Why do so many Americans think or porn as harm?

One reason I ask: Project 2025 wants to restrict access to porn. Also, I came across this article by Rebecca L. Davis. It’s called “A Very American Fear” (on Aeon). She raised the question. Her answer is right: The conservative idea of porn-as-harm is a moral panic that can restrict sexual freedom.

(NOTE: The following pics aren’t mine. I found them through a Google search, and on Twitter.)

I believe my only issue with porn: how little Eros there is in it. A meeting of bodies rather than of soul. (There’s a place for just the physical.) Eros needs mind, imagination, anticipation, process, story. Like art.

I’m in the process of developing a movie about how I discovered the marriage of sex and soul. One big reason I want to make this movie? To answer this “issue” in porn…

Examples of Eros.

Why is there little Eros in porn? Could it be because it’s a capitalistic industry led by straight men? (The spectacle and instant gratification of the grand finale sells?)

The debate against porn is a masquerade of morality: “protect kids!” Conservatives say restricting porn “protects families!” But if this were really true, what about ACTUAL abuse? Like trafficking? Exploiting children? Exploiting women and men? Exploiting LGBTQ+ persons?

NOTE: These are twinks OF age.

I mean, when it comes to child exploitation, viewers get arrested more than the producers! Algorithms seem to know who a child is and who an adult is. But is tracking technology used for that? Nnnnooo. It’s used for profit and marketing. If the issue truly is harm, why not zone in THIS?

We have the TOOL (algorithms) to track (and end) child exploitation. Why not focus on THAT issue?

Straight men built the porn industry. They fund it, consume it, profit from it… and condemn it! LOL! The same men who condemn porn for “moral decay” often keep the industry alive. 😂

If conservative censorship against porn wins: The industry won’t go away. It will go underground. Unregulated. Away from public scrutiny. To become MORE exploitative. Censorship doesn’t eliminate demand. If anything, censorship STRENGTHENS the desire.

I love this quote from Jung so much. Simple on the surface, so much depth below.

And like anything suppressed into the shadows, sex morphs into something dark. Sex by nature is healthy. It’s a part of who we are. But suppressing sex into the shadows twists sex. This is where the abuse begins (and thrives).

Irony: what conservatives claim to fight, they exacerbate! They seem to want to get back to the good ol’ days where things are kept underground. Appear squeaky clean on the surface. But deny ourselves. Keep what’s “dirty” down-low. THIS is when sex can actually harm.

Conservatives, we don’t need to go back to the phoniness of the ’50s. Been there already.

What if we saw sex and the body in a different way? Not as something lower to be denigrated. But a part of soul? This is exactly what I had learned when I had auditioned for “The Minotaur.” And that’s what my movie is about. We can marry sex and soul.

There can be soul in sex.

As a side note, I saw this funny quip (by Bruce Hancock) in the article’s comment area:

“Life in Lubbock Texas taught me 2 things: 1) God loves you and you’re going to burn in Hell. 2) The other is sex is the most awful, filthy thing on Earth and you should save it for someone you love” 🤪

My last point. The porn industry is capitalistic. What would sex be like without profit being involved? So much better when money isn’t involved! I can speak from personal experience. As someone who was in the sex industry for a good five years.

It’s amazing what happens to sex when we take money out of the equation.

On the other hand, porn can be a positive: it can help with sexual exploration and education. To know thyself. AND! Shared pornography between couples can help with communication and sexual intimacy. So, there IS good to it!

Shared porn can help the sex lives of couples. There CAN be good to porn.

Yes, yes. Porn can be used in a problematic way, too. But porn is a TOOL like a hammer. Neither inherently good nor bad. A hammer can be used for good and to harm. So, why not focus on the problematic/compulsive use of porn… rather than condemning and censoring all porn?

Why censor all porn when it can be used for good? Why not focus on the problematic use of porn?

In any event, if conservatives really wanna crusade against porn (justifying it using the “against harm” argument)… well, technology can help with enforcement against actual harm. And why not end the exploitation? Nah. That would get us too close to challenging capitalism.

Why not fight the things the ACTUALLY harm in porn? Like exploitation…

So, censoring porn may reinforce it. Straight men will still consume it, and profit. AND control sexuality. In my view, the argument is phony. A moral panic. It’s about control to restrict sexual freedom. Ironically, it does more harm.

The end. Let’s hope for the “porn-as-harm” justification for its censorship.