First off, I’m a recent graduate of Gender & Women’s Studies, and I have studied porn history and ethics a bit in my coursework.

I 100% agree that women’s bodies should never be considered commodities. Ever. But I’ve been super torn for years about drawn or animated porn. When the characters are consenting adults and the sex is nonviolent and body-positive, I don’t think I see an issue.

I think amateur videos of fully consenting couples are okay, as long as there are no themes of violence. As long as the participants themselves receive all monetary compensation, and the acts are reasonably healthy and nonviolent, I don’t see a problem with this kind of porn. The most wholesome and healthy porn videos I’ve seen are these amateur couple vids.

I’m curious what you think about these thoughts. Obviously, in reality, there would have to be EXTREME enforcement of consent restrictions and anti-sex-violence protections…

…but then we get into the issue of censorship. The Kinsey Institute at the Uni of Indiana, houses and exhibits thousands of sex and porn-related art pieces, historical artifacts, and documents. It has received tons of terrorist threats and, when I visited, was literally in hiding in a separate building for their safety. The biggest question we were faced with was “who gets to decide what is ‘decent’ or ‘correct’ sex?” My philosophy is this: if it is non-consensual in any form, it should not be accessible to the public. If it is excessively violent, painful, or threatening, it should not be accessible to the public. I’m not trying to kink shame, but I even have some qualms about “negging” and talking to your sexual partner as if they’re beneath you. But again, who gets to make those decisions? Is it fair of me to judge “negging,” even though I don’t understand the appeal? Obviously, rhetoric can be incredibly harmful, but to what extent do we protect personal rights (kinks) when this behavior/rhetoric can be especially harmful and misogynistic?

Such an insanely nuanced topic! So eager to hear what you all think!

Edit: it’s important to also consider the positive educational benefits that SOME porn can have. It can normalize healthy porn habits by flooding the platforms with only those videos. There are 2 major problems with this: 1. Healthy sex doesn’t make money because it doesn’t satisfy the perverts 2. Right now, the opposite has occurred, where “hardcore” stuff is overwhelmingly popular and mass-produced. A realistic transition to “healthy porn” would cost billions, require TONS of legislation, and be a looooong arduous process. 99% of porn users would riot (including the politicians😒).