This comment by hg00, and the links it contains, helped me notice that I had some cached thoughts about porn. I’ve now updated significantly on the potential negative effects of using too much porn and am experimenting with quitting both porn and masturbation for awhile to see what happens.
I am curious whether watching porn is only bad for men, or also for women. There is kind of a taboo against speaking about women watching porn, and also kind of a taboo about saying anything negative or status-lowering about women, so I am not sure whether the usual implicit message “watching porn is bad for men” means it has different effect on men and women, or just that mentioning women in that context would be impolite.
For what it’s worth, I talked with a woman who said she realized that the Lymond books (Dorothy Dunnett, historical fiction) were spoiling her for actual men. However, she found some way to deal with it (got married after that)-- I don’t know whether she backed off from the books or did a little informal cognitive therapy on herself or what.
I don’t know those specific books, but I imagine they belong to the huge genre of books suggesting that each man worth having relationship with is a billionaire aristocrat (plus recently: with secret supernatural abilities). I imagine that after reading many of those books, men outside of that group seem rather pathetic.
I wouldn’t put it that way, but Lymond is extraordinarily good-looking and so extremely intelligent and capable that the author has to burden him with horrendous challenges so that there’s any chance of a plot.
On the other hand (and unlike many supernormal stimuli for women), he’s reliably benevolent, at least as far as I remember.
From what I’ve gathered from the internet, it seems to be much more difficult for straight women to find appealing porn in quite the same volumes as it is available for straight men, so it seems like the problem is mostly male-centered at this point. And I’d guess that erotic literature doesn’t quite have the same superstimulus effect as graphic video content.
And I’d guess that erotic literature doesn’t quite have the same superstimulus effect as graphic video content.
Twilight seems to be designed specifically for this purpose: a superhuman immortal alpha male, competing with another superhuman alpha male...
But yeah, it would become a problem of comparable size only if internet suddenly started offering thousands of free Twilight-like books. Well, sooner or later, someone is going to write them, and then we’ll see.
I think I’d even predict that porn in book form won’t ever achieve the same effect as being able to click through only the several most graphic frames of a 7-minute video. I think books as a medium take longer to consume and they require using your imagination to fill in the gaps, which I don’t think would be quite as addictive. However, I do agree that sooner or later, the market will even out and people will begin to shoot pornographic content for straight women and we’ll see if women get hooked at similar rates as men.
Actually, camera quality is getting better (on phones and things) so maybe men will start publishing photos or videos without any large production companies. Also, I wonder if men will encounter the same stigma as, for example, female teachers do when pornographic photos of them are found online. But I think part of the lag in this area is that men aren’t quite socialized to be oggled the way women are? (So I’ll be pretty surprised by a bunch of responses saying “No, I totally know how to be in straight woman porn!”)
I googled “porn for women” to find this book I remembered seeing. I also found a relevant xkcd, an interview with a woman who writes porn, and some stuff that is actually quite hot. My husband would probably like that last one too, maybe we should watch it together some time. But don’t worry, I don’t feel I’m in any danger of becoming addicted.
This comment by hg00, and the links it contains, helped me notice that I had some cached thoughts about porn. I’ve now updated significantly on the potential negative effects of using too much porn and am experimenting with quitting both porn and masturbation for awhile to see what happens.
I am curious whether watching porn is only bad for men, or also for women. There is kind of a taboo against speaking about women watching porn, and also kind of a taboo about saying anything negative or status-lowering about women, so I am not sure whether the usual implicit message “watching porn is bad for men” means it has different effect on men and women, or just that mentioning women in that context would be impolite.
For what it’s worth, I talked with a woman who said she realized that the Lymond books (Dorothy Dunnett, historical fiction) were spoiling her for actual men. However, she found some way to deal with it (got married after that)-- I don’t know whether she backed off from the books or did a little informal cognitive therapy on herself or what.
I don’t know those specific books, but I imagine they belong to the huge genre of books suggesting that each man worth having relationship with is a billionaire aristocrat (plus recently: with secret supernatural abilities). I imagine that after reading many of those books, men outside of that group seem rather pathetic.
I wouldn’t put it that way, but Lymond is extraordinarily good-looking and so extremely intelligent and capable that the author has to burden him with horrendous challenges so that there’s any chance of a plot.
On the other hand (and unlike many supernormal stimuli for women), he’s reliably benevolent, at least as far as I remember.
From what I’ve gathered from the internet, it seems to be much more difficult for straight women to find appealing porn in quite the same volumes as it is available for straight men, so it seems like the problem is mostly male-centered at this point. And I’d guess that erotic literature doesn’t quite have the same superstimulus effect as graphic video content.
Twilight seems to be designed specifically for this purpose: a superhuman immortal alpha male, competing with another superhuman alpha male...
But yeah, it would become a problem of comparable size only if internet suddenly started offering thousands of free Twilight-like books. Well, sooner or later, someone is going to write them, and then we’ll see.
… fanfic, you mean?
I think I’d even predict that porn in book form won’t ever achieve the same effect as being able to click through only the several most graphic frames of a 7-minute video. I think books as a medium take longer to consume and they require using your imagination to fill in the gaps, which I don’t think would be quite as addictive. However, I do agree that sooner or later, the market will even out and people will begin to shoot pornographic content for straight women and we’ll see if women get hooked at similar rates as men.
Actually, camera quality is getting better (on phones and things) so maybe men will start publishing photos or videos without any large production companies. Also, I wonder if men will encounter the same stigma as, for example, female teachers do when pornographic photos of them are found online. But I think part of the lag in this area is that men aren’t quite socialized to be oggled the way women are? (So I’ll be pretty surprised by a bunch of responses saying “No, I totally know how to be in straight woman porn!”)
I googled “porn for women” to find this book I remembered seeing. I also found a relevant xkcd, an interview with a woman who writes porn, and some stuff that is actually quite hot. My husband would probably like that last one too, maybe we should watch it together some time. But don’t worry, I don’t feel I’m in any danger of becoming addicted.
At a guess: Porn is beneficial in small quantities but not large ones, and women tend to be at a lower starting point for consumption than men.
If anything, your mathematical output should benefit.