In case you haven’t noticed, modern society is steadily moving towards a state of device dependence. The idea of leaving the house without your smart phone is probably more frightening than leaving the house without your keys.
Like the physical universe, the digital universe is expanding rapidly. It is estimated that approximately 1.145 trillion megabytes are created and uploaded onto the internet every single day and this number is expected to increase considerably by 2025.
The cost of internet data is falling year on year, which lowers the barrier to internet access and also increases the data one can consume in a given month. More than this, the most used websites in the world, such as google, wikipedia, facebook and youtube, all opt for business models that provide their services free of charge.
Much has been said about the hidden risks to consumers from ‘free for all’ websites, but little is being said about the hidden risks associated with free access to porn. Now, everyone likes a free ride (ok, you can enjoy the pun here) and porn is no exception, but what is the damage to both consumers and those involved in making the content when the footage depends on high volumes of traffic before it makes a penny?
The answer: videos competing by pushing boundaries, becoming more extreme and introducing search terms that are all the more taboo. The net result: the aforementioned becomes normalised and women are left with the brunt of poor treatment, both on camera and off camera.
Let’s look at some porn statistics to help put things into perspective. In 2019 Pornhub saw an average of 18,712 videos uploaded daily. They saw 42 billion viewers over the same period. We know that the pandemic increased this, but it wasn’t exactly laging pre-covid.
One of the key issues that conventional free porn sites have is that they simply cannot monitor every single video before it reaches the public eye. The Internet Watch Foundation identified 118 cases of child rape on Porn Hub, and there has been countless more quantities of material that is said to encourage or support abuse of vulnerable people, particularly children. This has been so prevalent that Porn Hub made drastic changes to its policies and procedures in 2020 to identify and remove content that involves abuse.
That’s great, it really is, but is it enough? Abuse is not just about what one consents to, but the impact of that consensual act. The actresses on such sites will have consented, but iIf you haven’t noticed, there is a theme or culture of degrading women. The sexual acts are centred around women being forced or manipulated into sexual acts and the acts themselves are somewhat aggressive. You may call it dominance, but the average woman would call it demeaning and likely find it repulsive at worst and disrespectful at best.
What about the content search terms? Again, sites with vast video content rely on algorithms that filter material based on similar search terms, number of video views, and ratings to organise their content and improve the user experience through recommendations, which is handy (again with the puns). But, what is the consequence of this?
The answer, distasteful trends.
You may think trends are created entirely by the viewers, but the reality is that users are led along a path with click-bait search terms that copy key terms from popular videos with high views. Those search terms are then made more popular by subsequent videos trying to profit from the success of the golden search term, no matter how loosely related the content is. Take the search terms that include ‘mom’, ‘step-sister’, and ‘teen’ for example. These terms have become so popular that the landing page of free porn sites are filled with them.
What does this mean?
It means that concepts that are otherwise considered derogatory are normalised and the net result is that men are left with very skewed ideas about who they can sleep with and how women like to be treated.
What is the solution?
Well, no one is asking you to give up porn. Instead, it may be worth considering opting for a paid service, where you know the companies invest a lot more in the integrity of their production processes and the women are not subjected to any level of abuse either on camera or off camera. You can be sure that an actress on a site that charges will be fairly paid, unlike those on free websites. You can consider it the FairTrade option of the porn industry.
Is porn worth paying for?
Porn, like anything else, has a range to choose from and you really get what you pay for. You can find free porn sites with poor quality production, ridiculous storylines and unrealistic scenarios, and even more unrealistic reactions, at one end. Or, you can find a website that focuses on a particular niche like Badoink VR Porn and bring your fantasies to life in a way that is ethical and fun as hell.
Ultimately, the choice is yours, but remember that your choice affects more than just you.
