Pornography has been around for hundreds of years, but easily accessible video pornography didn't start to become popular and widespread until the 1970s. This was a time full of free love, independence, and sexual exploration which is ironic because porn has caused society to experience quite the opposite. It's sardonic that they were discovered during the same decade.

Porn has obviously developed and transformed since the '70s, but not for the better.

Whether we realize it or not, pornography is the culprit of many people's participation in sexual violence. Men and women are left dissatisfied and unsafe in the bedroom. Many people have become addicted to porn. For decades, pornography has ruined so many people's views of sex.

It's 2020 and the most precious commodity is the internet. You can literally find anything you'd ever want online. Although that can be entirely convenient for some things, having extensive access to many different kinds of porn is dangerous. Today, 1 in 5 mobile searches are for pornography. Also, the accessibility of porn has allowed young boys to view sex far too young.

Children as young as 10 years old, sometimes even younger, are easily able to witness extreme sexual acts. Fifty-one percent of male students and 32 percent of female students first viewed porn before their teenage years. They don't learn about sex and pleasure from their parents, school, or later, their sexual partners, they are learning at a vulnerable age that sex should be selfish.

They see women being mistreated. They lose their childhood by being exposed to something they shouldn't know until they're much older. Ignorance really is bliss when you're ten years old. Porn taints their sense of wonder and youth when they begin to obsessively think about their own sexuality. Yes, sexuality should absolutely be explored, but not until you've developed who you are as a person. Ten-year-olds should not be sexual beings, yet porn has molded them to become just that.

Because young men are learning from an early age that sex should look, sound, and make you feel a certain way, their sexual experiences with women later in life are polluted. In a 2010 analysis of pornography, most scenes contain verbal and physical aggression toward women. A full 88 percent showed slapping, spanking, and gagging.

Because little Billy watched women get hammered and whacked (while the women seemingly enjoyed it) for the entirety of the crucial developmental part of his life, once he sleeps with a woman he just assumes that's what she will want. Billy hasn't learned a single thing about the female anatomy. He has not a single clue about how to pleasure a woman because pornography is a man's world. A majority of porn is produced to satisfy men and is told from the male perspective. I feel sorry for whoever sleeps with Billy in all honesty.

Aside from corrupting men's perception of sex, pornography is dangerous because it can easily become addictive. For some reason, society has just run with the fact that men are extremely sexual beings and have encouraged them to behave as such. They like sex? Give them strip clubs! Give them prostitutes and "Playboy!" Give them PORN!

Because of this, men think it's just a norm to watch porn.

In fact, society, in general, has been conditioned to think that all men watch porn. Since it's been labeled a normality, it's difficult for men to recognize when they have a problem or if they're just simply doing what the world expects of them. This leads me to believe that many men are addicted to pornography and they don't even know it. They just think every man watches porn as much as they do. Men who become addicted to porn can't stop thinking about sex. Their entire day is consumed with the prospect of when they can watch porn next. If they are in a relationship, the intimacy with their partner is almost nonexistent. 56 percent of divorces involved one party having "an obsessive interest in pornographic websites."

Just like an addiction to drugs or alcohol, it's extremely difficult to recover from an addiction to pornography. It's everywhere! You can't even turn on the radio without explicitly and distastefully hearing something about a woman's breasts. Porn might be one of the worst drugs of all because most of it is free and wildly accessible. You're always only a click away from fulfilling your addiction.

Porn can also encourage promoting the degradation of women. There are so many categories with all sorts of different kinks online. While having kinks is natural, I will never be in favor of humiliating women whether it be in a sexual situation or not. Men see this kind of behavior and think they have the right to violate women themselves.

It can warp someone's mind to think it's a standard ideology to treat women brutally. Eighty-eight percent of scenes in porn films contain acts of physical aggression, and 49 percent of scenes contain verbal aggression. Porn makes it so easy for men to view women in a bad light. The porn industry, in general, is not very protective of women. Many videos make it seem like women are literally just there to satisfy the needs of men.

The pornography industry is not commonly known for their support of women, and I personally can't f*cking stand that.

This article is not to say that pornography makes anyone a bad person, but it most certainly can affect a person's relationships and own well-being if it is not viewed responsibly. For those who do watch porn, I encourage you to keep in mind that what's on your screen is rarely a reality.

Also, keep in mind that it's important to ask what your partner personally likes in bed. Do not just assume that what you saw on Porn Hub is what ALL women/men prefer. I am also not stating that men are the only people who watch porn. I KNOW women watch porn, but men statistically are exposed to it at a younger age and generally view it more frequently.

Therefore, men are largely more susceptible to being influenced by the possible consequences that come with pornography. All I ask is that as a society we look out for the prevailing dangers that porn can cause. Intimacy wouldn't be in such distress if men and women would recognize that porn should be consumed in moderation and at a healthy age. It is so easy for our expectations to be twisted when we view porn.

I hope that as a whole we will someday be able to separate the actions and philosophies on a screen from the actions and philosophies in the actual bedroom.

Porn is not inherently bad, we just need to be more careful.

Sources:

https://www.covenanteyes.com/pornstats/

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/07/08/kids-watching-porn_n_10890878.html

Follow Swoon on Instagram.