Yes, porn is also harmful to the society (but pleasurable to the individuals who watch it). Is this a controversial fact?
For what it’s worth, my association of the “porn is harmful for society” stance is mostly that of a right-wing/religious conservative/anti-sex ideological position. Outside those kinds of circles, I’ve seen some concerns about it giving young people misleading impressions of what to expect from sex, but I don’t recall seeing much of a sentiment that it would be an overall negative—neither from the laypeople nor the social scientists/sexologists who I’ve been exposed to.
I think it’s not so much about “wrong image” as about the relationship participation rate. I think porn couldn’t be neutral to the growing number of young people who are not in relationships (63% of men under 30 in the US) -- if you watch porn (and especially addicted to porn), you have less motivation to go out, look for dates, form relationships. I don’t claim that this effect is huge, and that it outweighs the positive effects on individuals, but I cannot think how there couldn’t be any effect at all. Also, of course, porn is not the only factor that makes zoomers more and more isolated and less involved in relationships.
It’s plausible that there could be such an effect, yes. On the other hand, there are also indications that a similar effect has a role in reducing the amount of sexual violence (countries where porn was criminalized saw significant reductions in their rape statistics after legalizing it), helping de-stigmatize various uncommon sexual fetishes and preferences and thus being protective of the mental health of their users, expose people to more information about what kind of sexual activities they might like (and thus possibly make them happier with positive effects on society), etc.
I don’t think the idea of porn as a “replacement good” for sex really holds, especially outside of the (very few) who get literally addicted to it. I would expect other factors to have a much more chilling effect, like lacking free time or an inability to navigate overly complex social norms that feel particularly unforgiving.
For what it’s worth, my association of the “porn is harmful for society” stance is mostly that of a right-wing/religious conservative/anti-sex ideological position. Outside those kinds of circles, I’ve seen some concerns about it giving young people misleading impressions of what to expect from sex, but I don’t recall seeing much of a sentiment that it would be an overall negative—neither from the laypeople nor the social scientists/sexologists who I’ve been exposed to.
I think it’s not so much about “wrong image” as about the relationship participation rate. I think porn couldn’t be neutral to the growing number of young people who are not in relationships (63% of men under 30 in the US) -- if you watch porn (and especially addicted to porn), you have less motivation to go out, look for dates, form relationships. I don’t claim that this effect is huge, and that it outweighs the positive effects on individuals, but I cannot think how there couldn’t be any effect at all. Also, of course, porn is not the only factor that makes zoomers more and more isolated and less involved in relationships.
It’s plausible that there could be such an effect, yes. On the other hand, there are also indications that a similar effect has a role in reducing the amount of sexual violence (countries where porn was criminalized saw significant reductions in their rape statistics after legalizing it), helping de-stigmatize various uncommon sexual fetishes and preferences and thus being protective of the mental health of their users, expose people to more information about what kind of sexual activities they might like (and thus possibly make them happier with positive effects on society), etc.
I don’t think the idea of porn as a “replacement good” for sex really holds, especially outside of the (very few) who get literally addicted to it. I would expect other factors to have a much more chilling effect, like lacking free time or an inability to navigate overly complex social norms that feel particularly unforgiving.