It would be easier to ask who hasn’t been on Pornhub than who has. Maybe once as a teen you opened it in a cheeky Google search with friends while your parents were out, or maybe you’re a versed navigator with favourited videos you can rely on to get you off. Either way, with the advent of online porn and flaccid sales for naughty video stores, Pornhub is the current king of cumming. In 2017 there were 28.5 billion visits to Pornhub, four times the world’s population. To put it bluntly: we love to watch people doing the dirty, and there is nothing wrong with that.
However, as with so many of the writhing issues around sex, porn is shrouded with shame. Porn is taboo to talk about, and those who watch it are often deemed misogynists or sexually frustrated weirdos. To this I say: Bullshit. Watching porn in moderation is totally healthy and natural. Humans have been enjoying erotica since prehistoric times: the earliest documented porn was a sculpted statue of a man and woman getting it on — in 5200 BCE. Whatever your fantasising muscle power, porn can lubricate the rusty cogs of imagination to help you enjoy the release of a good wank.
Now a note of caution from Miss Pussy: porn is only fun when consumed in moderation. I hate to sound like your local hippie, but it’s all about balance. Porn can be a sensual tool for arousal or play with a partner, but when you can’t enjoy sex without porn it has become an obstruction rather than a helper. Porn addiction is born out of a desire for escape rather than titillation, and it’s often a symptom of a problem like depression or anxiety. Porn reliance has been singled out as a problem in Japan’s increasingly sexless society. Single living with little intimacy and a functional relationship between porn and sexual needs are growing trends, but we can’t shut off our intrinsic need to be touched. People still want intimacy, it’s now just commodified. Cuddling cafes have popped up around Tokyo offering an hour of embrace for 60 Euros. Do we want to live in a world without free hugs? Hell no. To avoid this cold desensitisation, remember the importance of human intimacy. Porn is a helping hand, not the main event.
You’ve got to test a couple of hands before you find the best; there’s more than just Pornhub. Pop culture misrepresents porn by mostly portraying the more extreme genres. A study in The Journal of Sex Research tracked the most watched genres of different consumers (men, women, heterosexual, and homosexual), none of which were extreme in nature. One of the most popular genres is Amateur porn, which involves none of the awkward acting and strained production. It’s just normal people having good sex. But if you are looking for something more tantalising, with expert choreography and beautiful design, Erika Lust answers your call. Her classy films will leave any person dripping, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Lust’s work realizes all the little fantasies I barely admit to myself. If you’re turned on more through your ears, try Dipsea. The sexy tales will give you aural stimulation and make you short of breath.
The penetrating point is that porn is a Pandora’s Box, with almost infinite genres and production styles to meet everyone’s tastes. It is also a topic with endlessly important issues, including the reasons we watch porn. This is the first of many times Cliteracy will undress porn to the naked truth. Unlike Pandora’s Box we won’t shut it entirely, nor leave it wide open for unhealthy consumption. We’ll leave it half open for a hippie balance.
This week’s homework is particularly fun: check out a new type of porn with Erika Lust and Dipsea. Learn more about the porn industry and sex around the world with the Netflix documentaries Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On and Love & Sex around the world: Tokyo. Also, for learning how to be cliterate in your porn consumption, learn more about porn addiction issues at: https://www.addictionhelper.com/addiction/pornography/guide-to-breaking-the-habit-addicted-to-online-pornography/
