Another SURVEY by Monkeytrousers - Have you ever watched porn? What was your experience?

[monkeytrousers]

Will you be my control group once more? I'm not skiving, honest, this is for my dissertation. It's just to get an idea about peoples personal attitudes to pornography in and outside the home.

There are 26 questions - I know it's a lot but if you can be bothered please I'd really appreciate it. Due to the sensitive nature of the questions and because I'd really like to you be honest without fear of judgement feel free to change your name or cut and paste the questions it into a word document, answer the questions and send them to [email protected]

1 Are you male or female?

2 Homosexual or heterosexual?

3 Have you ever looked at/watched hard core pornography?

4 Do you generally watch it alone, with a sexual partner, a friend, other? Please state other.

5 Who initiated the idea of watching pornography?

6 Did you watch it out of curiosity or to become aroused?

7 Did you become aroused?

8 Did you then act on that arousal?

9 With a partner or alone?

10 If you were not aroused, how did it make you feel?

11 Did you pretend to be aroused?

12 If yes you were aroused, did you also feel any conflicting negative emotions? For example, even though you were aroused were you completely comfortable with the content of the images and your response to them?

13 If you felt conflicting emotions did you also feel confident enough to express these?

14 Did you feel yourself identifying with anyone in the pornography?

15 Did you feel yourself sexually objectifying anyone in the pornography, male or female?

16 Did you feel judged by the standards of the actors in the way you looked and the way you responded?

17 Did the pornography contain any violence? (if a participant seemed to be experiencing distress or pain please include this)

18 Have you felt inclined to try things that are known to be generally painful after you or your partner have seen it in pornography?

19 Did pornography improve you sex life in the short term?

20 Did it improve your sex life in the long them?

21 Did it improve your emotional relationship in the short term?

22 And in the long term?

23 Do you still use pornography as a relationship aid?

24 Would you describe yourself as:

A a feminist?
B someone who believes in equality of the sexes but doesn’t call themselves a feminist?
C a nonfeminists?

25 Do you believe it is only fair that women should enjoy the pleasures of pornography just as men do?

26 Do you believe that sexualised images of women in society are harmless or harmful?

Mine (and I suppose by typing it here with date and time on I'm copyrighting it somewhat) is called "Shooting the Messenger - the Media Representation of Feminism since the Second Wave."

Bugsy, it isn't illegal as films given general release such as Michael Winterbottom's '9 Songs' shows. That contains graphic and actual intercourse that, while I wouldn't term it pornographic, as my appreciation of the word has more spiteful connotations, is exploitative of the female actress. The bigger question I have on the film is why such an intelligent and respected director would think depicting real sex in a fictional narrative would evince any 'truth' is beyond me. If he'd have included morning farting scenes I might have taken it a bit more seriously.

1 female

2 heterosexual

3 yes

4 partner

5 me

6 neither - to try to get his tackle out of a coma

7 yes

8 no

9 n/a

10 n/a

11 n/a

12 felt a bit pathetic to be resorting to such things

13 yes

14 probably the cleaner!

15 yes, they are a 'means to an end' arent they - thats the point of porn!

16 felt very body conscious!

17 no

18 no

19 no

20 no

21 no

22 no

23 no

24 B

25 i believe in the choice of an individual, regardless of gender, to enjoy it if they want to!

26 both and neither. too black and white. context is key!!

Aw MTPW {{{{}}}}!

But thank you for being so honest! x

1 female

2 heterosexual

3 yes

4 with a sexual partner

5 both

6 both

7 yes

8 yes

9 partner

10 n/a

11 n/a

12 no conflicting emotions

13 n/a

14 no

15 no

16 no

17 no

18 no

19 yes

20 yes

21 no

22 no

23 yes

24 b

25 yes

26 this is too complicated to answer yes or no, and depends on so many variants

MT, I haven't seen 9 songs - but have seen a fair bit of porn. I would say that if porn is exploitative, which I am not necessarily sure is so, then it exploits both men & women. I don't include in this films that have a violent element or films that are entirely of women. Maybe my "porn" experience is limited as I've only ever seen porn that involves both men & women having sex.
Interesting choice of dissertation though.

I'm going to do a follow up on this girls, would you mind? Not yet of course but those who have (or are going to) answered already could you be on notice in the next couple of weeks to do something similar again? - not as long, promise.

This is great though. Thank you! x

Sorry, busybusybee the degree I'm taking is in History of Modern Art, Design and Film - not doing an MA (yet hopefully!).

A After watching pornography and engaging in sex after immediate arousal from pornography, did you use images from what you had seen in your minds eye (when you closed your eyes?) ?

B If you were aroused and acted on that arousal was the sex as easily gratifying as the images or was it harder work in actuality? E.g. was it easier to watch sex and be aroused rather than have sex and remain aroused? Please feel free to give different accounts with different partners.

C When watching did you have any thoughts about the ethics of porn or were you sufficiently ‘in the moment’ not to care?

D Do you have any thoughts about the ethics of porn being out of that moment?

E Do you believe that, when it comes to sex, men and women are just the same?

A yes

B as easily gratifying

C too in the moment to care

D it depends on the type of porn

E mostly no, but i am always being told i am masculine in my approach to sex and porn, with which i agree, so wrt to myself, yes

bump

some \link{http://cps.gov.uk/legal/section12/chapter_e.html#05\guidelines} about what is obscene enough to be prosecuted.

there is also the R18 category of videos that can only be sold through licensed sex shops.

Not sure what I was thinking when I posted below - films like Lars von Trier's The Idiots as well as 9 Songs, Sex and Lucia etc go on general release (but are admittedly not wall to wall explicit penetration...)

1 Are you male or female? F

2 Homosexual or heterosexual? Het

3 Have you ever looked at/watched hard core pornography? Yes

4 Do you generally watch it alone, with a sexual partner, a friend, other? Please state other. Have seen some with partners and friends but in the past.

5 Who initiated the idea of watching pornography? Others.

6 Did you watch it out of curiosity or to become aroused? Both

7 Did you become aroused? Sometimes

8 Did you then act on that arousal? Yes

9 With a partner or alone? Both

10 If you were not aroused, how did it make you feel? Bored; asexual

11 Did you pretend to be aroused? Sometimes

12 If yes you were aroused, did you also feel any conflicting negative emotions? For example, even though you were aroused were you completely comfortable with the content of the images and your response to them? Usually conflicted. Always something that jarred in the images, the soundtrack or just general guilt.

13 If you felt conflicting emotions did you also feel confident enough to express these? Sometimes

14 Did you feel yourself identifying with anyone in the pornography? Yes and no - the women always have to try and sound/look aroused when they are clearly not, sometimes that chimed with me.

15 Did you feel yourself sexually objectifying anyone in the pornography, male or female? Don't know what this means.

16 Did you feel judged by the standards of the actors in the way you looked and the way you responded? By myself, a little bit.

17 Did the pornography contain any violence? (if a participant seemed to be experiencing distress or pain please include this) Not really in the things I have seen.

18 Have you felt inclined to try things that are known to be generally painful after you or your partner have seen it in pornography? No but my partners have.

19 Did pornography improve you sex life in the short term? Depends how you look at it - I would say no, but in some cases it caused me and a partner to have sex at a time we otherwise would not have.

20 Did it improve your sex life in the long them? No

21 Did it improve your emotional relationship in the short term? A bit

22 And in the long term? I'm no longer with any partner with whom I used hard-core porn, but the two things are not directly connected.

23 Do you still use pornography as a relationship aid? Not any more - tried a little soft-core early on in this relationship but soon found it didn't work for us in any way.

24 Would you describe yourself as:

A a feminist? Yes, mostly
B someone who believes in equality of the sexes but doesn’t call themselves a feminist?
C a nonfeminists?

25 Do you believe it is only fair that women should enjoy the pleasures of pornography just as men do? I don't think it is that simple.

26 Do you believe that sexualised images of women in society are harmless or harmful? Ultimately, probably harmful. However, it depends what articles I have been reading lately.

A I have engaged in sex after porn, but was not myself aroused by the porn - so no didn't use the images.

B NA

C Have thought about the ethics of porn. Sort of think that they are all consenting adults and have made a choice to do this. I have never watched anything other than adult sex porn. I wouldn't watch or condone anything other than that.

D See above

E No definitely not the same. Men are far more "visually" stimulated than women in my experience. Lots of other differences too - but not sure you want a long list right now.

Bump - please scroll to the bottom

bump back into active convos.

bump - have emailed answers.

1.Female
2.Heterosexual
3.Yes
4.Other-found on dps computer
5.found it didnt want to watch it
6.no
7.no
8.no
9.no
10.OMG Who am i living with?
11.no
12.n/a
13.n/a
14.no
15.yes
16.no
`7.no
18.no
19.no
20.no
21.no
22.no
23.no
24.B
25.yes
26.Depemds how explicit

Well as most people have been brave and not changed their names neither will I.

1 Are you male or female? Female

2 Homosexual or heterosexual? Hetero

3 Have you ever looked at/watched hard core pornography? No

4 Do you generally watch it alone, with a sexual partner, a friend, other? Please state other. DH

5 Who initiated the idea of watching pornography? DH

6 Did you watch it out of curiosity or to become aroused? Curiosity

7 Did you become aroused? No but he did

8 Did you then act on that arousal? Yes

9 With a partner or alone? Well with him obviousley as he was the one with the slight problem IYSWIM

10 If you were not aroused, how did it make you feel? Uncomfortable and told DH so.

11 Did you pretend to be aroused? No

12 If yes you were aroused, did you also feel any conflicting negative emotions? For example, even though you were aroused were you completely comfortable with the content of the images and your response to them? N/A

13 If you felt conflicting emotions did you also feel confident enough to express these? N/A

14 Did you feel yourself identifying with anyone in the pornography? No

15 Did you feel yourself sexually objectifying anyone in the pornography, male or female? No

16 Did you feel judged by the standards of the actors in the way you looked and the way you responded? In a minor way

17 Did the pornography contain any violence? (if a participant seemed to be experiencing distress or pain please include this) No

18 Have you felt inclined to try things that are known to be generally painful after you or your partner have seen it in pornography? No

19 Did pornography improve you sex life in the short term? No

20 Did it improve your sex life in the long them? No

21 Did it improve your emotional relationship in the short term? No

22 And in the long term? No

23 Do you still use pornography as a relationship aid? No because I am uncomfortable with it.

24 Would you describe yourself as:

A a feminist?
B someone who believes in equality of the sexes but doesn’t call themselves a feminist?
C a nonfeminists? thats me

25 Do you believe it is only fair that women should enjoy the pleasures of pornography just as men do? If they find it arousing yes.

26 Do you believe that sexualised images of women in society are harmless or harmful? Depends on the content of the image.

First set of questions (can't resist a quiz!)

1 Are you male or female? female

2 Homosexual or heterosexual? hetero

3 Have you ever looked at/watched hard core pornography? yes

4 Do you generally watch it alone, with a sexual partner, a friend, other? Please state other. With partner

5 Who initiated the idea of watching pornography? he did (videos came from a work colleague of his)

6 Did you watch it out of curiosity or to become aroused? Mostly curiosity, to see whether it would turn me on

7 Did you become aroused? Sometimes

8 Did you then act on that arousal? yes

9 With a partner or alone? with partner

10 If you were not aroused, how did it make you feel? Sometimes bored, sometimes amused

11 Did you pretend to be aroused? No

12 If yes you were aroused, did you also feel any conflicting negative emotions? For example, even though you were aroused were you completely comfortable with the content of the images and your response to them? No (although I have had these feelings when reading erotic books)

13 If you felt conflicting emotions did you also feel confident enough to express these? Yes

14 Did you feel yourself identifying with anyone in the pornography? Not really

15 Did you feel yourself sexually objectifying anyone in the pornography, male or female? Probably - I certainly didn't think of them as real characters

16 Did you feel judged by the standards of the actors in the way you looked and the way you responded? No (they weren't very high class videos!)

17 Did the pornography contain any violence? (if a participant seemed to be experiencing distress or pain please include this) Nothing serious (I think there was some S&M, but mostly of a fairly laughable nature as the acting wasn't great!)

18 Have you felt inclined to try things that are known to be generally painful after you or your partner have seen it in pornography? Don't think so

19 Did pornography improve you sex life in the short term? Yes

20 Did it improve your sex life in the long them? Don't think so

21 Did it improve your emotional relationship in the short term? Not really - didn't make any difference that I noticed

22 And in the long term? No

23 Do you still use pornography as a relationship aid? No (didn't ever)

24 Would you describe yourself as:

A a feminist?
B someone who believes in equality of the sexes but doesn’t call themselves a feminist?
C a nonfeminists?

I would generally describe myself as an individualist

25 Do you believe it is only fair that women should enjoy the pleasures of pornography just as men do?

If they want to

26 Do you believe that sexualised images of women in society are harmless or harmful?

Probably harmful, but it depends on the context (have the same views about sexualised images of men)

Second set of questions:

A After watching pornography and engaging in sex after immediate arousal from pornography, did you use images from what you had seen in your minds eye (when you closed your eyes?) ?

No (probably would have been too busy giggling if I had!)

B If you were aroused and acted on that arousal was the sex as easily gratifying as the images or was it harder work in actuality? E.g. was it easier to watch sex and be aroused rather than have sex and remain aroused? Please feel free to give different accounts with different partners.

Different experiences really - the porn made me feel horny, but it didn't make me want to "act out" the porn

C When watching did you have any thoughts about the ethics of porn or were you sufficiently ‘in the moment’ not to care?

Yes, I have fairly conflicting views on porn - think it is exploitative and seedy, and the videos were illegal, but I still quite enjoyed watching it despite thinking those thoughts at the time.

D Do you have any thoughts about the ethics of porn being out of that moment?
See above - watching the pron didn't make me think any differently about it

E Do you believe that, when it comes to sex, men and women are just the same?
No, men and women clearly have different sexual thoughts and needs