Time to hear from men about pornography
Written: Feb 04 '03 (Updated Feb 04 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Thought provoking, informative, and a fresh perspective
Cons: Admittedly unscientific (but show me any book on this topic which is scientific)
The Bottom Line: An informative, thought-provoking, and long overdue book which provides the until-now absent male's perspective of porn.
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| tl098711's Full Review: David Loftus - Watching Sex: How Men Really Respon... |
Full disclosure: I am personally acquainted with the author of this book. However, I will gain nothing from his success or failure.
The subject of pornography has been shrouded in shame and silence, and any discussion has been driven almost exclusively by vocal anti-porn activists. These people have repeatedly told everyone what porn is, what it does, and what effect it has on society. The claims about porn have been hammered for so long and so consistently, that many accept them unquestioningly as the truth: pornography degrades women, consuming porn increases violence in men, porn is addictive, men get "sensitized" and seek out progressively more bold, violent, and depraved forms of porn, etc., etc.
The author realized that no one has ever asked men, the primary consumers of porn, what their thoughts are on the subject. Having been shamed into silence for years, the men were happy to reply. Loftus interviewed nearly 150 men in what he open acknowledges was a unscientific study. He collected his findings and put them in this book. Many will be surprised at the findings, which, although unscientific, go against most of the conventional wisdom about pornography and its effects.
For a sampling of the results: men dislike violence in porn, men dislike how men are portrayed in porn, men do not seek out more bold and violent porn.
The book is basically divided into two parts. The first part is full of quotes and anecdotes directly from the men describing their first experience with porn, what they like/dislike, how men are portrayed in porn, etc. The stories are interesting and sometimes reassuring; it is nice to know the vast majority of consumers of porn are not evil, depraved, violent men. For male readers (like myself), it is reassuring to see positive sides to porn and its consumption. For female readers, they may find the accounts interesting and reassuring as well. Many women are threatened by their partner's interest in porn. Reading this book may ease some of their concerns.
The second portion of the book the author devotes to examining and debunking the anti-porn myths and arguments. He reveals serious flaws in statistics often quoted by anti-porn activists (the theories and "findings" of Andrea Dworkin and Catherine MacKinnon are especially scrutinized). The "science" quoted by the anti-porn activists is less convincing than the author's own un-scientific findings.
Overall, my quibbles with the book are few. Some of the quotes and anecdotes get repetitive and their organization was a bit loose. I'm a linear-type thinker and wanted to know "so what". I definitely found the second half critiques more interesting and thought-provoking. Others might disagree and prefer reading the "real stories" versus academic debate of the second half.
In any case, this book is long overdue. It may not be exhaustive or scientific, but it offers a point of view in the pornography debates that has long been absent. For those who are opposed to imagining the possibility of anything of redeeming quality in porn, stay away. But for those with an open mind, interested in learning more about this enigmatic topic as well as scrutinizing the arguments of the anti-porn folks, I highly recommend this book.
Excerpts from the book can be found at the author's website at http://david-loftus.com/Writings/writings.html
Recommended:
Yes
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tl098711
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