It seems as though we are going backwards. We were doing so well in realising that all human beings are worthy individuals with emotional and intellectual depth, yet now so many of us don’t seem to see any problem with society encouraging many to reduce themselves to sexual objects. How is this rationalised?
edit: typo
If you think porn and sexuality being normalized is a bad thing, you should reaaaaaaally think hard on your beliefs for a minute.
Sure, there’s the objectification of both men and women that pornography produces - that is a bad thing, but that’s not solely form porn either. Marketing ads love to objectify people (especially women) for an extra buck or two, and those are practically shoved in our faces openly every single day. Social media is basically just a gallery of this shit too if you’re just looking at whatever garbage the platform feeds you based on trends and what not.
Porn itself isn’t bad, and sexuality is arguably as important as both intellectual and emotional depth are because we’re humans and we have that primal part of our brains still. Yet in the US, for example, both of those things are worse than, say, a violent film. To me, that is the messed up part here.
Sexuality being normalised isn’t a bad thing but have you seen the state of porn lately? the front page of any given porn tube site is such that you cannot have a wank in peace without seeing abusive ‘taboo’ stuff mostly around incest and women being spat on and strangled. I can’t believe that this is some agenda being pushed, they produce this content according to demand. This is to say nothing of the even darker stuff with revenge porn and trafficked teenagers etc. Porn can be fine if ethically produced, the current state of it is fucked up
It’s the same with the drug game. It’a not (all) drugs that are inherently bad… It the dealers pushing them.
It’s the same with porn… You have shitty marketing and businessmen pushing it.
Like… If you were prescribed Adderall and couldn’t get it because the shortage. If you knew a “good” dealer then they could get it for you and try to match your prescribed dose. But if you went to a “bad” dealer they’d push meth to get more sales in the future. Same goes for oxy and heroin/fent.
Marketing and the business is the evil. Not the actions so to speak. A good dealer or business man would help you stop if your life was going downhill.
Shit, it’s the same with social media influencers. They are just toxic and out for themselves.
Did you think for a second and realise that some women enjoy being spat on and strangled? Just search for male porn in the same category and be amazed some men and nonbinary people also like to be spat on and strangled. Stop kinkshaming.
We were doing so well in realising that all human beings are worthy individuals with emotional and intellectual depth, yet now so many of us don’t seem to see any problem with society encouraging many to reduce themselves to sexual objects.
Human beings, like most other animals and plants, are fundamentally sexual beings.
It’s good to value emotions and intellect, of course, but even before all of that comes the primitive basis of sexuality, sensual and sensory pleasure, and the propagation of species. Sex (with others or by yourself) is just as much a natural and core part of the human experience as eating, drinking, sleeping, and so on, and embracing sexual freedom and sex-positivity is in no way incompatible with emotional balance, intellectualism, or any other meaningful pursuit.
As such, masturbation or pornography aren’t inherently bad or problematic in any way.
There are absolutely potential problems surrounding pornography, like human trafficking, but those issues are separate things that can and should be treated and handled as distinct. We have the tools as a society to deal with human trafficking and sexual violence, and we can do it without throwing sexual freedom and bodily autonomy under the bus.
In my view the last thing we should do as a society is to continue to engage in mindless sex-negativity, which has a long documented history of direct ties to the persecution of women and LGBTQ+ sexual minorities, as well as needlessly shaming people (sometimes to the point of inflicting real psychological damage) for exploring the full space of sexual possibilities by themselves or with consenting partners. Like everything else, ethics, responsibility, moderation and legality are things to consider, but you can do all of that while still being sex-positive and open minded about personal sexual liberty.
Changing the way you think about and practice sexuality (your own, others, and in general) allows you to know yourself and others in a more intimate, authentic and human way.
I wasn’t trying to imply that. I’ve edited my post to reflect that I’m speaking generally. Sorry.
Personally I think that asexual people also benefit from sex-positivity and an honest discussion about the wide variety of forms of sexual expression. When we stop treating sex as some dirty taboo thing, and when we start accepting that everybody wants something different out of it (or maybe doesn’t want it at all), I think it becomes easier to understand that all different kinds of people exist with different relationships to sex. That’s not only OK, but a good thing.
A lot of social ills have come from the idea that people who express different forms of sexuality are wrong, gross, bad, sinful, mentally ill, etc. The sooner we move past that flawed and harmful concept, the better, in my opinion.
Sexual peccadillos [+ religion] have dethroned kings. Can’t threaten a person w/ revealing their bedroom secrets if no one gives af.
What could be more normal than the thing at the literal center of your being, as a human? Both literally and figuratively. It’s literally the center of your body. And sex is literally the thing that makes us exist. Practically every animal does it. And we should be ashamed of it!?
Sex is important for most people but if it’s the “literal center of your being”, you have problems. It’s not like eating or breathing. And there’s nothing uniquely human about it.
If you’re never having it and you want to be, that sucks. I found myself in that position years ago. I was pushing 300 pounds, unhappy, etc… It was a series of events and actions that helped me work through the issues, but the big two for me were psychedelics and a keto diet. (ADHD meds also made a big impact and I’ve seen signs that a gentle anti-depressant could maybe be a really helpful cherry on top for me, but it’s still pretty new.)
I have no idea if that’s relevant to you–your situation may be totally different. But if yours happens to be similar, I would just say to you that it’s 1.) really, truly possible, 2.) it’s really hard, and you might backslide some before it clicks, and 3.) it’s totally worth the painful effort.
Normalized???
It’s still literally rated as less family friendly than watching blood and gore murder.
If anything I’d argue that sexual repression is still going as strong as ever in some places. In some cases to unhealthy amounts.
