Also, I’m too young to know the answer to this, but what effect do we think internet porn has had on spawning a generation of incels? Idk what the pre-porn incel market was like.
idk, I think it’s hard to separate the effects of internet porn from the effects of the internet in general. i think regular ol’ internet forums (some of which host porn but not necessarily as the main focus) are the biggest factor in the proliferation of “incel” mindsets / identities. you know, before the internet if you were somebody who can’t get laid, you’d maybe talk to your friends about it and get encouragement or advice, or talk to family, or just be sad basically. the chances of you independently coming to the conclusion that there’s something about you that makes you completely unlovable (maybe even to absurdly specific degrees, such as that you will never be able to get laid because your wrists are too narrow) and that the problem will never ever get better and that all women are unthinking evil creatures who want unlovable men like you to die so they never have to be reminded that anyone but exists… are pretty slim. nobody comes up with those kinds of ideas on their own, that requires insular groups that take time feeding each other’s frustrations and insecurities and slowly building up a mythology. if you dont have access to the internet, you’re going to have to discuss your difficult love life with someone who can get laid. but incel internet forums provide an extremely unhealthy outlet for those frustrations that don’t involve ever talking to someone who can get laid.
I also don’t think internet porn is significantly more harmful than the good ol’ magazines and VHS tapes and whatever that we had before. though, one way in that it is obviously more harmful is in the sheer availability. if you’ve got a dirty magazine you’ve got, you know, one magazine of porn. if you’ve got a smartphone you’ve got more porn than you could ever desire to look at in a hundred lifetimes. and if you’re a kid, you at least have to hide a dirty magazine. teens these days have basically no risk of being caught being addicted to (even extremely niche) pornography. i think that’s gonna be the biggest effect of internet porn for the next few generations. when millennials (and anyone older) were growing up, their experience with porn, if any, was maybe a few dirty magazines where they could look at some tits. now kids are growing up totally addicted to enormous amounts of wild, hardcore porn.
i generally agree with you that porn is bad. by volume, anyway. like 99.999% of all porn is bad for a wide variety of reasons. I think it’s possible to make porn ethically. Very difficult unless there are no humans involved (like with drawings or pure writing), and even then it’s still possible to do it unethically (sexualizing children still sucks even if there are no real kids involved, for example)
I do think that the 99.999% of porn I’m talking about should be illegal, though.
idk, I think it’s hard to separate the effects of internet porn from the effects of the internet in general. i think regular ol’ internet forums (some of which host porn but not necessarily as the main focus) are the biggest factor in the proliferation of “incel” mindsets / identities. you know, before the internet if you were somebody who can’t get laid, you’d maybe talk to your friends about it and get encouragement or advice, or talk to family, or just be sad basically. the chances of you independently coming to the conclusion that there’s something about you that makes you completely unlovable (maybe even to absurdly specific degrees, such as that you will never be able to get laid because your wrists are too narrow) and that the problem will never ever get better and that all women are unthinking evil creatures who want unlovable men like you to die so they never have to be reminded that anyone but
exists… are pretty slim. nobody comes up with those kinds of ideas on their own, that requires insular groups that take time feeding each other’s frustrations and insecurities and slowly building up a mythology. if you dont have access to the internet, you’re going to have to discuss your difficult love life with someone who can get laid. but incel internet forums provide an extremely unhealthy outlet for those frustrations that don’t involve ever talking to someone who can get laid.
I also don’t think internet porn is significantly more harmful than the good ol’ magazines and VHS tapes and whatever that we had before. though, one way in that it is obviously more harmful is in the sheer availability. if you’ve got a dirty magazine you’ve got, you know, one magazine of porn. if you’ve got a smartphone you’ve got more porn than you could ever desire to look at in a hundred lifetimes. and if you’re a kid, you at least have to hide a dirty magazine. teens these days have basically no risk of being caught being addicted to (even extremely niche) pornography. i think that’s gonna be the biggest effect of internet porn for the next few generations. when millennials (and anyone older) were growing up, their experience with porn, if any, was maybe a few dirty magazines where they could look at some tits. now kids are growing up totally addicted to enormous amounts of wild, hardcore porn.
i generally agree with you that porn is bad. by volume, anyway. like 99.999% of all porn is bad for a wide variety of reasons. I think it’s possible to make porn ethically. Very difficult unless there are no humans involved (like with drawings or pure writing), and even then it’s still possible to do it unethically (sexualizing children still sucks even if there are no real kids involved, for example)
I do think that the 99.999% of porn I’m talking about should be illegal, though.