Is it bad to watch porn? If you’re asking, I have a sneaking suspicion that you already know the answer. At the very least, many studies agree that regular exposure to porn negatively affects the sexual satisfaction between partners. But why is it bad to watch porn? Porn is everywhere. It seems like everyone is doing it. It’s almost impossible to avoid. So here are some things to keep in mind.

Porn is unethical

Unfortunately, a huge amount of the porn out there encourages hypersexualization of women, is misogynistic, degrading, and even violent towards women. There are strong ties between the commercial porn industry and sexual exploitation and even human trafficking.

“It is also difficult to deny that the practices of the porn industry are exploitative to performers themselves. Stories such as the Netflix documentary Hot Girls Wanted depict cases of female performers agreeing to shoot a scene involving a particular act, only to be coerced on the spot by the producers into a more hard-core scene not previously agreed to. Anecdotes suggest this isn’t a rare experience for performers.” -Dr. Emma Wood.

If you truly value women, their rights, and their equality, hypersexualization and porn shouldn’t sit well with you.

Porn inherently lacks consent

The key to a truly spectacular sex life is mutual, enthusiastic consent. Does consent exist when you’re watching porn? Not really. You don’t know those people. Those people certainly don’t know you. And there’s no way to know whether or not the actors themselves are experiencing mutual consent and respect during production.

Porn does not depict real sex

Real sexual encounters ought to be a whole-person experience. Every sense should be stimulated, along with the heart and mind. Real sex is about human connection. Porn is about as far away from that as you can get.

“Sociologist Dr. Michael Kimmel has found that men’s sexual fantasies have become heavily influenced by porn, which gets awfully tricky when their partners don’t want to act out the degrading or dangerous acts porn shows. As a result, men who look at pornography have been shown to be more likely to go to prostitutes, often looking for a chance to live out what they’ve seen in porn. In one survey of former prostitutes, 80% said that customers had shown them images of porn to illustrate what they wanted to do.” -Fight The New Drug

So is it bad to watch porn?

You tell me.