Free Porn - Cui Bono?
It is one of the singular phenomena of the internet experience that one is reminded at each turn of one's sexual urges and shortcomings, be it through the ever expanding tidal wave of Porn, or products inducing us to get harder and longer for longer, clogging up our email inboxes.
Of course, the internet is akin to the wild west, with aggressive marketing seeking to capture the dwindling attention span of the "consumer", but one may wonder at what connection, if any, exists between Porn and the erectile dysfunction industry.
It is a cliched if generally true adage that nothing in life comes for free, and yet one is merely a mouseclick or two away from a teeming unlimited mass of free porn, catering to all tastes and inclinations. Are we to believe that this most brutally Capital- oriented enterprise is "sharing the love" as it were, or so enthused by the aesthetic and liberating values of it's product that it just can't resist making it freely available?
Given the attendant (ahem) rise of the erectile dysfunction industry, one might reasonably suspect a certain complicity between both sectors, rather as one might suspect anti- virus companies of working with hackers, thus ensuring that a steady supply of trojans, worms and the like necessitate the purchase and constant upgrading of the product.
So, might there be a case of one side generating the problem (the constant use of porn debilitating not only the dopamine supply but the user's ability to function sexually with an actual person) and the other steaming in to the rescue. It could well be, but I suspect there's more to it.
After a relatively brief period of browsing free porn sites (and why would anyone want or need to pay for it? So much is free), one may be struck by the sheer numbers of women and girls in porn (the male party generally being little more than faceless phallus). Who are they and where do they come from?
The (professional) porn industry is very keen to present itself as "legit", citing frequent HIV screening for the protection of the "actors" and distancing itself from the darker, abusive strains of porn (of which more later). Claims about the link between childhood sexual abuse and porn as a career choice are commonly rebuffed and, anyway, as over 18's, the "performers" are old enough to vote, get killed in war (though in some North American states, still too young to consume alcohol) and generally make their own decisions. One gets female porn stars, fans and advocates claiming that they are "liberated" and are expressing their sexuality. No doubt some are, but I find it uncanny that so much porn manages to both sexually "liberate" women, and still conform to the most basic tenets of male dominance and gratification. No mean feat, that.
In our "consumer- driven" culture it is all but verboten to suggest that we question, let alone curb, the satisfying of our appetites; if it turns you on just go for it and bugger the consequences, for you or anyone else. Also, who is prepared to offer criticism which, in doing so, invites charges of prudery and puts one in league with Mary Whitehouse, that is, an out of touch, uncool old codger simply trying to spoil others fun. No, we are far too urbane and sophisticated for that, thank you.
But once again I ask who benefits from free porn?
One may cite the correlation with any addiction- driven venture, namely get the stuff out there and get the user hooked. OK, so you've hooked the sap, now try and get him to pay for the product. But wait, why should he bother with paying (with the added risk of discovery through the submission of personal data and credit card details) for what is so freely available? At this point the connection to the drug dealer dissipates, as dealers don't make it their business to flood the market with free dope, or at least they didn't back in my day. I think there's more to this than simple supply and demand.
There is great debate as to whether porn is addictive and to the possible long term effects it's usage. Many relationships seem to be scuppered by all- consuming porn use, with one party being more engaged with their computer than with their partner. There is also the question of "diminishing returns", with the viewer needing more "extreme" material for stimulation, a phenomena that may go some way towards explaining the rise of "gonzo" porn (Look it up. Actually, no...don't. One can't "unsee" this stuff and it's deeply disturbing). Even if one was to disregard the effect on, say, a girl in a gonzo film, viewing all the physical and verbal abuse as a mere "performance", one may still wonder at the effect of using (literally spending one's life force) such material for sexual stimulation and gratification.
Energy flows where attention goes. So where does the energy generated by porn- lead sexual stimulation and climax go? At this point I'm prepared to lose the reader by bringing Energy Vampirism into the equation. The notion of the incubus/succubus is long standing though relatively recently discredited by our "advanced" scientific/materialist based view of reality. And yet, when one thinks about it, the idea of beings in another dimension manipulating and harnessing life- force energy to their own ends isn't so far- fetched in the age of internet porn, itself a phantom transmission from a parallel universe. So, if we accept (come on out on a limb... you'll marvel at the view) the possibility of there being entities that feed on our emotions, energy and life force, we can then perhaps begin to understand the preponderance of nihilism, despair, violence and crude sexuality in "popular" culture (and I'm old enough to remember when games were for children, so am still gobsmacked by the event of adult/over 18 computer gaming).
Nowadays one hears much talk of the "infantalization" of culture. Personally, I'd be more than happy with a bit more of the small childs- eye view; openness, a lack of cynicism, ease with self and others, an intense awareness of the world around us and the special magic of inanimate objects (as a small child I was familiar with every bump and paint- drip on the walls and the natural patterns of wooden wardrobes and tables).
I would say that contemporary culture is Adolescent, filled with fearful alienation, wounded self- belief (bullying egotism masquerading as strength) and disturbing compulsions and appetites. Give me the child and I'll give you the man, so the drive is to get 'em while their young, sexualizing children to hasten the advent of adolescence, with it's heady world of despair, distrust, body/sexual unease and self- identification by tribalism and consumption. So, rather than a brief "difficult phase" between the innocence of childhood and the fortitude of adulthood, adolescence now seems to last from between 10 to 70, with innocuous and unambiguous children's superheros such as Batman being recast as "The Dark Knight" for those eternal adolescents unwilling to either make the transit into "grownup" culture, or leave simple and unsullied yet another aspect of childrens entertainment.
Being subject to compulsions and bodily impulses involves an abdication of higher consciousness and an immersion in carnality, in the truest sense of the word, pertaining to the fleshly and rendering us and our fellows nothing more than animated meat, and making the world and our relation to it a vicious struggle between hunter and quarry, might over meekness and rampant consumption over contemplative digestion. Given over ito solitary gratification, one can increasingly become isolated and unable to relate to others, let alone sustain healthy and mutually beneficial relationships, governed by often shameful urges and subject to the machinations of the forces of alienation, fear and hopelessness.
Ok, so what has all this got to do with Porn? I would say the same forces that, through crass pop culture, sell a self- hating and nihilistic worldview are, through porn, given the added dimension of harvesting sexual/life energy and, through the medium of abusive material, bringing the lower dimensions into this plain. Gaze at the abyss and the abyss gazes back at you.
Tune out. Turn off. Drop in.
It is one of the singular phenomena of the internet experience that one is reminded at each turn of one's sexual urges and shortcomings, be it through the ever expanding tidal wave of Porn, or products inducing us to get harder and longer for longer, clogging up our email inboxes.
Of course, the internet is akin to the wild west, with aggressive marketing seeking to capture the dwindling attention span of the "consumer", but one may wonder at what connection, if any, exists between Porn and the erectile dysfunction industry.
It is a cliched if generally true adage that nothing in life comes for free, and yet one is merely a mouseclick or two away from a teeming unlimited mass of free porn, catering to all tastes and inclinations. Are we to believe that this most brutally Capital- oriented enterprise is "sharing the love" as it were, or so enthused by the aesthetic and liberating values of it's product that it just can't resist making it freely available?
Given the attendant (ahem) rise of the erectile dysfunction industry, one might reasonably suspect a certain complicity between both sectors, rather as one might suspect anti- virus companies of working with hackers, thus ensuring that a steady supply of trojans, worms and the like necessitate the purchase and constant upgrading of the product.
So, might there be a case of one side generating the problem (the constant use of porn debilitating not only the dopamine supply but the user's ability to function sexually with an actual person) and the other steaming in to the rescue. It could well be, but I suspect there's more to it.
After a relatively brief period of browsing free porn sites (and why would anyone want or need to pay for it? So much is free), one may be struck by the sheer numbers of women and girls in porn (the male party generally being little more than faceless phallus). Who are they and where do they come from?
The (professional) porn industry is very keen to present itself as "legit", citing frequent HIV screening for the protection of the "actors" and distancing itself from the darker, abusive strains of porn (of which more later). Claims about the link between childhood sexual abuse and porn as a career choice are commonly rebuffed and, anyway, as over 18's, the "performers" are old enough to vote, get killed in war (though in some North American states, still too young to consume alcohol) and generally make their own decisions. One gets female porn stars, fans and advocates claiming that they are "liberated" and are expressing their sexuality. No doubt some are, but I find it uncanny that so much porn manages to both sexually "liberate" women, and still conform to the most basic tenets of male dominance and gratification. No mean feat, that.
In our "consumer- driven" culture it is all but verboten to suggest that we question, let alone curb, the satisfying of our appetites; if it turns you on just go for it and bugger the consequences, for you or anyone else. Also, who is prepared to offer criticism which, in doing so, invites charges of prudery and puts one in league with Mary Whitehouse, that is, an out of touch, uncool old codger simply trying to spoil others fun. No, we are far too urbane and sophisticated for that, thank you.
But once again I ask who benefits from free porn?
One may cite the correlation with any addiction- driven venture, namely get the stuff out there and get the user hooked. OK, so you've hooked the sap, now try and get him to pay for the product. But wait, why should he bother with paying (with the added risk of discovery through the submission of personal data and credit card details) for what is so freely available? At this point the connection to the drug dealer dissipates, as dealers don't make it their business to flood the market with free dope, or at least they didn't back in my day. I think there's more to this than simple supply and demand.
There is great debate as to whether porn is addictive and to the possible long term effects it's usage. Many relationships seem to be scuppered by all- consuming porn use, with one party being more engaged with their computer than with their partner. There is also the question of "diminishing returns", with the viewer needing more "extreme" material for stimulation, a phenomena that may go some way towards explaining the rise of "gonzo" porn (Look it up. Actually, no...don't. One can't "unsee" this stuff and it's deeply disturbing). Even if one was to disregard the effect on, say, a girl in a gonzo film, viewing all the physical and verbal abuse as a mere "performance", one may still wonder at the effect of using (literally spending one's life force) such material for sexual stimulation and gratification.
Energy flows where attention goes. So where does the energy generated by porn- lead sexual stimulation and climax go? At this point I'm prepared to lose the reader by bringing Energy Vampirism into the equation. The notion of the incubus/succubus is long standing though relatively recently discredited by our "advanced" scientific/materialist based view of reality. And yet, when one thinks about it, the idea of beings in another dimension manipulating and harnessing life- force energy to their own ends isn't so far- fetched in the age of internet porn, itself a phantom transmission from a parallel universe. So, if we accept (come on out on a limb... you'll marvel at the view) the possibility of there being entities that feed on our emotions, energy and life force, we can then perhaps begin to understand the preponderance of nihilism, despair, violence and crude sexuality in "popular" culture (and I'm old enough to remember when games were for children, so am still gobsmacked by the event of adult/over 18 computer gaming).
Nowadays one hears much talk of the "infantalization" of culture. Personally, I'd be more than happy with a bit more of the small childs- eye view; openness, a lack of cynicism, ease with self and others, an intense awareness of the world around us and the special magic of inanimate objects (as a small child I was familiar with every bump and paint- drip on the walls and the natural patterns of wooden wardrobes and tables).
I would say that contemporary culture is Adolescent, filled with fearful alienation, wounded self- belief (bullying egotism masquerading as strength) and disturbing compulsions and appetites. Give me the child and I'll give you the man, so the drive is to get 'em while their young, sexualizing children to hasten the advent of adolescence, with it's heady world of despair, distrust, body/sexual unease and self- identification by tribalism and consumption. So, rather than a brief "difficult phase" between the innocence of childhood and the fortitude of adulthood, adolescence now seems to last from between 10 to 70, with innocuous and unambiguous children's superheros such as Batman being recast as "The Dark Knight" for those eternal adolescents unwilling to either make the transit into "grownup" culture, or leave simple and unsullied yet another aspect of childrens entertainment.
Being subject to compulsions and bodily impulses involves an abdication of higher consciousness and an immersion in carnality, in the truest sense of the word, pertaining to the fleshly and rendering us and our fellows nothing more than animated meat, and making the world and our relation to it a vicious struggle between hunter and quarry, might over meekness and rampant consumption over contemplative digestion. Given over ito solitary gratification, one can increasingly become isolated and unable to relate to others, let alone sustain healthy and mutually beneficial relationships, governed by often shameful urges and subject to the machinations of the forces of alienation, fear and hopelessness.
Ok, so what has all this got to do with Porn? I would say the same forces that, through crass pop culture, sell a self- hating and nihilistic worldview are, through porn, given the added dimension of harvesting sexual/life energy and, through the medium of abusive material, bringing the lower dimensions into this plain. Gaze at the abyss and the abyss gazes back at you.
Tune out. Turn off. Drop in.
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