Watching porn movies; is it good or bad?

Dear 22 and Contemplating about Porn,

That is such a loaded question is it not? I was just transported back to my teens where I was confused whether to express my interest in porn as negative or positive. I understand how in our society, you will get a lot of raised eyebrows if you ask this question in public, so thanks for asking it here. Watching porn is definitely not bad. In fact, it can be a great medium for you to learn about sex and I would say it is perfectly healthy for you to fulfill all kinds of curiosities through it. As with anything else, overindulging in porn and getting so hooked to it that it dictates your everyday life can turn into a problem. Watching a lot of pornography can also lead to having unreasonable expectations from your sexual partner which might contribute to unhappiness. Like everything else in life i.e. butter, salt, sugar, alcohol; porn in moderation is good thing!

If I may add a little bit of complexity to your question, let me move on to more ethical issues surrounding pornography. Pornography itself is not illegal. In fact, it's a multi-billion dollar industry in the US with respectable actors involved in the profession. These are adults who have consciously made a decision to participate in the film. However, there can be cases where porn is also created without the consent of those involved. There is a lot of child pornography floating on the internet that has been created without the awareness of the children involved and that is definitely illegal. In addition to this, there was a recent concern over porn actors acquiring HIV AIDS in the process of filming, where filming is usually done without condoms in order to make scenes look more authentic. So this throws another ethical responsibility on us – do we want to actively engage in something that is causing harm to others? You might want to think about that.

Finally, I'd like to say - don't feel guilty if you like pornography but, at the same time, try and be aware of what goes into creating the porn you are enjoying.