Do you watch porn?

[RadandMad]

I've been reading a convo on Twitter where several people are claiming - including a woman - that women watch porn as well as men. My first reaction is, this isn't true. Sure, I've watched it from time to time, usually in the company of men, but it's so boring, so divorced from real sex/real bodies, that I'd almost rather do anything else.

Am I wrong? I realise I'm asking a group of women who are probably going to have a more cynical view of pornography, but I'm having a hard time believing women have a porn habit even remotely comparable to men's.

Abuse being not outside the realms of possibility is enough for me not to want to watch it. None of us have anything to lose by not producing or watching porn.

*I mean if it's animated or a single man on his own (as a couple of examples) I'm pretty sure you're safe, but you crack on.

Exactly - I notice no one has commented on solo male content. This does appeal to many women, more so than people realise.*

They have, and I agree. You don't know the reality behind ANY porn you watch. It's delusional to think you do. Maybe he was coerced, maybe someone stole his identity, maybe it's revenge porn.

"Unlikely" isn't good enough.

Never.
My friend died at the hands of a rapist.
At almost 50, I have never come to terms with the sexual abuse I endured.
Porn triggers the hell out of me.
Why would someone as fucked up as me court even more fuckedupness? The industry is more fucked up than most, so I don't want to feed the beast and be a part of the problem (of exploitation). If you watch pornhub, you are part of the problem.
You asked, OP.

@TheVanguardSix

I'm surprised by all the no responses and the judgement by many that all porn is exploitive. I'm 45 and all my friends watch porn, knowing the difference between them. And some even occasionally get off on the exploitive (tho aren't happy that turns them on too).

@Saviouronthreelegs Yes, perhaps on reflection that would have been better. I certainly didn't intend for it to become divisive. But I wanted to gauge opinion from other women who share similar worldviews to my own, I guess, rather than run an impromptu social survey.

Any legitimate activity that cannot be distinguished from abuse, or that hides abusers and gives them a cover story is a problem. If your argument is 'you can't tell if its abusive', then your argument is not convincing me to get involved. Just the opposite.

Porn and prostitution drive the multi billion dollar trade in human trafficking. Until the industry can work out how to remove the exploitation, I'll continue to not support it with a clear conscience.

I just asks my son (who once more is sitting before a screen filled with unintelligible to me graphs!) what he thinks of porn and he said,
'porn damages and even destroys the minds of young boys. It's really dangerous.'

That's a pov we haven't considered on this thread: the mental damage to boys (and of course men and women). It's addictive.

Yes, it inflicts horrible damage on both sexes. I don't think it's any coincidence that with the rise of internet porn, standards for female beauty have grown ever closer to those of porn stars.

I don't think it's any coincidence that with the rise of internet porn, standards for female beauty have grown ever closer to those of porn stars.

I agree with this.

I see some of the images.my 14 yo daughter's friends post on instagram and they look like porn stars. It also seems to be what increasing numbers of men want/think they deserve and many have the attitude that if some women can look like that, we all could if we tried. Er, some of us don't want to!

Not out of choice, no. I have been made to watch it in the past - I saw enough to guarantee I would never look at any porn again. It would never occur to me to ever look for it.

I honestly think that a lot of women who don’t watch it but don’t mind if their partners do have absolutely no idea what the porn filling up pornhub is actually like - and that if they actually saw it, they would definitely have a problem with it. It’s too easy to imagine the kind of 70s stuff that used to be on VHS tapes. The reality is rather different and honestly I can’t understand how any woman can watch it and find it in any way arousing.

No

Yep, I watch plenty and have done since I was a teenager. I read erotica too. Most of what I watch is gay porn though. Not on any moral grounding - I couldn't give a fuck - but simply because I hate the fakeness of women in porn. They can't act to save themselves. If I fancy a bit of femininity, I opt for femboys who are infinitely more attractive.

I think you'd see a more balanced view of the general female public if this question was posted outside of the feminist board.

Yes all the time

I think you'd see a more balanced view of the general female public if this question was posted outside of the feminist board.

It might be interesting to find out. OP, how about an AIBU question with voting turned on?

I hate the fakeness of women in porn. They can't act to save themselves.

Given that in other genres women can act (including in sex scenes in mainstream films) that's quite a revealing observation, isn't it?

No. I have seen it in the past and words cant describe how un-sexy I found it. So contrived, cliched and geared solely towards male pleasure.

Having heard about the porn industry and how they treat women in particular I wont ever watch it.

A friend of my bf had a vhs tape nearly 30 years ago. He asked me to watch it with him. It was probably very tame by today's standards but still unpleasant to watch. Not seen any since.

when I was younger and with a boyfriend who liked it, yes, now, sometimes I used to - but often even the amateur stuff it's obviously degrading to women and uses degrading stereotypes so I've stopped watching it now.

And in addition to the serious points you make about the harms of porn, it's pretty sad that some people don't realise that others simply don't need porn because they've got very good sex lives without it

This too- I have a very active sex life and dont really need porn