Possible Connections Between Poor Sex Education and Anti-Porn Views

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Clarisse Thorn, sex-positive, pro-kink feminist blogger, recently wrote a post in which she suggested some intriguing connections between lack of good sex education and a tendency to condemn pornography. What really impressed me is that she not only cites studies on pornography, violence, and desire, but also writes from personal experience. She describes how she used to sympathize with anti-porn feminists based on the fact that she, too, felt threatened by porn in the past. I think Clarisse is spot-on about the links between sex education and acceptance, and I hope others are able to evaluate their views of “deviant” sexualities from a more open-minded perspective. What do you think?

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About Jeana

Jeana

Jeana Jorgensen, PhD recently completed her doctoral degree in folklore and gender studies at Indiana University. She studies fairy tales and other narratives, dance, body art, feminist theory, digital humanities, and gender identity.

  • http://clarissethorn.wordpress.com Clarisse Thorn

    Thanks for the linkback!

  • http://twitter.com/foxyfolklorist Jeana Jorgensen

    Thanks for providing us with such an insightful, interesting essay to link to in the first place!

  • Kate McCombs

    This post brings up such a great point. It’s very easy for society to blame porn for so many of its ills when in reality, many of those problems can be attributed to lack of good, holistic sex ed.

  • anonymoose

    First, I wish to say that I am neither pro-porn or anti-porn.

    I read her post and it reminded me of a few things that I think about after reading about the latest horrific sex crime / murder. I think one of the problems with women accepting men’s sexuality is that more than a few men repay women’s sexual kindness with betrayal, degradation, oppression and even death. This has made women afraid of men’s sexuality and therefore, of porn. It is these men who are screwing it up for the rest of us men and also women.

    I do know women who get into porn because they really like the sex and the money. They seem genuinely happy doing it. However, these days with the flooding of the porn market with European sex slaves, you can’t tell what woman is doing it of her own free will and what woman is doing it because she has been beaten half to death and told that her family will be killed if she doesn’t pretend to like it. Which again is an example of a group of criminal men screwing it up for the rest of us.

    So, I do understand it when women are morally opposed.

    Also, as a teen boy, when I daydreamed about finding love, porn was never a part of the daydream. “Oh, me and Linda will be so happy together … with porn.” So, I can imagine that porn is not usually part of the daydream of love that teenage girls have.

    Generally, I do think that it would be so much better for men, if they just went out and got with real women, like strippers (alone or with their mate), instead of porn. But I suppose that men take what they can get (afford).

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1173150957 Holly Moyseenko Kossover

    Thanks – this was great to read and I might have missed this insightful post from Ms Thorn. I think a lack of good sex ed causes so many problems (including people being afraid to enjoy themselves, possibly putting off gynecological exams, and just being afraid to talk about sex!)

  • http://twitter.com/foxyfolklorist Jeana Jorgensen

    Thanks Kate! And yes, I agree that it’s silly to blame porn for all of its shortcomings when, clearly, porn is made by and for the society that will be consuming it.

  • http://twitter.com/foxyfolklorist Jeana Jorgensen

    You raise a number of really interesting points… I like how you write that you’re neither for nor against porn… which makes sense, really, given how diverse a phenomenon it is.

    I think that the argument that a number of criminal men “ruin” it for the rest of (ostensibly non-criminal) men is also interesting. The most vocal or visible portion of any group will frequently get the most attention, which is one reason that feminists as a whole have been branded as man-haters and such–not that all feminists are, but rather that the vocal/visible minority might be.

    I do agree, though, that men would probably be better served to be sexually active with and/or fantasizing about “real” women… I mean, fantasies are great and all, but they can create unrealistic expectations.

  • http://twitter.com/foxyfolklorist Jeana Jorgensen

    I’m glad you enjoyed it! And I’m in agreement about how lack of sex ed can cause a whole host of problems.

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