Pornography

Year 79 CE, in what is now Italy. The volcano Vesuvius erupts. The cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum are buried in ash. In the 18th century, the cities begin to be excavated. Antiquarians find wall paintings, lamps, and a variety of objects depicting people having sex.

In Pompeii, there are sex pictures posted everywhere: on tavern signs, on street corners, and in the wealthier homes. A man weighing his penis on a scale, a goddess having sex with a swan, the god Pan having intercourse with a goat, and images of women and men, men and men, and women with women in a variety of sex positions. The Antiquarians panic and hide everything in a locked room. No one should see such filth! Throughout history, sexual motifs have been common in, for example, the Roman Empire, China, India, Japan and later again in 19th-century Europe.

Today, these images are probably classified as erotic art, but perhaps the purpose was to trigger sexual arousal? In that case, we could call it pornography, or porn because that's what porn is: depictions of sex for the purpose of arousal. In ancient times, it was probably only the upper class who could afford to buy sexual images to decorate their houses with. This is not the case in the 2020s. Watching pornography has never been easier or cheaper.

The internet is full of free porn that you can easily watch or download. The easy accessiblity of porn via the internet has sparked a debate. In August 2020, a midwife at a Swedish youth clinic raises the alarm that more and more young women are suffering genital injuries because of “rough sex". She believes that the injuries can be linked to pornography, and that young people are increasingly having sex in ways inspired by porn. Several organizations warn of the negative effects of pornography on young people: That today's porn shows gang rape, sexual abuse, and humiliation of girls and women.

That porn makes girls into someone that boys should perform sexual acts on, not with. Girls become objects. Many of these groups want to ban pornography for young viewers. Other organisations have a slightly different view. They acknowledge that pornography can have problematic elements, but also believe that it can serve as an important teaching tool.

In interviews, some young people - mainly boys, but also girls - say that porn has taught them, for example, what a vulva can look like, and what different sex positions exist. But many young people also say that porn is unrealistic. That it can give a false impression of sex. It's probably rare that sex happens exactly like in a porn movie. According to surveys, few young people want to ban porn.

Most young people believe that there are positive sides to it, but they want to be able to choose for themselves when to consume pornographic images and films. They don't want to be spammed with porn when they open a computer or shop at a store. Today, with smartphones, it has become more common for people to make their own erotic or pornographic material, amateur porn... Which can be uploaded on various sites. It can be nude pictures and videos of yourself fondling, masturbating or having sex.

To post material on such sites, you must be 18 years or older, but it happens that people younger than that post pictures and videos of themselves. But, once something ends up on the internet, it is very difficult to remove it if you later regret it. So it’s important to think carefully before posting. Posting nude photos or videos of someone else against their will is a gross violation. In several countries, it is also a crime.

There are many different opinions about pornography. But one thing is certain: People have depicted sex for thousands of years. We will probably do so in the future as well.