I think he was onto something about talking to your kids about the implications of porn… about the bad lessons that commercial porn teaches. Steer your young men away from letting the media dictate their desires. Let them know that it’s natural to want to look at arousing images, but to make sure they’re aware of what else these mainstream images are teaching.

I wish there was a good pansexual/heterosexual alternative porn magazine that shows people of all shapes, sizes and colors, obviously having fun in the sack. The dyke community had On Our Backs, the gay male community has Butt, but the pan/het community doesn’t have anything that I know of. There’s the magazine Other, which does have some porn in it, but it’s mainly articles and poetry and stories and art, and not as much arousing material.

I wish there was smart porn for young straight men that we could give to them that would let them get off to arousing images and yet at the same time, teach them not to let their desires be dictated by the media. (That idea “not let your desires be dictated by the media”, I got from a poster by CrimethInc called the Gender Subversion Kit. I happen to have it up in my living room. It can be found on this page Gender Subversion Poster

Dr. Jensen is aware that there is better pornography being made out there. He just thinks that the amount of bad pornography is so dramatically higher than the amount of good pornography. He focuses his research and discussion on the 95% of mainstream pornography.

I didn’t have a chance to read the book, but from his conversation, it seems he’s about talking to teens about porn, the media, power, and commodifying desire, but he’s not saying whether porn is bad or wrong or whether he’s pro- or anti-porn. So I’m confused as to his motives.

I’m personally pro-pornography, but I’m pro-healthy pornography. The majority of pornography isn’t even catering to male tastes… it’s catering to what the industry thinks will sell/knows will sell. Whether or not that’s actually what real men want to view, we don’t know. Men vote with their dollars on this, but how do you know if a different alternative wasn’t available, they wouldn’t buy it?

I read a lot of erotica of many types. I used to be a big consumer of On Our Backs (by dykes and transpeople, for dykes and transpeople, of dykes and transpeople) when it was still being published. Now that it’s not, I’ve found that I’ve gravitated more towards softcore porn and pinups, not because I’m not interested in viewing hardcore acts, but rather because hardcore is usually shot in a way that I find unappealing or boring.

I’ve found that porn shot for male desires mainly centers around the sexual organs themselves. You especially see this in gay porn. The focus, even if the whole body is in view, is obviously on the genitals. The sites of blatant sex (as opposed to not so obvious sexual parts like the neck, etc) alone must be arousing to many men.

I’ve found that my taste is more in the overall picture, the action involved, and the emotions and feelings sex creates. If you’re shooting penile/vagina intercourse, I find there’s lots of closeups of the penis penetrating the vagina. This is of little interest to me. I enjoy seeing the differences in penises and vaginas, but a pole stuck in a hole looks like a pole stuck in a hole. I’d rather see a picture of her face when he sticks the penis in, or perhaps the look on his. Something that conveys the feelings and emotions of having sex, something that makes me feel the way they feel… aroused and sexy.

Sorry for the long post.