genuinegirly

I can see how people can have very different answers to these questions.

Is physical interaction the line, and you're okay with anything that precedes it?
No, physical interaction is not the line. Emotional attachment is the line.

Are the emotions what matter, and the physicality is irrelevant?
Emotions matter more.
I am not willing to become physically intimate with someone that I am not emotionally close to.
I can see how others can detach. I have no problems with this fact, and will allow them to embrace it.

Is sexual desire for another enough to be considered infidelity, making infidelity inevitable?
No.

Is it un-useful to draw lines, is it innately a nebulous affair?
It is useful and good for each person in a relationship to probe their emotions and determine their own lines, then to express these lines and expectations to their partner. If you know your partner's personal boundaries, and their expectations for you, and you break them to the point where trust is destroyed, then you should not be shocked when the relationship ends.

Are porn apologists taking the easy low-ground, when we're capable of better?
Yes. But to be fair, anti-porn folk tend to disregard your opinion even if you're eloquent and thoughtful about your pro-porn argument.

Are we, over time, shifting our societies values fundamentally?
If you mean being more open about topics that were once taboo, then yes.

Are we going to a better or worse place? ....Or will we be relatively the same?
Open communication about sexual matters will lead us to a more stable place. There will be less unnecessary guilt.

Is pornography more positive than negative, or a necessary evil?
I do tend to think it is more positive than negative.
I do not think that there is any reason to label it as evil.

Are men and women to be held to different standards, given the observable trends?
Gender be damned. Each individual should be held to the standards they set.


I do see how porn can become a harmful addiction, along the lines of drug abuse and alcoholism. I do not think that it commonly escalates to harmful levels. If a person turns to porn when their relationship is sexually unsatisfying, then they are avoiding communication and healing. If a partner has little to no sex drive, there could be an underlying medical reason. By turning to porn for personal relief, a person may be less likely to address their partner's medical needs. Feelings of resentment may arise if a partner prefers masturbation to porn over intimacy.

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy