http://www.aftenposten.no/english/lo...icle909080.ece
Quote:
Porn gives youth complexes
The advanced sexual techniques and stamina displayed by porn stars give Norwegian teenagers hang-ups about their sex lives. Watching pornography, now readily available via the Internet, also promotes sexual experimentation, the KSO (Clinic for Sexual Information) reports.
"We get young boys in here that are very embarrassed and are convinced that they suffer from premature ejaculation. They think it is normal to hold out for nearly an hour because it looks like the men in porn films do this," sexual counseling specialist and KSO leader Siv Gamnes told newspaper Dagsavisen.
Teens who have had their sexual debuts can develop problems when the compare themselves to their porn heroes. Boys are disappointed by their own performances and girls despair when failing to achieve serial orgasms.
"We must provide information about what a normal sex life is, and that porn does not reflect that. The way things are now, porn and the focus on sex in magazines and TV create sexual complexes," Gamnes told the paper.
The KSO passes no judgment on watching porn or any particular sexual practice and instead tries to teach youngsters to set clear limits and have safe sex. But the KSO feels that the widespread acceptance of porn is blurring boundaries, both inspiring youngsters to have group sex and instilling confusion when, for example, girls find anal sex unpleasant.
Sexologist and physician Kjell-Olav Svendsen is concerned by the trend and also has patients with complexes he links to watching porn.
"It can be unfortunate to debut straight into advanced sex. Porn pushes the bounds of normality. It gives complexes in respect to one's own body and in relation to the type of sex one feels one must try," Svendsen said.
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I thought this was an interesting dabble into the sociological impacts of pornography and an appropriate topic for discussion on TFP. Do you believe that as pornography spreads it runs the risk of creating certain psychological issues among people - especially younger people - pertaining to their experiences? It seems to me that this is likely. I don't really mean this as a criticism of porn, but as a recognition of the effects that manufactured realities can have on actual realities.
Who do you think holds the responsibility to alleviate circumstances such as this? Is it the pornographer's responsibility to be somehow more sexually accurate? I think the concept that pornography encourages experimentation is a good thing, but is it good if it is accompanied by frustrations arising from things not being as easy as they seem in porn? Or do you think it is the fault of sex education, that not enough focus is placed on the realities of sex so as to counter the mythos that is propagated by pornography? For example, should high school sex education be discussing things like anal sex and proper sterilization of sex toys so as to counter the inaccurate messages broadcast through pornography? Should there be regulations regarding some aspects of pornography, such as my pet peeve: the post anal sex blow job?
What are your thoughts on this issue?