Very positively as a concept, and negatively as an industry.

Porn shapes my sexual identity more than I’d like, but that’s just the way it is for most people in my life situation. I think I’m a more discerning consumer of most forms of media than others. I hear people talk, in an often-justifiable panic, about how music streaming is changing music listening habits and therefore music. And it’s perplexing to me that people seriously have streaming algorithms as their primary way of music discovery, that they don’t prefer something more manual. I feel the same way about porn, it’s a surprise to me that so many people just accept whatever’s on PornHub’s front page. To that end, when people say their sexual identity is “shaped by porn” I think people are generally thinking they’re into really brutal maledom, raceplay, and incest play. The former two are absolute turnoffs to me, and the latter is something I’m okay with when it’s a part of something I’d actively look for. But I’m like…would I know I’m a bisexual without porn? Would I know I wanted to be a femboy which is why I lost a lot of weight? And I know I wouldn’t know that I’m into something like gentle femdom or lactation.

I basically only seek out amateur stuff. In a vacuum I like the idea of paying for porn, but I worry about where it’s really going; in theory OnlyFans is better but I know that isn’t completely clean either, neither are porn companies claiming to be ethical. And I dislike that OF models sometimes exacerbate the parasocial nature of it for profit. If I buy porn, I don’t want the vendor pretending it’s anything more than me buying a good, but that sells.

I largely believe the current panic about porn addiction to be overblown, and an attempt to exploit male insecurity to get them to vote right wing. I don’t outright believe it doesn’t exist, but it’s in the same sense video games are addictive, not the way crack cocaine is addictive. It’s known that the people who report porn addiction often don’t actually watch an above average amount, they just have the most shame. I do, however, believe you should be able to masturbate without porn, and that relying on porn over an active sexual imagination is a problem.

I could at least see the logic behind a ban on paid, live-action porn, but anti-porn groups generally include hentai in their bans, so I’m certain it’s the same logic as violent video game bans.