In this week’s Humanist Network News, the question was posed as to whether or not Humanists should support porn. They linked to a humanist argument against porn and a humanist argument for it and even have a poll (currently 88% for porn). Feel free to check out the arguments and weigh in yourself.

Yes, I watch porn and I enjoy it and it has played an important part in my life. My first few sexual partners were surprised by how inexperienced I was, not just because of how old I was, but also because I seemed to know what i was doing. From the time I left the church until I lost my virginity some months later, I used porn not just to aid in masturbation, but as something to study: the mechanics and technique of sex. It covered just about all the details that my SDA sex-ed class didn’t. Interestingly enough, and probably because I recognized that it’s all a performance and that most of it is quite unrealistic, I found girl on girl porn to be the most educational due to it’s focus on the female response.

Aside from helping out virgins, I have the following observations about pornography:

• It can really help people survive dry spells with their sanity intact.
• It can allow people to explore fantasies and kinks in ways that don’t involve a partner or put them at risk, but since the necessary logistical or safety measures are often edited out, additional research is required before making them a reality.
• It often displays women who are in control of and proud of their sexuality.
• It can be degrading in the way it objectifies both women and men, sometimes presenting them as nothing more than sex toys, of course for some people the degrading nature of certain videos is the whole point, whether it’s to satisfy their own fantasy to be degraded or to degrade someone else.
• Not all porn stars have “perfect” bodies, with a wide variety of body types and ages being presented. However, since porn is an industry and they produce content that the customers want, this isn’t about validating people with not conventionally attractive body types, it’s about satisfying the desires of customers who find a particular type attractive. The fact that you can see so much variety, tells us that there are people out there who like all body types.
• It normalizes alternative sexualities and kinks. Everybody has clicked on the wrong link, or found the a title or description to be misleading. Even if you hit the back button or close the tab in half a second because it’s just not your thing, it won’t be as shocking the next time you see it or hear about it.
• It challenges social norms and expectations. Both as a political message and because the transgressive nature of it is half the fun.
• It is generally  inherently sex positive, something our society needs a lot more of.
• While a lot of it is “trashy,” there is also a lot of porn/erotica that is very artistic. A fine example is x-art.com (LINK IS DEFINITELY NSFW), which shows what the right music and lighting can do.

As far as the atheist/humanist arguments against pornography I’ve seen recently (including the one above), they seem to be little more than reworded religious arguments and are not supported by evidence. I would not say pornography is inherently moral, just like other forms of media, it is amoral and can be used morally or immorally. There are abuses in pornography, such as non-consensual videos (hidden cameras, leaked private sex tapes, the use of minors) and human trafficking, those are wrong and need to be stopped. But there is nothing wrong with consenting adults having sex on camera, who also consent to make it available for the world to see or for adults to view materials they want to see.