Rina Factor/ Contributing Writer
Usually, people either seek out or accidentally come across pornography the first time they view it.
Both encounters are shocking, but the continuous viewing of pornography desensitizes the viewer so that they need to seek out increasingly obscene pornography in order to become aroused. The viewer shifts from vanilla sex to categories tailored to niche areas of sex.
Some proponents say that pornography can be a healthy way for people to explore their sexuality in a safe way without the fear of being judged for their desires. However, it’s also important to put the scenes and actors portrayed in pornography into perspective, especially since it can severely affect the way we “adult.”
Porn is often many people’s first source of sexual education and creates their expectations of what sex will look and feel like, even though porn is very similar to a Hollywood production in that it’s orchestrated by directors and actors.
In the real world, sex, for the most part, is surprising because you have to ask someone what they desire sexually in order to know exactly what they want. With porn, however, you are focused on your own interests.
This can negatively affect the way we adult because you start living in the unrealistic fantasy that porn seeks to provide. Porn also negatively portrays women of color as they are depicted as categories for fetishes, with labels like ebony and Asian, but no category like Caucasian.
As adults, we must take responsibility to educate ourselves on the real world and not allow pornographic images to tell us how we should look or act during intercourse. An adult knows that Asian and black women aren’t categories on a porn website.
The vast majority of porn also depicts women with completely hairless and perfect bodies, which contributes to the unrealistic expectations society has on women’s bodies. These expectations are largely based off of what men see in porn, which gives them false expectations.
The truth is, not everyone can live up to these expectations. Waxing can cause infections and painful ingrown hairs. Unfortunately, there are grown men who expect women to completely remove their body hair.
The constant viewing of pornography can also have drastic effects on a person’s brain.
In fact, “a July 2014 study from the Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry…found that men ages 21 to 45 who watched a lot of porn — defined as at least four hours a week — had less activity in the areas of the brain associated with sexual stimuli than those who watched less,” according to The New York Post.
These are problems that should be addressed more often when it comes to pornography.
Adulting helps us understand what is right and wrong about this issue as it revolves around being aware that sex isn’t pleasurable when it’s solely focused on the male perspective. It requires a certain awareness of the world and its realities.
It requires people to act like adults.
Porn can derail those realities for some people when it becomes their constant and only source of sexual knowledge by setting expectations that aren’t mature.
Adulting in one’s sex life is a process that can seriously be hindered if people allow their expectations of sex to be set by what they see in pornography.
DISCLAIMER:
The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of Panther Press Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.
Photo by Ash Edmonds on Unsplash.