Men's Group

Hearsay, and these sorts of "i dont actually know its this way, but i imagine it must be" assertions.

For instance: " There is nothing wrong with fantasy, except to the extent that it displaces and distorts the expectations of the more mundane beneficial experiences and pursuits that we can participate in. "

Well, sure. That sounds reasonable. Except, is there really a factual basis for imagining that peoples fantasies are 'displacing and distorting' experiences and expectations? Did reading Tolkein cause problems for millions of people who subsequently discovered there were no orcs to battle in New Jersey? I enjoy science fiction and superhero movies, yet I am still reasonably able to function without a starship or the ability to swing on a web between skyscrapers.

I dont think bowling has suffered markedly because of porn. Masturbation was still mostly a solo activity even before the internet. And again, we get folks all the time opining on how "what is out NOW there is so terrible, it must be having a Negative impact" Gail Dines wants us to understand that internet porn isn't like the dirty magazines of the 70s. Those same dirty magazines were going to unleash a flood of misogyny and sexual violence when Dworkin and MacKinnon were battling them. I'm sure Anthony Comstock felt that the nude pictures, not to mention Margaret Sanger's birth control pamphlets, that he was pulling out of the mail were a final herald of the apocalypse.

Yet what has REALLY happened with the increased availability of erotica, this "torrent of stimuli"? Rape is down. Violent Crime is down. Women are represented in professional life, politics, and college graduation at levels higher than ever before.. And the public is increasingly ever more tolerant and open minded about differing sexual orientations. Correlation is not, of course, causation, but if porn from Larry Flynt onward was having anything like the detrimental societal impact we've been warned, without evidence, that it must, where is the data?