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The experiment of "all the porn for all the people with no limits" has been tried, and the results have been absolutely abysmal for humans. Beyond the abuse an

by Syonyk 2y ago

The experiment of "all the porn for all the people with no limits" has been tried, and the results have been absolutely abysmal for humans. Beyond the abuse and sex trafficking ties (or the right at the edge of the legal definition but certainly not entirely consensual), revenge porn, and such, the impacts of porn on humans have been exceedingly harmful. There's the whole "PIED" (porn induced erectile dysfunction) thing, where a boy or young man's brain has been so wired from porn that they can't function with an actual woman, you've got disturbing increases in physical damage to people (mostly young women) from boys trying what they've seen in porn, etc. It's not harmless, on either end of the process, and as far as age gating, I'm not aware of any of the porn sites even trying to do anything until legally required. A 10 year old with a smartphone has no trouble finding things way over their head. So, yeah. The experiment has been tried and found wanting. I'm perfectly fine with them trying to make it illegal, or at least "radically harder to access than it is currently," which is "zero roadblocks at all." Society, and humans, were rather better off when you had to walk through the curtain into the back corner of the video store, or get something from the papered off magazine rack at a seedy gas station, than having it available, in total privacy, 24/7.

fsflover 2y ago
> The experiment of "all the porn for all the people with no limits" has been tried, and the results have been absolutely abysmal for humans. Any links? Alternative opinion: https://aeon.co/essays/when-it-comes-to-pornography-whats-the-harm-in-looking https://aeon.co/essays/when-it-comes-to-pornography-whats-th...
- Syonyk 2y ago
  Were I to spend half an hour providing a set of links, would it actually change anyone's opinion on the matter? It seems to be the sort of viewpoint that isn't easily changed by a few research papers.
  - fsflover 2y ago
    Are you suggesting, that nobody ever changes their opinions based on research papers?
    - doublerabbit 2y ago
      Pretty much. I can pitch documents after document and it still comes back to "well thats nice but i'll believe me".
      - fsflover 2y ago
        This is anecdotal fallacy. I observed people changing their opinions here, at HN.
        ANewFormation 2y ago
        This is not the sort of topic where that happens. Everybody is aware that if you spin the data this way or that on these sort of topics (broadly - social science with strong preformed views that tends to directly apply to oneself) that you can prove whatever you want, and all a plurality one way or the other demonstrates is the trending bias among those publishing in such a field. When people do change their minds on such topics it tends to be from lived wisdom rather than learned knowledge. Or starting to see such things through the perspective of your children, rather than yourself.
        fsflover 2y ago
        [flagged]
    - Syonyk 2y ago
      On a topic that is emotionally loaded, personal, and increasingly political? I question if having provided a few links would change anyone's opinion, yes. I started out planning to add a pile of them, but it's hard to find anything that comes across as "neutral" - either the sources are very pro-porn sources arguing that there's no problem, or they're very anti-porn sources - anti-trafficking organizations, web filter/accountability software, etc. I'm not sure the endless stories of how porn has screwed up young men on Reddit will really change minds either. Perhaps if someone is on the fence, the stories and encouragement of getting over it will help, but that's not really the point being discussed. So, no, I didn't think it was worth the effort to do a heavily researched set of links on this topic. Sorry.
- taminka 2y ago
  erotika as art form/expression isn’t diametrically opposed to porn industry, but it’s close to being… pornography industry is evil as hell and cannot be reformed/regulated into an acceptable state, and actively prevents ppl from developing a healthy sense of sexuality/eroticism genuinely not sure if alligning w ppl who want to ban pornography for religious/conservative reasons is a good idea, but it’s better than doing nothing i suspect…
michaelt 2y ago
Yes, dreadful stuff. Unfortunately, for legislators to ban porn without breaking the constitution, they'd have to change the First Amendment. And there is a process for that! IMHO the constitution is due for an overhaul anyway - perhaps while they're at it, the legislators could also sort out those pesky school shootings with some tweaks to the Second Amendment?
- Syonyk 2y ago
  There's a built in process to revise it that has been used repeatedly throughout the USA's history. Just don't assume that process would always go the way you'd prefer, different people have different opinions. Though they've been somewhat lacking since the 1970s.

by Syonyk 2y ago

fsflover 2y ago

> The experiment of "all the porn for all the people with no limits" has been tried, and the results have been absolutely abysmal for humans. Any links? Alternative opinion: https://aeon.co/essays/when-it-comes-to-pornography-whats-the-harm-in-looking https://aeon.co/essays/when-it-comes-to-pornography-whats-th...

Syonyk 2y ago
Were I to spend half an hour providing a set of links, would it actually change anyone's opinion on the matter? It seems to be the sort of viewpoint that isn't easily changed by a few research papers.
- fsflover 2y ago
  Are you suggesting, that nobody ever changes their opinions based on research papers?
  - doublerabbit 2y ago
    Pretty much. I can pitch documents after document and it still comes back to "well thats nice but i'll believe me".
    - fsflover 2y ago
      This is anecdotal fallacy. I observed people changing their opinions here, at HN.
      - ANewFormation 2y ago
        This is not the sort of topic where that happens. Everybody is aware that if you spin the data this way or that on these sort of topics (broadly - social science with strong preformed views that tends to directly apply to oneself) that you can prove whatever you want, and all a plurality one way or the other demonstrates is the trending bias among those publishing in such a field. When people do change their minds on such topics it tends to be from lived wisdom rather than learned knowledge. Or starting to see such things through the perspective of your children, rather than yourself.
        fsflover 2y ago
        [flagged]
  - Syonyk 2y ago
    On a topic that is emotionally loaded, personal, and increasingly political? I question if having provided a few links would change anyone's opinion, yes. I started out planning to add a pile of them, but it's hard to find anything that comes across as "neutral" - either the sources are very pro-porn sources arguing that there's no problem, or they're very anti-porn sources - anti-trafficking organizations, web filter/accountability software, etc. I'm not sure the endless stories of how porn has screwed up young men on Reddit will really change minds either. Perhaps if someone is on the fence, the stories and encouragement of getting over it will help, but that's not really the point being discussed. So, no, I didn't think it was worth the effort to do a heavily researched set of links on this topic. Sorry.
taminka 2y ago
erotika as art form/expression isn’t diametrically opposed to porn industry, but it’s close to being… pornography industry is evil as hell and cannot be reformed/regulated into an acceptable state, and actively prevents ppl from developing a healthy sense of sexuality/eroticism genuinely not sure if alligning w ppl who want to ban pornography for religious/conservative reasons is a good idea, but it’s better than doing nothing i suspect…

michaelt 2y ago

Yes, dreadful stuff. Unfortunately, for legislators to ban porn without breaking the constitution, they'd have to change the First Amendment. And there is a process for that! IMHO the constitution is due for an overhaul anyway - perhaps while they're at it, the legislators could also sort out those pesky school shootings with some tweaks to the Second Amendment?

Syonyk 2y ago
There's a built in process to revise it that has been used repeatedly throughout the USA's history. Just don't assume that process would always go the way you'd prefer, different people have different opinions. Though they've been somewhat lacking since the 1970s.