The Seven Problems With Research On Young People And Porn
Research into the effects of porn on young people is full of contradictions and ideology and the evidence is often not clear. Read More …
Tag: research
82% Of French Women Have Watched Porn
A poll of 579 French women has revealed that 82% of them have watched a porn film at least once. One in two women have watched porn alone. Read More …
After Pornified
After Pornified by Anne Sabo is a much-needed discussion of the growth of alternative, feminist, female-driven porn, sans the usual hysteria that accompanies academic discussions of adult material. And I’m in the book. Read More …
Porn For Women Channel Dusk TV Is Growing
At the moment, my solo male masturbation movie The Thought Of Her is on the front page of Dusk TV so I’m feeling rather chuffed. Read More …
Porn Does Not Cause Rape
For years, anti-porn activists have campaigned against porn on the basis that it increases acts of violence against women. In essence, they say that porn causes rape. Today I thought I might sit down and compile a few resources that refute that claim. Because as far as I’m aware, there is still no reliable evidence to suggest that watching pornography induces men to rape. I think the biggest piece of Read More …
Anti Porn Rhetoric Lacks Solid Evidence
I’d like to thank ethicist Leslie Cannold for writing this on her blog today. It’s an excerpt from a longer essay called Pornography’s Effects: The Need for Solid Evidence by Ronald Weitzer. You can read the full thing here. The essay, published in the journal Violence Against Women, points out that a lot of the rhetoric of Gail Dines and other anti-porn campaigners is not backed up by any solid Read More …
A Billion Badly Researched Assertions
There’s a logical fallacy called “cherry picking” which is essentially this: you come up with a hypothesis. You then seek out data to back your assertions. You ignore any contradictory evidence and only use the stuff that supports your theory. Then you write a book about it. Cue the articles in major newspapers and interviews on TV. Suddenly, your delightful theory is accepted uncritically as fact. Thus, we come to Read More …
Beware These Skewed Statistics About Porn “Addiction”
Gail Dines is doing the rounds and she’s back in Australia promoting censorship of porn, saying that “there is no room for porn in a just society.” The response to that is a whole other blog post (although I have 2 comments on that story). Today Joel Tozer, a freelance writer, offers his reply to Dines’ piece here. And while it’s mostly OK, I’ve got a problem with his basic Read More …
The G-Spot Is Connected To The Clitoris
There’s a part of me that’s still rather stunned that in 2010, people are conducting research into whether “the vaginal orgasm” exists. Because for a while now, I’ve held the opinion that the concept of the vaginal orgasm is nonsense, and not just because of that lovely 1970 feminist essay The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm. For me, the idea was put to bed in 1999 when Dr. Helen O’Connell Read More …
60% of Cosmo Readers Have Watched Porn
I remember when I stopped reading Cosmopolitan in my first year of university. It was one of the best things I ever did. The endless fashion, diets and super-skinny models always left me feeling bad about myself so I decided that it would be best if I just disengaged from that aspect of “women’s culture.” It’s 20 years on and Cosmo hasn’t changed. Still, it’s a hugely popular magazine that Read More …
Average-Size Guys Are Fine, Thanks
SMH says: A report in the Australian journal Body Image has found that consumers respond positively to depictions of average-sized men in advertising. The survey asked over 600 students in their late teens to look at mock-up advertisements for products, some using muscle-bound men and others using thinner or chubbier male models. The results showed that the “buffed” models didn’t rate any higher than average guys. Neither sex responded more Read More …
Defining The “Harm” Of Porn
The Times Online has followed up last week’s opinion piece about teens and sex with an article headed Boys who see porn more likely to harass girls. The piece discusses Michael Flood’s report looking at existing research into the effects of porn on adolescents. “There is compelling evidence from around the world that pornography has negative effects on individuals and communities,” he told the Times. Naturally I sat right down Read More …
Do Your Bit – Porn Surveys
Just spreading the word about two academic researchers that need porn-loving women to fill out their surveys. Firstly, a Women’s Studies MA student called Hayley is asking feminists for their views on porn. Here’s you chance to kick Andrea Dworkin in the butt again, girls. Tell her what you think here. Secondly, PhD candidate Susana Mayer needs to know about the sexuality of post-menopausal women – especially those who like Read More …
Walking Into The Forest Of Female Desire
The New York Times has an extensive article on research into female desire and lust, profiling the hardworking scientists who are studying this relatively new field of human sexuality (i.e. nobody’s bothered to look into what turns women on. Go figure.) What I found really interesting was the discussion about how the old ideas of romance and relationships aren’t what really get the juices flowing. It’s being lusted after that Read More …
More On Australian Women, Porn and Sex
Just wanted to add a further post about the recent survey of the sex lives of Australian women (previous post here) News.com.au has an article unfortunately titled “The sad sexual secrets of women” which is rather misleading since the survey has plenty of positive aspects to it, including an increase in masturbation, a desire for more consideration from male partners and a general urge to explore one’s sexuality. I wanted Read More …