In the past few decades, digital pornography has been blamed for—well, pick a noun and add the word sex. It’s been named as a culprit for both sex addiction and sex abstinence. It’s been blamed for poor sex education, rampant sexual violence, and rising sexual dysfunction. Pornography is practically the Swiss Army knife of social calamity. [...]
The academic literature on pornography is not like that of climate change or gravity, where practically all researchers agree on the big picture. Instead, there is a broad group of academics and advocates who are deeply split on whether pornography amounts to a public-health crisis, or whether it’s an often harmless outlet and a common scapegoat for dissatisfied couples. [...]
The truth, she argues, is that porn is like food. Much of it is harmless. And some of it is bad. But some of it is simply good. Younger people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, growing up in a small town without friends who share their sexual orientation, might discover in pornography a window into their own experience—and the message that there is nothing wrong with their feelings. “They might see pornography almost like a safe space,” Rothman says. “It can be inspiring and really helpful.”
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