Well, where do I start? Probably right at the center of all evil also known as hypocrisy these days. I am not a hypocrite i.e. I openly admit that I consume pornography, always have, always will. I find it entertaining... at least... However, I noticed that my interests in pornography is decreasing simply because there is not much I have not seen yet — so, actually it is not about the pornography but about being a nosy person which I am certainly are. It is in our nature to be curious about stuff we do not know, so it comes to no surprise that teens (male and female to the same degree) share the greatest interest for pornography. Later on, it simply becomes part of our mundane — pretty much like having our daily shower or so. It really is nothing spectacular but one would miss it if it did not happen.

      Pornography touches people in a different head space, when they
      are aroused and distracted, when something instinctual is
      hitting them. Pornography is about sex, and sex is why we are
      all here.
            — unknown
      

Then, there are other showers in town. You can use it but that would be a lot of effort and risks are much higher than... Just turn on the computer, enter a few digits from your credit card and enjoy a new thrilled feeling about washing away all the nasty thoughts while standing in a brand new shower... That is exactly what pornography is nowadays... it comes over the Internet. Some even claim that the Internet we know now would not be what it is without the erotic industry being around since the beginning. Some even say, there would be no Internet without pornography... (lean back, think about that and consider your attitude about pornography yet again).

      Life is a sexually transmitted disease.
            — R. D. Laing
      

There is no doubt that throughout the history, sex has changed our lives by inventing new technology and ensuring it made its way into the mass market. Take steaming media for example, it has been around before the erotic industry picked it up... it is just, no one knew it before that — a few hundred lab staff/university stuff does not count here. Any technology, no matter how sophisticated, is worthless if not accepted by ordinary folks i.e. the mass market. Pornography helps to develop modern ways of communication/interaction because for mostly any audio/video based Internet technology, the first step into the mass market goes trough the red cambers we all know.

Random Minds about Pornography

This section takes a look at the relationship of pornography and the society — something that I find very interesting because if we had to somehow measure the changes within our society, measuring peoples attitudes towards sex and the social behavior that goes with it is certainly one of the most informing ways to do so.

So, is pornography all good or all bad for society? Well, I do not know but what I know is that those who are saying pornography is either entirely bad or good are clowns anyway... As with most things in life, there is no black and white with pornography either. Pornography brings good and bad things into peoples lives...

From my point of view, one should learn to enjoy the good things about it and avoid the downsides. But what I am even more certain of is, that we need to start talking about it instead of behaving like stones when it comes to fucking... we need to shed some light on this topic which then might help us to understand the up and downsides instead of getting all emotional (without really knowing much about it) whenever the subject comes up.

What is Pornography?

Many think they know exactly... turns out they are mostly wrong

      Pornography or porn is the explicit depiction of sexual subject
      matter, especially with the sole intention of sexually exciting
      the viewer.
      

It is to a certain extent similar to erotica, which is the use of sexually-arousing imagery for mainly artistic purposes. Over the past few decades, an immense industry for the production and consumption of pornography has grown, due to emergence of the VCR, the DVD, and the Internet, as well as the emergence of social attitudes more tolerant of sexual portrayals.

Performers in pornography are referred to as pornographic actors (or actresses), or the more commonly known title, Porn Star, and are generally seen as qualitatively different from their non-pornographic counterparts.....

For more information on the matter please go here.

The Hypocrites amongst Us

There is not much to say about the phenomenon of hypocrisy. Example: You like cookies, sometimes you drink tea with a shoot of whiskey and you might even have days where you eat a steak. If someone ask you if you like cookies, drink tea with whiskey or enjoy a good steak would you deny it? Of course not!

However, if it is about fucking and sucking anybody turns out the be an angel — never did it, never will... Why is that? Many claim that is society and the pressure it puts on our shoulders?! Is that right? Well, then I must be my own society since I do not feel any pressure or something akin. I am not blushing when I talk about what turns me on. However, same as for the cookie thing — I do not walk around and talk about the cookies — if someone ask then I tell him, if there is a discussion then I make my point. Plain and simple.

      A lot of people consume porn. But it's not a subject people
      talk about at the watercooler — it's something more personal.
      

Being a hypocrite would just not be me — I am what I am — I highly trained, experienced slut if someone demands those skills ;-] See, no problem admitting it... It is not just the porn thing. Hypocrites in general are personalities that I find hard to deal with — or maybe I am already to old to waste time on smalltalk nonsense... not sure...

My experience is that especially man tend to be hypocrites. For all the things the society considers good they lie — adding to reality. For all the things society considers a bad thing the lie too — weaken or even worse, denying reality altogether. Females are no better. They talk more so they lie more but mostly what they tell you is at least partially true which makes it even harder to figure them (/me smells conspiracy).

      Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her
      clothes off... but it's even better if you do.
            — Natalie Portman in "Closer"
      

Well, back to pornography. Why in the world is it a problem to admit that one is entertained by porn — even more that we all know we are sluts anyway? Maybe it really is society. But then our whole society lovely admires the hypocrite principle. Yes, I think that hits the nail on his head. It is not enough the we are all sluts but it is even worse — we got used to the fact that anybody is a liar/hypocrite...

That works out with relationships like for example, business partners. They do not spend much time together so the things they talk about are business related. What about coworkers? Compared to business partners they probably spend more time together. Then there are friends — they spend even more time together. Last but not least, there is family and a girl/boyfriend or spouse. If those folks are unable to leave their hypocrisy behind them, then there can be no happy relationship in the long run. I have seen couples split up after years — although anything was perfect in between them — just because they did not manage to totally open up to their partners. Most couples have an elephant in their living room called my most nasty desires. If that elephant does not disappear folks split up — plain and simple.

However, I just pointed out this example because I think most folks do not even know that they are hypocrites and thus they screw up things all the time. The cause for that might be that most folks do not know what they really are or what they really want from life.

I am a pretty simple character — I do not say I like something if I do not. I do not pretend to be thrilled if something sucks nor do I fake orgasms ;-] As I said, I am not a hypocrite nor do I spend time with folks I think they are — I am already to old for that kind of stuff...

Bottom line is, I think, although things have become a lot better during the last decade, our society is still rattled by hypocrisy. I, as many others, have left behind many old patterns and become more relaxed folks than for example our parents were. There is no good and bad, time simply flows and we need to adjust ourselves to those changes — in fact we are the change.

Pros and Cons about Pornography

As mentioned earlier, pornography certainly is not a black or white thing. There are good and bad things it brings into peoples lives. With this subsection, I am trying to take a closer look into some topics that just crosses my mind. However, for now, I assume this section will constantly grow over time since I might add things every now and then as they pop up in discussions/life/etc.

A general Point of View on the Matter

As the debate over pornography and its place in society grows hotter every day, several authors in particular shed a new light on the subject. Both their intuition and insight involving their beliefs can help the reader a great deal in seeing aspects of this debate that might have otherwise gone without the consideration that they so deserve. I believe that pornography is not only okay, but is allowing our country to take a step back and ask ourselves how far we are willing to go and what we are willing to sacrifice in order to preserve free speech and our rights to personal choice. The argument over pornography is not merely the debate over right or wrong, but also involves the theory that its existence requires, or possibly even causes, an inequality between men and women. I ask you, how could something like pornography cause an in-equality between men and women when women are the major contributors to the industry? Who is going to watch a porn without women in it? Therefore, at least at first glance, it would seem that since women are actively contributing to the business of pornography maybe they should be criticized at least equally if not more so than the men who watch it.

According to author J.M. Coetzee and his article The Harms of Pornography, the real questions here are, what is the difference between obscenity and pornography, and even more importantly, where do we draw the line between the two? Coetzee brings up a good point here. A point on which the entire debate over pornography hinges.

What is the definition of obscenity? An excerpt from a speech by Mike Godwin, Online Counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, gives a good definition of obscenity in his online article: Fear of Freedom: The Backlash Against Free Speech on the Net. Everybody more or less knows something about what qualifies as obscene. You know it has something to do with community standards, right? And with appealing to the prurient interest.

A work has to be a patently offensive depiction of materials banned by state statute and appeal to the prurient interest to be obscene and it also has to meet one other requirement. It also has to lack serious literary, artistic, social, political or scientific value.

That is how something is classified as obscene. Godwin states that one of the criteria for decency or absence of obscenity is that something must contain social political or scientific value. Is it possible that pornography is an outlet for people that prevents ideas that start out as fantasies or desires from becoming real? If so, then it is possible that the porn industry is doing us a bigger favor than we know. In an article written by Donna A.

Demac, the history of censorship, obscenity, pornography and the rights of the people are conveyed with a decidedly liberal attitude. Demac's article gives an intelligent overview as to the actions of various political parties, groups and activists that have fought either for or against some of the issues regarding pornography, and his article can be effectively used to defend free speech.

The most opinionated and conservative of the authors included is Catherine MacKinnon, who touches on the thought that there is a great deal of similarity between pornography and black slavery. In her article Pornography, Civil Rights and Speech she states that the harm of pornography does not lie in the fact that it is offensive but that, at least in developed societies, it is an industry that mass produces sexual intrusion, access to, possession and use of women by men for profit. For the sake of argument, also if we assume that this has been true in the past, I think this is overhauled already (see below).

MacKinnon approaches pornography not from a moral standpoint, but strictly from the political point of view that says pornography is a threat to the gender equality of our nation. I say she is wrong and that not only is pornography okay, but in many cases could contribute to the health of our society. I will quickly agree that pornography should be kept away from the eyes of our children, and that there is a proper time and place for it, but consider some of the acts that, providing that pornography was made illegal, would not only go under ground but might actually become real instead of acted out.

Coetzee goes to great lengths to bring to light indescrepancies and unclarified ideas throughout MacKinnon's article. One of Coetzee's most prominent points is that the differences between obscenity and pornography go far beyond a difference in term based on either political or moral argument. While at times Coetzee seems to generally disagree with or at least greatly challenge MacKinnon's ideas, there are times at which the two authors trains of thought almost seem to coincide.

One such issue would be that MacKinnon is not necessarily looking to hunt out all occurrences of pornography in today's literature and media, but to snuff out the commercial end of it. The end that makes billions based on women being used by men, and does nothing at all to improve their social standing in our society — personally, I find that a very good catch... But why must everything be used to bolster the social position of women? It is this topic specifically that seems to have gone un-argued by Coetzee. Coetzee's stand on this issue of pornography and obscenity as a part of today's culture is never quite addressed may very well remain a mystery to the reader.

From many of the author's statements and criticism's of MacKinnon, one could gather that he takes a much more liberal stand and yet somehow successfully avoids pressing his opinions. He also does a wonderful job of highlighting some of the more minute intricacies related to MacKinnon's writing which may have otherwise gone unnoticed. If you read Demac's article you may find that Sex, throughout history has been more than merely a method of procreation. In Demac's article it is also stated that the editorial and news press at times found sexual content the only way to keep the political news interesting. Based on Demac's article, sex has always been sort of a mystery or something dark that nobody liked to talk about, and yet everybody was interested in (a hypocrite society). Maybe this is the reason that our society today has such a hard time talking to there children about sex and the prevention of such things as pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

      I am often amazed that people have such a hard time talking
      about sex and sex related topics when it rates second in
      priority among human drives. Second only to the drive to eat.
      

Pornography is nothing new, in fact prostitution is sometimes called the world's oldest profession. All that has changed is the degree in which it is used. People become numb to what once was erotic or dangerous and eventually want more. Demac's article illustrates this extremely well as he gives a general overview of the history of pornography. His view is very helpful in seeing how pornography has progressed and where it is now, relative to where it has been. Unfortunately as all of our authors have, in their own way stated, sex is not the real issue at hand here. The issue is Obscenity. Pornography in these writers eyes seems to be a mixture of sex which is completely natural and nearly every person enjoys at one time or another and obscenity which is the element that MacKinnon says keeps sex interesting for men (whatever that means).

It seems that if things (sex and pornography) were less extravagantly portrayed on the television, print and even the radio, that less would be needed to fulfill one's appetite for eroticism. If there actually were some line that were drawn, unable to be crossed, would that given amount of danger be enough? I doubt it. The thing that keeps men (the major supporters of the pornography industry) so interested in women according to MacKinnon is the idea of having the power over a woman. It is this power that breeds obscenity as men want more and more of this power. Sometimes it is taken much to far, but where can you draw the line? When is too much too much?

Coetzee brings up a good point when he quotes Mackinnon: In visual media...it takes a real person doing each act to make what you see — pornography models are real women to whom something real is being done. Coetzee challenges this argument by asking the reader about violence in movies. He asks, Are knife thrusts and gunshots not just as real? According to Coetzee, the acts of sex portrayed on a television screen are happening to real people, yet one of the greatest attributes of sex, and one of the things that make it sacred are the feelings involved between the two people. Therefore, if there are no feelings between the two actors, is this not just merely acting? The models are being paid and have most likely been made aware of what will happen and therefore given their consent. What about the possibility that the problem not only lies in the hands of the men who watch these acts on a video tape, but the women who make them. Without the availability of women who were willing to produce this kind of material the pornography industry would come to a screeching halt. What is there to watch without women? Maybe it all comes down to If you are not a part of the solution, you are part of the problem. The lines between right and wrong are often much more gray than black and white, which is most likely where most people live (at least I do). No one can say to another what is right and wrong, or what should or should not be done, that decision has to be left to the individuals themselves.

It is this issue of pornography having an effect on women who are not even involved in the industry of making or even watching it. We as a nation and even a world stand to learn a lot from simply listening to ourselves. We like to stand up and say what is right, and yet acting on it rarely happens — yep, we are hypocrites but that we already know. In order for our society to come to any sort of peace on this issue of pornography, it needs to be accepted that people need to be allowed to make decisions for themselves without the intervention of some government medium, but only as long as those decisions do not effect or hinder the rights of others. Pornography is an immense opportunity for an experiment in freedom of speech and democracy. The largest scale experiment this world has ever seen. It is up to you and it is up to me and it is up to all of us to explore that opportunity, and it's up to all of us not to lose it. I am not yet a parent myself, and I may not be for some time, but I worry about my future children and pornography all the time. Here is what I worry about. I worry that 10 or 15 or even 20 years from now she will come to me and say, Daddy, where were you when they took freedom of the press and speech away from us? and I want to be able to say I was there — and I helped stop that from happening...

Shed some Light on particular Topics

This one is for the reader who is on the clock respectively needs something he can get to grips with rather fast instead of the above which might involve reading some books.

Protect the Weak

The important thing is that only stable personalities are confronted with porn which certainly is not the case as of now — even children may happen to accidentally surf onto some porn site on the net. That is totally unacceptable. Even more unacceptable is putting children in front of the camera respectively exploiting or forcing adults to something they do not want on their own. Fortunately that is considered a crime and those who engage in such criminal acts are punished. If it happens you stumble across some site on the net that openly encourages or portrays some actions like these then please do not hesitate and report it to your local authorities. Porn should be fun and happen based on free will for all parties involved — producers, actors and consumers — anything else than that is a bad thing.

However, pornography is a reality that no one can deny — no matter what attitude one has towards pornography. As an example, we all know traffic produces a lot of green house gases which in turn considered being the main culprits for global warming. Still, we all drive our cars... yes? Why is that even that we know traffic has such negative impacts? Well, by the time I figure out humans I might tell about it here but until then only one question remains... How can we shape reality into something where we can enjoy all its pros and avoid the cons?

Speaking in context of pornography how can we turn the Internetporn into something that protects minors from seeing stuff that is inappropriate for them and even more important, how can we ensure no one gets exploited or harmed by pornography? Well, the sex industry in general takes huge efforts to ensure those things but there will always be some black sheep (as there are in any other business area).

General Acceptance for each Another

I totally respect anybodies point of view. May it be the point of view from religious parties, feminists, etc. It is anybodies right to speak out freely. However, it is also anybodies right to act as they want as long as their deeds cause no harm to anyone else. About feminists... I agree with what they say — most porn from the 80s and even up to the late the 90s was fairly focused on male customers which often looked like as if females where the victims of the whole sex industry. Fortunately our society has changed and females are stronger now — there is still a lot to do but generally things got a lot better. I want a society where every individual has the same chances and rights no matter what gender or race they are — so, girls, keep on rocking ;-]

As our society changes, pornography changes as well. If we look at porn today we notice there is no dominant male who fucks the female until she faints... that is old totally stupid/unreal macho style that puts more and more people to sleep after a few minutes... I think as time goes by and more and more woman get to leading positions within the sex industry things will get a lot better than they already are. That also has a lot of benefits for the customers since what they want to see are emotions as they reflect reality today and not how reality was in 1832 or so.

Addiction

A big issue as it seems. Actually, I never thought about it that way until I started writing this page (well, a friend of mine (woman, 34) mentioned her somewhat addiction once but back then I rather thought she was kidding...). Many folks seem to be addicted to Internet pornography these days. Currently I am not sure if I am fully aware of what that means. Me? Hmm... well, I have periods of up to several weeks where I do not look into nasty stuff at all simply because I have better things to do i.e. travelling, meeting friends, sports etc. Also, I got somewhat used to watch porn together with some female that enjoys it too — since most folks at my age work full time, up to 80 hours a week, time is limited... Adding one to one I think I am not a porn addict but I am definitely entertained by it.

Those scientist claiming that addiction to porn exists are probably right — after a while searching the net, I found articles written by folks who openly talk about their porn addiction. Some said they spend up to 30 hours a week surfing on porn sites (!)... wtf? I can hardly believe that. I mean porn is nice but come on... 30 hours per week kind of impresses me too (which speaks for itself).

Well, since I am obviously not an expert on Internet porn addiction I stop now — no advice but do not forget about reality folks! Porn was, is and will always be a lie... nothing more than a created ideal respectively phony fantasy someone else created. Thus it can never be better as living your own fulfilled family-life and sex-life with the one(s) you truly love.

Influences on Society

There are discussions which I think just waste peoples time since in the end, no matter who talks what and how long, no one got smarter. This discussion happens to be one of those. Pornography may have influences on our society but they are neither all bad nor all good that I am sure of — actually, that is the only thing one can be sure of.

All the folks pursuing their PhD in order to get to the bottom of this question have already failed before they even start — that is if you do not count empirical studies and a bit sugar on top as finishing with your PhD. There is no one but god who can answer this question.

Aside from the fact that I am an agnostic I doubt anyone reading this is god himself so that just leaves us with a (rather unimportant) question — Does pornography has good or bad influences on society? I do not know, I do not care, I leave this worthless battle to the encouraged sociology PhD students. May they get into the ring with old-school-mindset folks and fight it out over who is right ;-] When they are done, they might get into What are the influences of foreign cultures and languages onto our domestic/local ones. Are they good or bad?

Pornography as being an Inventor

Yes. For the moment now, let us pretend Internet and porn had never meet. Would the Internet be what it is today?

I doubt it. Another example is the HD-DVD versus Blue ray battle. The big movie studios are waiting what the sex industry is going to do i.e. the folks at Warner, Universal Studios, etc. will pick whatever format the sex industry will make their choice.

Yet another example is streaming media. First there was audio. At that point no one was really interested about streaming media. Then, when porn became available via video streams, the whole shebang really took off and it did not took long and streaming media became accepted by the mass market. Those are just a few examples how pornography in particular helps to introduce new technology into the mass market. The list goes on...

I think ultimately it is justified to say that the sex industry is one of the few industries that permanently shape our means of modern communication into something new. That in turn creates thousands of jobs that are ultimately not in any sense connected to sex. There are economist saying that in the end, 60+% of the GDP in modern societies roots into sex e.g. attracting the other gender — woman buys shoes, men buys fancy car etc.

Porn is Entertaining

It really is. Folks all over the world enjoy it. As we already figured above, sex really is the second strongest drive right after eating. It is part of our being and programmed into any single fiber of our bodies so no one can escape his sex drive.

      People should look at porn in the same way they look at food. It comes
      in many flavors, different people have different tastes and
      depending on where you go on this planet there may be local
      specialities.
      

Further down I provided a few figures and numbers to show, or better said, give an indication to what extend porn is a dominant factor in our lives. People should have a positive but yet determined attitude about what they want and what they do not want and then act accordingly. They should not bend under society pressure and deny themselves just because society has a hang for hypocrisy.

Porn can be fun and the fact that many consume it speaks for itself. As for restaurants, there is a huge offer so the consumer decides where to put his money to get the best product respectively the product that he individually likes best. Thanks to democracy and freedom of expression and speech we can enjoy where we have lunch and where we acquire our well beloved porn. And yes, it really is cheaper than dating ;-]

Internet, Pornography and the Facts

This section is about facts i.e. how much turnover does the adult industry generate, how many jobs does it provide, how much money flows back into non-sex businesses, how many Internet searches are sex related etc. The data represented reflects the current situations from 2006 into mid 2008. There are no specific sources, I rather gathered the information across the Internet and picked it up in different spots.

Statistics

This subsection is about general statistics that go side by side with pornography and its modern ways of consumption e.g. via the Internet.

Time

Internet Pornography Statistics

This subsection takes a pragmatic view at numbers — usually they are pretty informative for marketers, sociologists etc.

General Data of Interest

Children Internet Pornography Statistics

Adult Internet Pornography Statistics

Women and Pornography

Women, far more than men, are likely to act out their behaviors in real life, such as having multiple partners, casual sex, or affairs.

Top Pornography Banning Countries

Romania, Saudia Arabia, Iran, Syria, Bahrain, Egypt, UAE, Kuwait, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Kenya, India, Cuba, China, etc.

Pornographic Web Pages By Country

Revenues

Some numbers telling about turnover respectively revenues...

2006 Worldwide Pornography Revenues

      The pornography industry is larger than the revenues of the top
      technology companies combined: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay,
      Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix and EarthLink
      

2006 and 2005 Pornography United States Industry Revenue Statistics

      US porn revenue exceeds the combined revenues
      of ABC, CBS, and NBC.
      

Search Engine related Facts

Those numbers reflect how humans use search engines to search for adult terms.

2006 Top Adult Search Requests

Demographics

US Adult Internet User Demographics - Income

Miscellaneous

This section is about a lot of things with no specific relation among them...

The Devil in Disguise

Please folks, be safe — as we all know the devil comes in disguise i.e. no matter how tempting the smoking-hot stranger might be, it could be the beginning of the end for you...

It does not matter if you are straight or gay, male or female — HIV and all the other nasty stuff you might get from not practicing safer sex might kill you no matter what... plain and simple.