[Added by mods- Content Warning: Sensitive Topic] What do you think about pornography from Autistic perspective?

TheCatWoman said:

I'm unsure why we would need to look at porn through an autistic lens?

Is there any healthy porn?

With this being an autistic forum and many people here having complex relationship issues then it makes sense to look at any subject matter through an autistic lens.

We percieve things differently to NTs on the whole and we often have more extreme responses to things that would be less troubling to them.

Our traumas (through our autistic experiences) can influnce these responses and can make us judge all porn as horrible or it can be an emotional cushion for others who are unable to find someone to have a relationship with.

It becomes a complex and nuanced area which is why it is so interesting to me.

As for healthy, this is even more complex as the definition as to what makes something "porn" is a massively blurred line.

Is it full on explicit intercourse, is it Mr Darcy standing shirtless in a field in Pride and Prejudice? The Victorians would say the latter but we probably think differently.

Where does eroticism end and porn begin? Are the Mills and Boon books of old porn? There is lots of sex in them but they are self censored with appropriate wording to tittilate the readers in much the same way, but needing to use more imagination.

When does artistic nudity become porn? Defining these limits is as variable as the person doing the defining.

In the end it is a massively subjective field which makes any discussion pretty difficult and defining what is healthy equally as difficult.

I'm unsure why we would need to look at porn through an autistic lens?

Is there any healthy porn?

I agree Japan has very different values about women, sex and porn than we or a lot of the rest of the world does.

From what I hear in the news, more and more young men and boys are growing up with very warped ideas of relationships, and consent because of watching sexual assault porn, along with the likes of Andrew Tate, telling boys hateful, demeaning and dehumanising things about women. Young women and girls are growing up, still, wondering if no will be taken as no, or if theres an expectation that they will comply with whatever their boyfriend wants.

I think cartoon and AI porn will blur the boundaries even more, will parent's end up telling their children not to go to the house of a man who wants to watch cartoons with them, like they used to tell them not to go and see puppies?

I think on the whole we have a massive problem already with sexual abuse, rape, DV and sex trafficking, that so far society makes noises against, but seems unwilling or unable to deal with. One of the things so shocking about the testimony of survivors of grooming gangs has been the attitudes of police and the total lack of curiosity. Now it turns out many officers were complicit in the abuse of these women and girls...what a surprise.

Stuart333 said:

I thought that came about because such material with real people was not allowed

No, there is a thriving business for conventional porn there too, but you are right about the censorship - they choose to pixelate the offending parts of the "action" to work around the censorship laws.

Stuart333 said:

Japan also tolerates some dubious behaviours,

There is indeed some troubling history and practice there.It took them until 2008 to ban child porn for example and the law does not cover animation or drawn images (these will often use small bars drawn across intimate areas as a form of partial censorship).

Sexual assault imagery is a popular sub-genre which is deeply troubling.

Overall the approach to sexuality and porn in Japan is quite different to our UK views and not in a healthy way I feel.

Iain said:

Cartoon characters in sexual situations are big business in Japan with a surprising amount of consumers for the subject.

True. But I thought that came about because such material with real people was not allowed. So it is a consequence of censorship, but I think it is strange. I am unconvinced it is healthy 

Japan also tolerates some dubious behaviours, or used to, and the infantilization of certain things is peculiar. It is a different culture though. But given a million more people died than were born last year and the population is predicted to fall by 30% in the coming 30 years it is not particularly healthy. To what extent any of this is related, I don't know. I have not been there in over 10 years.

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Stuart333 said:

Caroons, especially involving innocent characters, are a bit strange for me too. I'm not offended, but I don't see the need.

Cartoon characters in sexual situations are big business in Japan with a surprising amount of consumers for the subject.

I had a look at spme of the DVD covers for these when I was in Tokyo a few years ago and was quite shocked at the type of material they advertised in the contents - lots of things that I believe to be illegal in the uk.

There clearly is a big market for this sort of thing in some places

It's ok. Your comments are not stupid. Your views are equally valid.:-)

I agree with you. Caroons, especially involving innocent characters, are a bit strange for me too. I'm not offended, but I don't see the need.

If the characters mean something to you, I agree it corrupts your image. You can't unsee things.

There can be, and normally are, quite different perspectives between men and women related to sex. Women are generally more vulnerable. That said there is a subset who are completely comfortable exploiting sex to suit their needs.

Elfilis said:

I’ll stay quiet now seeing as I’m a spoil spore

Thanks for taking time to share your feelings and thoughts on this - I appreciate if can be a highly emotive subject.

I hope I wasn't probing too much in asking as i see you are uncomfortable with the subbject.

This is an area I have read a lot of resdearch on (psychology and arousal) so I was probably pushing to much. I apologise for keeping the trauma in the forefront of your thoughts..

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Elfilis said:

I haven’t seen Homer and Marge doing it. If other adults want to watch that kind of stuff then I won’t stop them

An interesting parallel here is with violence - the Itchy and Scratchy sketches are grotesquely violent and often include torture but do these elicit a similar response?

I think society is happy to make violence an death entertainment but when it comes to a (mostly) positive experience like sex then it becomes horrendous and needs to be policed.

Food for thought in evaluating our own beliefs.

Some have raised the double standard that if country bans prostitution (sex for money) but allows pornography it is being hypocritical. Its a curious contradiction when you think about it. 

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Elfilis said:

From my personal view, as a female in her 20s I find all this stuff to be super disturbing.

Have you analised what it was that made it disturbing for you?

I can understand the cross species thing being unpalatable but why does cartoon characters (of adults I assume) doing adult things cause such a response? 

When you think about it, Homer and Marge Simpson must have got it on to make Bart, Lisa and Maggie and I assume these cartoons were not being shown on a kids site, so why should adults not be able to watch cartoons in a way they want?

If you think of the violence, abuse and sexual content of many songs now then the cartoon seems rather tame by comparison, especially as its format makes it clear it is complete fantasy while the song lyrics are much more likely to be seen as lifestyle advocacy.

Do you consider the songs as objectionable? 

I'm not trying to have a go by the way, this is more to try to understand your response.

I find it overwhelming and disturbing, I don't watch it or read it, I had huge problems when my children were small explaining to them why there were pictures on maazine fronts with naked ladies on them. How do you explain that to a small child?

I remember when WH Smiths would happily sell pornography and had long shelves full of such magazines, but would not sell the feminist magazine Spare RIb, because it had articles about lesbians in it from a lesbian perspective. 

Pornography is derived from two Ancient Greek words, porne and graphein, meaning 'common prostitute' (Geisha-like prostitutes were called hetaira) and 'depict'. It is accurate, as pornography is a form of prostitution, sex for money. It is probably better paid and less dangerous for the practitioners than other forms of prostitution, but probably produces similar levels of psychological harm.

Masturbation in men has been linked to lower rates of prostate cancer and other prostate problems, so perhaps pornography has at least one beneficial effect.

I'm not sure about the question. Why should it be any different from an autistic perspective?

Porn is fundamentally about the mechanical act, not about social interaction, communication, emotions, etc. so why would there be a difference?

It largely appeals to the male bias for optical stimulation, rather than emotional or sensual stimulation.

It is undeniably arousing, but then it is intended to be.

For the avoidance of doubt, it should only be between informed consenting adults, doing it of their own free will without undue pressure. In practice I am not sure it all is.

Whether it is good or bad for the participants, viewers, society etc. is a nuanced and sizeable debate.

I was always interested in what the women really thought and were like in real life to talk to. I saw an interesting video from an autistic Australian escort/prostitute. Self employed, who viewed it purely as a business.

Sexuality in general is a confusing topic shaped by many things. I can't separate the emotional and physical parts 

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ComputerGeek1337 said:

Main reason being is that the women behave like animals.

They behave this way because they are directed to I think you will find.

Just like in regular TV/film production there is a script (often very basic), actors (male, female and other), sound & lighting staff, support staff (makeup, technical, runners etc) and the director uses all these to make the sort of content they were instructed to make.

Many are complete amateurs and it shows. There are some quite unpleasant directors who repeatedly make quite disturbing content intentionally and there are some who take pride in trying to produce a polished piece if art with lots of sex in it. And there is everything in between.

The women are shaped in the way they behave by the instructions of the director, the interaction with their co-stars but mostly by the consumers. When something resonates with a part of the audience then more of that same content is produced and it becomes a positive feedback loop where more, more extreme and more diverse versions of the same content are created.

There is big business behind it and a heck of a lot of money being made, just not much is made by the actors.

The women are doing it to make money, a small number because they enjoy it and most because it pays fairly well and has relatively low demands on your time / effort. There is also a fairly well established route to other related work further down the line including in the likes of only fans and similar sites where they have more control over their work, but are ultimately governed by the consumers paying for the product.

So in essence I don't think the women are a problem here, it is the consumers ultimately driving the whole thing.

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