[Gaiaakgyyyg]

Young people who have learned about sex from watching porn have a treasure trove of sadly mistaken beliefs and misconceptions about sexuality.
March 26, 2012 |

When Lynette, a college student, first hooked up with an ex-boyfriend, she came face to face with the unrealistic ideals mainstream porn can create about sexuality.

“I had a boyfriend who didn’t realize that women had pubic hair,” she tells us in an interview. “Because he had only watched porn, he had never seen a naked woman outside of porn, so he just sort of failed to realize they had pubic hair.”

“This came up somewhat before my pants came off,” she added, “so you can realize how awkward this was.” She paused. “His face was memorable. In an ‘oh God, what is wrong with me, I am never taking my pants off in front of anyone ever again’ way."

Porn has become immensely popular in the last century. With the rise of Internet pornography, no longer do you have to enter a sleazy sex shop in a shady part of town to witness an astonishing panoply of sex acts. A quick Google brings you sex acts from the mundane (happy amateur couples having missionary intercourse) to the bizarre (could looners, who have a sexual fetish for balloons, ever have met each other outside the Internet?). Many teenagers have their first introduction to sex from the glow of a computer screen.

And these days, it can lead to some hilarious misconceptions.

Despite Rick Santorum’s newly declared war on porn, porn is not evil. Alan McKee, an Australian university professor and pornography researcher, tells AlterNet, “Pornography is good at teaching lifelong learning, open communication, that sexual development should not be aggressive, coercive, or joyless, self-acceptance, awareness and acceptance that sex is pleasurable, and competence in mediated sexuality.” In short, he claims that pornography can be the foundation to a healthy sex life—not to mention leading to many solo orgasms.

The problem is, learning about sex from porn is like learning about firearms from action movies. Action movies sacrifice realism for the sake of storyline or a really cool explosion. Action movies don’t teach you gun safety. Action movies don’t talk about alternatives to violence. And action movies use some tropes—such as the infinite ammo supply—that may move the story along but don’t reflect reality. That’s not a problem, as long as everyone treats them as entertaining fantasies.

Unfortunately, for many young people becoming sexually active today, the entertaining fantasies of mainstream porn are the teacher they've spent the most time with, and mainstream porn is a terrible teacher.

Talking to various young people about porn and sexuality, we quickly discovered a treasure trove of sadly mistaken beliefs about sex. A teenage boy who believed that all women, no matter how much they protested otherwise, really wanted to be called sluts when they had sex. Guys who think that foreplay is just jamming a few fingers up someone’s vagina before sex. People who didn’t know you need lube to have anal sex.

“I’ve met more than a few guys who were very surprised to discover that women more often masturbate by humping their hands or rubbing their clits than by penetrating themselves,” blogger Holly Pervocracy said.

“I actually had a guy tell me I was wrong,” Lynette said. “If I was rubbing my clit, it wasn’t real masturbation. He didn’t even know about the G spot; he thought I should be getting off on the friction of my fingers with my vagina.”

Women aren’t the only ones who fall victim to glaring anatomical mistakes. The giant, ever-hard, pounding penises of male mainstream porn stars are equally unrealistic. “My first boyfriend told me, in all seriousness, that he was pretty small—just seven and a half inches,” said Pervocracy. “He thought nine was average.”

[attackDoold]

Watching porn to learn about sex is like watching "The Lion King" to learn about African wildlife.

In porn, nobody sleeps on the wet spot.
Why not?
Because it is a FANTASY.


Mac

[Bromikka]

This explains the awkward confusion when I assumed finishing was a welcomed facial exfoliator.

[AALee]

[Filling25]

This explains the awkward confusion when I assumed finishing was a welcomed facial exfoliator.

Not if you have sex with this women...

[RealCHEAPsoftDOWNLOAD]

Mr Gone,
Just like movies; music videos are FANTASY.
They are trying to sell you a product.


Mac

[Matajic]

Mr Gone,
Just like movies; music videos are FANTASY.
They are trying to sell you a product.


Mac

In many instances what you say above is indeed very true Mac. However, from what I have read regarding Liz Fair all of her inputs are 'open'. If her lyrics are anything like her in real life she is my hero.

[Centurnion]

Riiiiiiight.
Because no entertainer ever adopts a "stage personna" that is different from who they are in "real" (private) life.
from what I have read regarding Liz Fair And just WHERE did you read it?


Mac

[Wrasialat]

Riiiiiiight.
Because no entertainer ever adopts a "stage personna" that is different from who they are in "real" (private) life.

And just WHERE did you read it?


Mac

Magazine interview back in the mid 90's though I can't find it online now. There are instances where song lyrics are a part of one's experiences and facials are not just limited to porn. To say that these things are just 'stage persona' is being naive.

[verizon]

Everyone knows that no entertainer ever "stretches the truth" in a magazine interview.
There are instances where song lyrics are a part of one's experiences Would that include:
"Yummy, yummy, yummy
I've got love in my tummy"
???

To think marketing is real is the real naivete.


Mac

[Pinkman]

Everyone knows that no entertainer ever "stretches the truth" in a magazine interview.

Would that include:
"Yummy, yummy, yummy
I've got love in my tummy"
???

To think marketing is real is the real naivete.


Mac

There are no absolutes here Mac. Of course sometimes a songwriter's lyrics are about their life experiences and sometimes not. All I was suggesting was that her lyrics seem plausible as many of her songs revolve around sex, but yes of course until you see the H.W.C on her face it is obviously speculation. Any further discussion now is just playing semantics.

[Hankie]

You did more than merely "suggest".


Mac

[Junrlaeh]

Any further discussion now is just playing semantics.

Tension and release. Was this thread just set up for that pun?

[agrismhig]

Tension and release. Was this thread just set up for that pun?

Tensions usually run high on this forum where the meaning gets twisted and tormented like high school back seat fumbling. So yes you could say that was a release of sorts.

[PaulCameron]

Things I've learned from watching porn.

1. All women wear high heels to bed.
2. Anyone left alone in a room for more than 60 seconds will start to masturbate
3. Your wife will get turned on if she walks in and sees you having sex with her best friend or sister
4. Catching a couple in public having sex means that the guy has been waiting for another guy to show up and help
5. Women enjoy performing oral sex far more than they enjoy receiving

[Hmntezmb]

Things I've learned from watching porn.

1. All women wear high heels to bed.
2. Anyone left alone in a room for more than 60 seconds will start to masturbate
3. Your wife will get turned on if she walks in and sees you having sex with her best friend or sister
4. Catching a couple in public having sex means that the guy has been waiting for another guy to show up and help
5. Women enjoy performing oral sex far more than they enjoy receiving

The stages of sex in marriage.
1. Room sex - you have sex in every room in the house.
2. bedroom sex - you only have sex in the bedroom.
3. Hall sex - You pass each other in the hall and say: "Fuck you".