see well, i do that to ofc

(👺)

 

The realism of the video and the precision/personality of imagination.

[Schizophonia]

5 minutes ago, Basman said:

Access to porn is positively correlated with a decrease in rapes and an increase in emotional closeness.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/all-about-sex/201601/evidence-mounts-more-porn-less-sexual-assault

Yea i I suspected it 🤔

 

Pornography acts as a safety valve.

[RendHeaven]

7 minutes ago, Schizophonia said:

Yes i see well, i do that to ofc

(👺)

(👺)(👺)(👺)

[Sugarcoat]

7 minutes ago, Schizophonia said:

Yes i see well, i do that to ofc

(👺)

 

The realism of the video and the precision/personality of imagination.

As a contrast I could do experiment where I watched porn “neutrally” without thinking and it’s just seen as it is and doesn’t necessarily trigger arousal

[Sugarcoat]

14 minutes ago, Basman said:

Access to porn is positively correlated with a decrease in rapes in an increase in emotional closeness.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/all-about-sex/201601/evidence-mounts-more-porn-less-sexual-assault

Does evidence prove the decrease in rape is directly correlated with the porn? Because a decrease in rape can be because of other factors in society. 

[Emerald]

18 minutes ago, Basman said:

Access to porn is positively correlated with a decrease in rapes and an increase in emotional closeness.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/all-about-sex/201601/evidence-mounts-more-porn-less-sexual-assault

It's possible that it could be just a correlation thing.... and not a causation thing.

Or it could be a variety of factors. So, I don't think there's anything too conclusive to these findings as of yet in terms of the causal link between access to porn and lower risk of sexual assault.

But it does make logical sense to me that that would be true.

Like, if porn doesn't exist... a relatively small (but not insignificant) percentage of men might resort to being a peeping Tom or assaulting a woman to find a sexual release outlet.

[Schizophonia]

28 minutes ago, Sugarcoat said:

As a contrast I could do experiment where I watched porn “neutrally” without thinking and it’s just seen as it is and doesn’t necessarily trigger arousal

I would say that sex (and love) is a karmic game, it's based on limiting beliefs; so looking at it objectively, it's just "raw chicken," as you would say, who do moves together.

For example, we can imagine two people who play at "life is brutal" and therefore get together to have gentle, romantic sex that, for a limited time, puts an end to the evidence (libido = "death drive") that "life is brutal."

"Life is brutal, "so" let's unite against this brutal world with a bouquet of roses between our teeth, blablabla..."

Or, on the contrary, two people who have the belief that "people/the world are weak and mediocre who slow me down" and who get together to have we guess a more brutal sex.

And so on in the infinity of the spectrum of belief that constitutes an ego.

Edited Monday at 06:03 PM by Schizophonia

[soos_mite_ah]

I voted no 

Pros for Porn: 

• Can decrease assault as it gives people an outlet 
• less stigma for sex 
• can be an outlet to explore desires and creativity depending on the type of porn 

Cons: 

• irresponsible usage of porn
  • getting exposed to it when you're underaged and as a result you have a dependence and have a distortion of what sex,sexuality, and relationships realistically look like 
  • addictions especially when it comes to internet porn and how it's exaggerated to continue to feed dopamine receptors (some people start craving seeing more and more violent and crazy scenes or they have a very distorted view of what women typically look like for example). 
  • using porn as an escape from regular life and getting dependent on it to regulate emotions to where you're neglecting your regular life. 
• the sex work industry as it is now where people are getting pimped out, tapes and nudes are getting leaked, predating on people with vulnerable life circumstances, the lack of respect sex workers get to where the law doesn't really protect them and employers discriminate against them, actors not getting paid enough etc. 

I know that my pros look shorter than my cons list but I still voted no because it's the porn itself that is the problem rather it's the irresponsible usage and the way it plays into the existing issues with the sex work industry. Even if you get rid of porn, the issues with the sex work industry will still be there tbh. And the way that I interpreted this, is that porn can be a variety of things. It can range from explicit novels, your standard PH explore page, paintings from the 1800s, Only Fans, or hell, cave drawings and clay carvings from ancient civilization. Porn has always been here in one form of another and it's not that porn that is the issue but it's more so about the medium, the way it's used, and the industries it interacts with. 

Edited Monday at 06:07 PM by soos_mite_ah

[Schizophonia]

32 minutes ago, RendHeaven said:

(👺)(👺)(👺)

To sleep well

Edited Monday at 06:04 PM by Schizophonia

[AION]

@Emerald I don’t think porn should be banned. Everybody should do what they want. I was pointing at the science how it is bad for the person watching it (especially young men) and for the vulnerable actresses involved. And I’m not even talking about the exploitation and corruption in porn. 

[Basman]

42 minutes ago, Sugarcoat said:

Does evidence prove the decrease in rape is directly correlated with the porn? Because a decrease in rape can be because of other factors in society. 

Yes.

Quote

The Czech Republic: More Porn, Less Rape

...in Eastern Europe. From 1948 to 1989, the Communist police state then known as Czechoslovakia made possession of pornography... a criminal offense...

...In addition, the legalization of porn was associated with a decrease in another despicable sex crime, child sexual abuse. Under Communism, arrests for child sex abuse averaged 2,000 a year. After porn became legal, the figure dropped by more than half to fewer than 1,000. More porn, fewer sex crimes.

Denmark: More Porn, Less Rape

In the 1970s, Denmark relaxed restrictions on pornography, and the country quickly became a center of porn production. Researchers compared arrest rates for sexual assault before and after the change. When porn became more easily available, allegations of rape decreased.

Japan, China, Hong Kong: More Porn, Less Rape

Around the millennium, partly in response to the availability of Internet porn, Japan, China, and Hong Kong relaxed laws that restricted its availability. In all three places, as porn became more easily available, sex crimes decreased.

Compared with Most Men, Rapists Consume Less Porn

UCLA researchers surveyed recollections of porn use among law-abiding men and a large group of convicted rapists and child sex abusers. Throughout their lives, the sex criminals recalled consuming less porn. More evidence that porn is a safety valve. Instead of committing rape and pedophilia, potential perpetrators find a less harmful outlet, masturbating to porn.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/all-about-sex/201601/evidence-mounts-more-porn-less-sexual-assault

Quote

The Kathmandu Post quoted law professor at Northwestern University Anthony D’Amato as uncovering research between 1980 and 2000 that showed states with minimum internet pornography access witnessed a 53 per cent increase in rape cases compared to a states where porn was most accessible which saw a 27 per cent drop in rape crimes.

https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/explained-why-banning-porn-doesnt-guarantee-a-drop-in-sexual-assault-cases-11725631.html

 

[Sugarcoat]

@Basman Ok

[LordFall]

@Someone here Where did you get all those ideas? Plenty of porn actors love their jobs and plenty of them get into it not in circumstances of poverty. I know a girl who just graduated from the best school in Canada and then became a stripper. Just likes the freedom of expression and lifestyle and of course money from it. I don’t think you can back up most of these points with any statistics. 
 

Also plenty of porn is not studio porn but couples filming themselves fucking or people masturbating so that skirts around the ethicalness issue. 

[Basman]

I found this ChatGPT response interesting:

Quote

Prompt: What's the deal with the anti-porn stuff online? It's largely young men and they feel very strongly about it despite having very little in the way of concrete evidence to ground their attitude in. I notice it is treated as a moral issue and that consumption of porn is often seen as a moral failing.

---

The anti-porn movement online, especially among young men, is a fascinating cultural development with roots in moral, psychological, political, and even aesthetic attitudes. You're right that much of it lacks rigorous empirical grounding and instead operates more like a moral or identity-based stance. Here's a breakdown of what seems to be going on:

1. Moralization of Personal Struggle

Many young men who advocate against porn have a personal history of compulsive use. For them, quitting porn becomes a narrative of self-discipline, often framed as a kind of moral redemption. They conflate their struggle with porn use as indicative of something "wrong" with the material itself—projecting their own issues onto the medium.

This makes porn a symbol of weakness, passivity, or shame. In quitting, they feel morally superior, not just healthier. This is psychologically satisfying—especially if one feels powerless in other areas of life.

2. Online Masculinity Culture

Communities like NoFap, certain corners of Reddit, and even parts of self-help YouTube fuse anti-porn sentiments with broader ideologies of masculinity:

• Porn is cast as emasculating.
• Watching it is "beta" or weak.
• Avoiding it makes you "high-value," disciplined, or spiritually clean.

This plugs into broader "manosphere" themes of reclaiming power, strength, or sexual agency in a world perceived as hostile or emasculating to men.

3. Digital Puritanism

There’s a surprising overlap between secular self-help and quasi-religious attitudes. The anti-porn movement often resembles a new kind of secular moralism, where purity is measured by detachment from digital pleasures.

It reflects discomfort with hypermodernity—constant dopamine hits, digital overstimulation, algorithmic desire. Porn becomes a stand-in for all that feels hollow and overstimulating about modern life.

4. Reaction to Liberal Sexual Norms

Some of it is reactionary. In a world where sex has been de-sacralized and liberalized, especially online, some feel disoriented or left behind. The anti-porn stance often aligns with cultural traditionalism:

Desire for "real" relationships.

Idealization of modest women.

Framing sex as sacred or deeply meaningful.

This can stem from disappointment: if porn and hookup culture are freely available but still leave one lonely, they must be corrupt or wrong.

5. Poor Understanding of Science

The empirical basis for anti-porn claims (e.g. porn "rewires your brain," causes ED, ruins relationships) is often overstated or selectively cited. The internet rewards certainty and zeal, not nuance.

In reality, evidence is mixed. Porn can become compulsive for some, but the idea that it's inherently damaging or addictive like heroin doesn’t hold up scientifically. But online, it feels true, especially to those who want clarity or a scapegoat.

6. Aesthetic and Existential Critique

A more intellectual layer is an aesthetic or philosophical rejection:

• Porn as vulgar, mechanical, degrading to beauty or love.
• Porn as consumerist: reducing human intimacy to dopamine loops.
• Porn as anti-erotic: flattening sexuality into predictable tropes.

This isn't about harm so much as disenchantment—a sense that porn cheapens something sacred, meaningful, or deeply human. Think Nietzsche meets Tumblr.

7. Peer Community and Identity

Online anti-porn sentiment gives young men a sense of belonging and shared mission. It's part of an identity: “I’m not like those other guys wasting their lives.” It fills a moral and communal vacuum that organized religion used to occupy.

In Summary

The anti-porn movement is not monolithic. It mixes:

• Personal healing narratives
• Masculine identity politics
• Moral and religious overtones
• Reactions to modern digital life
• Aesthetic disgust
• Community and belonging

Most of it isn’t based on solid evidence but rather a convergence of anxieties, values, and existential desires—all of which are heightened in our overstimulating, lonely, porn-saturated online culture.

 

[soos_mite_ah]

I also feel like you're more likely to get Yes as an answer on this forum because of the guys who have porn addictions in this website and they're more likely to point to the ills of porn itself rather than take responsibility that they misused it in an unhealthy way. 

[RendHeaven]

5 hours ago, soos_mite_ah said:

I also feel like you're more likely to get Yes as an answer on this forum because of the guys who have porn addictions in this website and they're more likely to point to the ills of porn itself rather than take responsibility that they misused it in an unhealthy way. 

@soos_mite_ah But this take assumes that porn is values-neutral, which is not true.

Porn rigs and hijacks reward incentives from the outset, and if you're a lonely horny guy (aka 90% of guys lol) you're fighting a crazy uphill battle. It's like telling a guy that he should simply moderate his heroin use. That overlooks how heroin is designed to override your free will and deplete you long-term.

No addiction is healthy, and I would bet that porn addiction is the #2 collective addiction of all time only following social media.

I think women grossly and severely underestimate how much porn has ensnared modern men. We all hide it so there's no reason for you to suspect anything, but try walking around town; the grocery store; the gym; work - and imagining that literally every single male (young boy and elder alike) you lay eyes on beats his meat to pixels when he's all alone. Imagine that every man who tells you he doesn't watch porn is ESPECIALLY watching porn.

Now you have a slightly more accurate picture of the reach that this thing has (I'm not saying this is literally the case, I'm offering a mental exercise to deliberately challenge the idea that only a certain irresponsible subset of men are consumptive addicts. you have to realize that by the nature of this topic, this will be one of the most under-reported addictions of all time. Internet traffic numbers is a better metric for getting a big picture than what men self-report)

5 hours ago, Basman said:

but the idea that it's inherently damaging or addictive like heroin doesn’t hold up scientifically

No, chatGPT is wrong and is mirroring your view back to you because you asked a leading question.

I can easily say "chatGPT give me reasons porn is scientifically inherently addictive like heroin" and it will appear to take my side.

If you unironically think that endless, simulated (i.e effortless) depictions of naked, 99th percentile beauties is not INHERENTLY PHYSIOLOGICALLY behavior-warping, you're not thinking.

This captures the most primal reward seeking incentive for hormonally healthy heterosexual men. Yes, not all people get addicted, but that doesn't mean there isn't a bell curve distribution where the bulk of men are in a compulsive consumption loop. Another issue is at what point you decide to call it an addiction. Many people engage with porn frequently but are convinced that they are not addicted. I consider them addicted and in denial.

Edited Tuesday at 05:50 AM by RendHeaven

[Emerald]

11 hours ago, AION said:

@Emerald I don’t think porn should be banned. Everybody should do what they want. I was pointing at the science how it is bad for the person watching it (especially young men) and for the vulnerable actresses involved. And I’m not even talking about the exploitation and corruption in porn. 

I wasn't meaning you in particular want porn to be banned.

I just notice that people who are heavier porn users tend to have very negative views on porn while other people feel more neutral about its existence.

So, I was rebutting the claim that coke users would think coke is a net-positive to society... and that regular porn users would be more likely to think porn is a net-positive to society.

With coke users, my impression is that they're under no illusion that coke is a societal net positive.

And with heavy porn users, they tend to be the most anti-porn crusaders out there.

[soos_mite_ah]

16 minutes ago, RendHeaven said:

I think women grossly and severely underestimate how much porn has ensnared modern men. We all hide it so there's no reason for you to suspect anything, but try walking around town; the grocery store; the gym; work - and imagining that literally every single male (young boy and elder alike) you encounter even peripherally beats his meat to pixels when he's all alone. Imagine that every man who tells you he doesn't watch porn is ESPECIALLY watching porn.

I'm not doubting that majority of men (and a good chunk of women) view porn. But as far as an addiction is concerned, about 11% of men have a porn addiction. I think I also saw numbers as high as 15%. It's not the majority that has an addiction. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7044607/

And whether or not porn is addictive I feel like can come down to the medium more than the notion of porn itself. Porn has been around since the beginning of time but internet porn is a relatively new phenomenon. I think internet porn is uniquely more addictive than other forms tbh. I don't blame people for becoming addicted to internet porn but I am saying that less addictive options exist. 

 

18 minutes ago, RendHeaven said:

this will be one of the most under-reported addictions of all time. Internet traffic numbers is a better metric for getting a big picture than what men self-report)

I do believe that internet traffic numbers is calculated using the number of visitors and the number of pages they visit. So I wouldn't be surprised that the 11% of men who have the addictions comprise of like 70% of the traffic. 

[samijiben]

Porn is great, and no porn is also great.