6/5/02 

A Question About Pornography

Hi AH

I have two questions.

1. What do you think about pornography? I notice that you never mention it.

Surely it is a "Men's Issue"?

...

2. What do you think about the way that the pornographers portray the women as sluts, whores, cocks..kers etc. ... ...

L

Hi L

You're right, I don't talk much about it. However, I tend to see the issue in much the same way as I view the one on cannabis. The more that one tries to demonise and/or ban it, the more harm that is eventually done - and for many of the same reasons.

With regard to offensive words like whores and sluts etc, the pornographers are not usually talking about their models in the photographs, they are referring to the fantasies that their photographs might help support.

And when it comes to fantasising about whores and sluts - and what have you - there is a large percentage of women who also get turned on by such ideas. 

They're just fantasies.

Women don't seem to have the same levels of desire as men to view pornographic pictures. And this, it is said, is because women, more so than men, are turned on by a wider range of sensations than are those that are simply delivered to the brain by the visual route.

Having said this, I still remember a short period in my own life when, perchance, I was working near Soho in London somewhere in the early 70s. I would regularly meet up with a friend for lunch and together we would occasionally pop into one of the sex-shops which sold sex magazines in order to peruse the material and spice up our miserable lives.

Well, I had no interest whatsoever in anything but the pictures. My friend, however, had no interest in any of the pictures at all! He just wanted to read various salacious pieces of text. 

Strange isn't it!?

With regard to pornography in general, my own view is that its availability in a society where women often dress provocatively reduces the propensity for men to misbehave (and I think that the valid research shows this to be true) and that it also helps to diffuse the hysteria and silliness over sex. 

Nevertheless, I also think that there must be some limits to what may be depicted. For example, anything encouraging something likely to result in more than a week in hospital is definitely out!

As far as pornography being an incitement to commit terrible acts is concerned, I doubt that this is true, except, perhaps, in the case of a few individuals; and even here, most likely, only where such individuals would have ended up behaving badly anyway.

Far more likely to incite sexual misbehaviour is the way in which many women dress. Showing a bit here and a bit there in real life is much more provocative than the full-blown wide openness displayed in typical pornography. And the former occurs a thousand times more often in the normal course of life than does the viewing of the latter.

And this is why when women accuse sex magazines of promoting women merely as sex objects I always think that they are being highly hypocritical unless they also attend to the far greater issue of how women so often CHOOSE to portray themselves in a sexual manner in normal life.

At least when men decide to peruse girlie magazines they are confining themselves somewhat to the realms of fantasy, and would admit to this being so, whereas when women spend forever in front of the mirror to achieve what is probably an even greater effect in this respect - and this is real life rather than fantasy - this is somehow dismissed by women as being an irrelevance to the issue of women being seen as sex objects!

Fantasy counts but reality doesn't.

The fact that women in real life often like to be seen as sex objects does not count!

And so, as is typical, women want to have their cake and eat it.

However, here is a somewhat different view of pornography - My journey into the appalling world of internet pornography by Melanie Phillips - 7 min - but I do have a few bones to pick with her over some of the things that she says.

1. "Indeed, there is scarcely a sex offender who has not had an acute pornography habit. In America, the FBI has reported that 81 percent of sex killers have said their biggest sexual interest lay in viewing pornography and in compulsive masturbation."

If anything, this finding simply indicates that highly sexualised men can use pornography for their aims instead of having to take part in real events. As such, pornography most likely reduces the number of real events taking place.

It does not follow at all from this finding that viewing pornography leads to sexual assaults, which is what Melanie Phillips implies.

Nevertheless, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that cases will be found where pornography did have significant effects on the bad behaviours of some men; but that still does not mean that it should be banned.

Should we ban all fashion shows, and all photographs of women not covered by burkhas, lest they promote bad behaviour in some men?

What about, for example, banning pictures of fast cars and designer shoes, which many poorer young men aspire to have, but cannot do so without committing crimes?

How about banning television, since it is pretty clear that it is a major addiction which takes many people away from doing more important things, and which may give them bad ideas?

If the fact that a very small number of people might go over the top and behave criminally as a result of some experience was considered to be a justification for there to be a legal banishment of that experience for others who wanted to have it, we would surely have to proscribe almost every desirable form of behaviour that there is - for example, shopping!

2. "British sex crimes expert Ray Wyre has observed, pornography creates a climate of thought and belief which influences attitudes towards women and children. What's more, Wyre says, the more men masturbate to pornographic fantasies, the more likely they are to put those fantasies into practice."

Ray Wyre cannot possibly know this. His claim comes from working with sexual offenders - for whom, obviously, things have gone wrong. He does not work with people - the vast majority - for whom things have gone right!

It's a bit like a fraud investigator concluding from his small and self-selected sample that since the criminals that he deals with seem to have spent a lot of time studying accounts, then those who spend much time studying accounts are more likely to become criminals; and, therefore, that people should be prevented from studying accounts.

Another example would be the claim that computer programmers are likely to become hackers and that, therefore, people should not be allowed to programme computers.

And yet another example would be that of a policeman who lived permanently behind a desk noticing that all those who had committed speed violations by driving at 100 mph were, not long earlier, driving at 30 mph, and, from this, erroneously concluding that driving at 30 mph was a potentially dangerous and therefore wicked thing to do!

3. "For these legal videos do not merely show loveless, sad encounters. They dehumanise sex altogether. There is very little view of faces or indeed any part of the anatomy apart from the genital region. Women and men are reduced to pieces of hydraulic machinery."

This is somewhat true of all photographs of unknown people, whether they show their faces or not. And the fact that men find human genital anatomy to be a sexual turn-on is not the product of pornography!

Chimpanzees do not usually need pornography to find the genitals of their species attractive.

Yep; it would surely be a great thing if the human species had been programmed to find sex attractive only in the context of a meaningful relationship and loving eyes. But it wasn't. 

And so Melanie Phillips should take up this particular issue with the Maker In The Sky rather than with the pornographer who produces what the punter wants to see.

4. "The female genital region is always shaved to produce a disturbing simulation of a child ..."

This is scare-mongering about child abuse. Smooth shaved skin in the genital area is mostly a turn-on for men not because it simulates a child but because it exposes the genitals to their view. And, as per 3. above, men often like to see genitals in every which way but loose and from every angle and avenue. Not all men, for sure, but a very large number of them.

(Also see, Rachel Johnson explains why so many women are going all the way and saying no to pubic hair)

5. "What's even more revolting is that in many of these videos the men ejaculate over the girl's face."

... which has got to be one of the most common fantasies that WOMEN actually have

Much of love and sex is about power - having it over one's partner, or handing it over to them - or about the fantasy of it all. There is nothing sinister about this.

Many women are turned on by powerful men. (e.g. think about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewisnsky.)

Further, many women indeed just love to fantasise about being abused e.g. see AH's Eastenders- The UK woman's FAVOURITE soap opera.

6. "Thanks to the internet, the sheer volume of pornography has exploded. Tapping in the word 'porn' to one server alone brings up 24,522 sites."

The bodies of naked women are highly attractive to men the world over. And there is no language barrier with photographs. Sex sites can therefore gain huge worldwide audiences just by posting photographs. Very few resources and not much in the way of talent are needed to start such websites. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that so many have started up.

7. "Pornography objectifies women and reduces them to a commodity. Such dehumanisation affects the man's behaviour, ranging from withdrawal of intimacy through harsh treatment of women to outright abuse."

If pornography had such effects then, presumably, in those countries where it is more prevalent the women should be found to be more often mistreated. In fact, if anything, the very opposite seems to be true.

My own view is that if pornography, in general, was readily available to anyone who wanted to look at it, both its influence and its sexual attractiveness would rapidly evaporate.

I also suspect that the naked bodies of women and the psychological wirings of men have been constructed by evolution in a manner that, when put together, reduces the likelihood of abuse and violence toward women. And I further suspect that the mainstream absence of general unglamourised nakedness - and the modern taboos concerning it - probably go some way toward reducing the innate protection that this might give.

Bluntly speaking, the more that men see of women's bodies, the more protective are they of them.

Like it or not, women are highly sexually attractive to men. So much so is this true, that thousands of men every year do not seem to think about the consequences of their sexual actions. Hundreds of thousands will lose their careers, or their marriages, or their children, or their liberty, or their status, or their credibility, or their health, or their money, or their lives, just for some sex! Quite simply, so strong is the attraction that many men are so overcome by it at a particular point in time that they seem to lose all reason, and risk - and often lose - the most valuable things that they have.

This probably all arises from the fact that all men currently living on the planet are the direct descendants of men who did such things. Those men who did not have such powerful sex drives produced far less offspring and, statistically speaking, their descendants are just not here.

So, it is very clear that thousands of men are suckers for sex. But they will also risk a great deal simply to be able to fantasise about sex e.g. they are often caught smuggling pornography through customs or hauling down obscene child photos from the Internet. That's how powerful sex is for some men. 

The overall point is that many men, in some particular circumstance and time, will risk a great deal, if not everything, for sex, or for the aided fantasy of it. And many simply go blind with regard to the consequences at the time of their actions. (They must go blind, or they wouldn't do it!)

Now, society can either try to deal maturely with issues that arise from the sexuality of men, or it can take all the negative consequences of not doing so. 

And pornography might be one way of handling much of this.

For example ...

"Making it more difficult for adults to access pornographic material is potentially hazardous for all women and children within this country. When pornography was made freely available in Denmark in the late 60's, the incidence of sex crimes, sexual violence towards women and children, dropped markedly. In 1967 erotic material in Denmark was removed from the obscenity statute. This resulted in sex crimes in Denmark which had been stable from 1958 to 1966 decreasing by 25 percent in 1967, 13 percent in 1968 and 30.5 percent in 1969." Patricia Petersen

My belief is that if women are to be free to dress provocatively then the arousal that they cause has to be addressed. And the above studies suggest that pornography is one significant method of alleviating the stresses for men that arise from being sexually aroused

And it is no good simply saying that men have to control themselves more carefully, because the effects of being aroused go way beyond the point at which it occurs. For example, the gorgeous thingy that passed by in the morning can effect what happens many hours later.

Further, it is no secret that a huge proportion of men are 'addicted' to sex - in the sense that they yearn to experience it often. And when women present themselves in a manner that is very highly appealing they are, like it or not, dangling before the eyes of men that which is going to arouse them - and, depending on the circumstances and the man himself, possibly highly so!

And women know this! They learn very quickly how men react to their displays.

And, in much the same way that a child who is continually having the most gorgeously-wrapped sweets dangled in front of his eyes - while being told that he cannot have any of them - is going to be frustrated, aroused and hungry, by the very sight of them, so it is that men are continually being 'tested' and teased by the clothing that many western women wear.

And pornography is probably a good way of helping society to deal with this problem.

A common counter-argument is the one supported by Melanie Phillips - that it is the pornography that is arousing the men in the first place!

I don't buy this one, particularly. There is a lot of truth in it, but, as I stated earlier, the arousal effects of wide-blown pornography are likely to be very small when compared to the way in which so many women actually dress in real life, and the manner in which they portray themselves in mainstream fashion magazines, on the TV etc.

Indeed, one of my main objections to the mainstream soft-core type of pornography is that it is so unreal. Not only is the camera a great deceiver, but the women commonly portrayed are perfectly posed, beautifully featured and highly untypical of women. If nothing else, this narrow focus somehow denies the sexual attractiveness of most ordinary women, and particularly of older ones.

I would like to see the internet blow this apart, so that pornography actually becomes more realistic in its portrayal of sexuality and less restrictive in terms of the characteristics of the models and performers taking part.

This will almost certainly happen as more ordinary people become involved in the whole industry and the taboos about sex begin to fall further and further apart.

One day, medicine will succeed in making people 100% safe from any unwanted effects that might nowadays arise from sex.

It will be interesting to see what effect that this has on people's attitudes towards it and towards its depiction.

While there are definitely areas of sex where one might have some justification for arguing that they are 'perverse' in some way (though, frankly, if something is relatively common then I am not quite sure how it could ever be regarded as perverse - dangerous, perhaps, but perverse, No) the one thing that surely is NOT perverse is the great sexual attraction that men have for women and their bodies. 

How can it be perverse for men to want to look at women, to grope them, fondle them, examine them, test them, possess them, influence them, impress upon them, or to have strong power over them?

And pornography mostly simply caters for the fantasies of such things.

As such, the popular engagement with pornography does not strike me as being an activity that is perverse, nor indicative that the enthusiastic viewer of such material is himself perverse.

Indeed, how can men's enthusiasm for looking at women and their naked bodies, or wanting to possess them, or fantasising about such, ever be seen as perverse?

Finally, a point surely worthy of consideration is the fact that viewing pornography does not spread diseases or create unwanted pregnancies, whereas active sex with others often does.

AH

18/2/02 

One of the things that culture has to do is to permit women to discipline males adequately so that they do not trouble the rest of us. 9 min - correct! (link now defunct)

And they must discipline males by being attractive, charming, subservient and willing. 

Only in this way will they succeed.

The alternative is all out war! 

94-year-old comedienne to pose naked for Penthouse - three cheers for Penthouse!

AH is fed up of seeing hearing about all those younger lovelies prancing all around the internet and men's magazines in their birthday suits masquerading as objects of desire to the exclusion, almost, of any female whose anatomy appears to be over 30.

What is wrong with older women, apart from

Why can't we have naked older women bending over and 

Wouldn't it be better for society if the 'glamour' industry was less ageist in its selection of its models and recognised that older women are just as sexually attractive as younger ones but in a different way.

At least, they would be, if they were just portrayed as such!

And somewhere therein lies a story - and a thesis - that AH might well impart to his readers one day!

24/6/02 

USA The women who rejected condoms were significantly happier than those using them and those having no sex at all. What's more, those who had been getting regular injections of semen from their boyfriends felt worse the longer it had been since they stopped having sex. The same was not true of women who used condoms. Gallup says this suggests, in the simplest terms, that semen is a drug, and that it's addictive. Martin Downs - 7 min

USA Semen makes you happy. That's the remarkable conclusion of a study comparing women whose partners wear condoms with those whose partners don't.

18/5/02 

Labour, the UK's governing party, is being partly funded by a porn magnate. ... In the eyes of Ms Glenda Jackson, porn is a morally defensible industry since it helps stop men raping women (and therefore taking money from the porn industry is OK).

14/1/02 

What, in the name of decency and respectability, is going on when the daughters of Jonathan Aitken, a former cabinet minister no less, albeit a disgraced one, start taking their clothes off for a men's magazine?

They probably did it for the money and for a heightened media presence. 

And why shouldn't they!? People don't have to buy the magazine and look at their pictures.

In AH's view there is nothing disrespectful or indecent about naked bodies, provided that they are not thrust upon people who would rather not view them.

And, while on the subject, where are all the naked bodies of older men and older women? This is what AH would like to know. This constant obsession with youth and youthfulness, particularly associated with the sexual act, is truly perverting our society in a very unwholesome manner.

Yes indeedee, the bodies of most young men and women look pretty gorgeous, don't they? But, take it from AH, the oldies of both sexes are just as gorgeous, but they are just not commonly presented in a sexual manner, and so the association of their 'image' with sexuality is simply not created in the general public's mind.

What a pity! Especially for older women. 

It is said that women reach their sexual peaks at around 40, and so, presumably, at the very time that their desires are most rampant, they have well passed their sell-by dates when it comes to themselves being portrayed as sexually attractive in that part of the media that deals with such things.

And if these media continue to portray only the youngest of women in a sexual manner then let it come as no surprise to find that so many men - of all ages - tend to seek out younger women rather than older ones for sexual engagement, nor to find that so many older men and women are desperately trying to make themselves look young again - and mostly feeling just awful because they cannot really quite achieve this.

If AH were ever to start a porn site, he would devote much of it to portraying lustful oldies - even those well over 60 years of age.

Indeed, older people probably need much more in the way of caressing, cuddles, contact, coitus and comforting than do those licentious lads and lasses in their twenties!