To start with, is there anything inherently wrong with pornography? I'm not talking about pornography in magazines today, but pornography in general, not just in our generation and also in the past.
Isn't there a lot of Western European art that depicts nudity and nakedness in paintings and statues? I didn't study Arts in university, so I don't understand the significance of nudity and nakedness in art, but recently I've been getting the impression that there's an intellectual side to art with pornography.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Art-work tells a story. The purpose of pornography is to cause sexual excitement in the viewer. Art-work that is or contains pornography may depict a story with an erotic or romantic theme, possibly a love story. But that, I suppose, is the more classical kind of pornography. I never quite understood why artists liked to paint naked people, but I think I'm starting to understand.
Yet even in the mass-produced, photographed pornography we see today in magazines, there's a "theme" or "story." Pornography isn't always just about the body, but the body is almost always the most important part of pornography. Take away the body and the picture you see ceases to be pornography.
I'm guessing you could find "pornography" in fashion magazines, or hobbyist magazines on surfing, life out on the beach, swimming, etc. Actually in this case I'm not talking about fully naked people. They'd be wearing bathers and bikinis. The pictures probably aren't intended to be "pornography," but I'd probably spend a minute longer than average staring at certain pages.
I suppose there would still be a little bit of an intellectual side with this kind of pornography, the photographic type. The person taking the pictures has to decide on a good camera angle, lighting, colours and background. Even with photography, pornography is an art.
Pornography does have a bright side. Pornography is a way of expressing yourself visually using your body.
But it isn't without dangers and problems. I personally wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life being defined by my body. I think pornography does have an unhealthy effect on society and the people who are involved in it. It can give people an unhealthy obsession with sex and physical intimacy, to the extent that they have a high threshold for sexual happiness.
I think a big problem with pornography today, especially the photographic type that you see in magazines (not the paintings and statues) is that it is produced in so many quantities that it is degrading. A person's body is put out for public view, rather than for some professional artist to look at, so as to make them cheap, and if there's a reason for a person to feel exploited, it is that they are made to feel cheap, easy and used. If that's not how they see themselves . . . well, I guess then it's ok for that person.
What I find decadent with this kind of pornography is that you have no idea what kind of person will be looking at your picture. It could be some low-class, unintelligent nutcase with low moral fibre whose job is a garbage collector and gets his meals from rubbish bins (pardon me for the terms, I'm trying to find a good category with which to classify the viewer). The pornography wouldn't be so degrading if the person who provided the body could choose who would view his/her pictures. It's still pornography, but pornography with a model's discretion.
But then you wouldn't be making money from your beautiful body . . .
That's the dark side of pornography, and for that reason I'd be against promoting it for minors. But I don't believe that pornography, people involved in it, or the people who give their bodies away to it should be condemned. Just because something is unhealthy to society doesn't mean the people involved in it should be condemned. What I do condemn is people exploiting pornography and the people involved in it.
Perhaps I should compare pornography to prostitution, and therefore, a person who gives their body to pornography to a prostitute. I'm not trying to be insulting here. Prostitution is legal in some countries under a license.
There are several types of prostitutes. One is the sex slave sold into the practice and is imprisoned by it. A second kind is one who offers sexual favours privately behind closed doors. The third kind is a professional prostitute legally engaged in the practice under a license.
Giving your body away to pornography is, in many ways, like being a prostitute. People buy the magazines with your pictures in it. Picture make money out of your pictures, your body. It's a service, and possibly a tax to go with it. Some people choose to be prostitutes as a profession. You can't really condemn them. That's what they want to do.
My view on choosing pornography as a profession is that if you want to get into it, you shouldn't be condemned for it. My concern is that it encourages a sex-obsessed culture. If you see other people having a good sex life because of it, you feel bad because you're missing out and that can ruin a romance with someone far more special.
I don't know how Nick_A or the OP is going to take this, there's a lot of highly opinionated sentiments on both sides. A lot of fierce biting going on with sharp teeth. Entering such a heated discussion, I am sure to be bitten on all sides.
My recommendations:
1. Don't condemn people involved in the pornography business, unless they are exploiting someone vulnerable. Pornography as a profession should be acceptable, but pornography as slavery, exploitation or degradation should be condemned
2. Pornography should not be promoted, particularly for minors; one should appreciate its bright side, as well as its dangers; moreover, I discourage people from choosing pornography as a career; a lifetime spent being defined by one's body image is often an exercise in futility.
3. Given the dangers of pornography, as well as the judgmentalism and condemnation that can be vented towards it, I think people should simply accept whatever laws a society introduces for pornography. It just makes all of our lives easier.