The Legitimacy of Ethical Porn
Mainstream pornography has been riddled with a variety of problems for as long as one can remember but its popularity has never dwindled. So to tackle the issues mainstream porn couldn’t, ethical porn came into the picture. Ethical porn, also referred to as feminist porn or fair trade porn, is supposed to be pornography that is made consensually, treats performers with respect, and pays performers and filmmakers fairly for their work. It claims to stand against everything mainstream porn promotes. But can an industry that fundamentally trades in the sexual objectification of women ever be ethical?
Ethical Porn
You could categorize ethical porn in two ways, like David Ley (the author of Ethical Porn for Dicks: A Man’s Guide to Responsible Viewing Pleasure) does. One on the basis of production and the other on the basis of use case.
Ethical porn represents the wide diversity of sexual experiences and desires, from LGBT porn, to feminist-focused porn, to porn involving a wide mix of body types. Ethical porn can be as hot and hard-core as any other material, but you can watch knowing the performers are engaging in behaviors they enjoy, from a place of consent. It’s currently a women-dominated field with women taking charge as producers and performers alike.
Mindful usage can be described as a form of sexual integrity, where our sexual behaviors don’t generate moral conflicts, because they are in line with our consciously considered moral values. You clearly understand the role porn plays in your life.
But ethical porn is not as accessible as mainstream porn. According to those in the industry, ethical porn is not likely to be the first thing you’ll find, and probably isn’t free. Competing against a massive amount of free content that is often pirated is extremely hard. And Google pushing free content doesn’t help.
Keeping aside the accessibility issue, most people still question the legitimacy of ethical porn. They consider it as industry propaganda and nothing else.
This industry is difficult to regulate, so even if the content was in theory ethically produced, it would be hard for a user to identify.
So Watching any kind of Porn makes me a bad person?
Many sex therapists and mental health practitioners, get very little training or education in sexuality issues—and that deficit leads to overdiagnosis and subjective pathologization. There is a disconnect between the science of sexuality and the moral issues that people consider in their judgment of sexual matters.
Many people have been harmed and shamed by the approach that their sexual desires are addictive. There is little dialogue about the ”middle ground” that reflects the majority of porn use, where people have no problems from their use but are a bit nervous that their use might be judged unhealthy or dangerous by our highly sex-negative society.
For years people have been debating the negative effects of porn which include but are not limited to ED, violence, decreased libido, etc.
But there is no strong scientific evidence that can support that high porn consumption can cause sexual dysfunctions like erectile dysfunction.
Couples who watch porn together tend to have healthier sexual relationships. It’s really only when porn is watched in secret that it predicts negative relationship outcomes.
Porn’s effects are individual.
But we’ll be fools to believe that our porn consumption is completely unproblematic.
Pornography alone does not, in and of itself, create or cause this problem. But the high rates of violence and aggression in porn certainly reflect the problem and, further, often glamorise and eroticise it.
What is the solution?
It’s like David Ley has pointed out – The problem is truly based on our society’s abdication of responsibility for pragmatic, real-world-based sexual education. We neglect our adolescents and then punish them for learning about sexuality from the fantasy world of porn. If a child died from jumping off a building after watching Superman, we wouldn’t blame the movie producer.
We desperately need to be having more conversations with adolescents about what sexual health, and sexual integrity, are. The modern world of sexuality, available at a moment’s notice via the internet and modern technology, is a wide and deep pool. If we don’t want people to drown, we need to start teaching them to swim in that pool. We can’t expect porn to go away overnight or correct itself in a morally acceptable way. Primarily because morals are extremely subjective. It’s important to create a conversation where our children or anyone for that matter can reach out to someone after coming across sexually challenging material, information or experiences. It’s important for you to know what is right and what is wrong. And being mindful of your consumption by recognising the part porn plays in your life and only looking for ethically produced content.
Cover Illustration: Healthline
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1 thought on “The Legitimacy of Ethical Porn”
well written!