Hey, Sieran, thanks for reading and commenting. Good to see you around. The good news is, this might extend beyond porn, but we certainly haven't established anything remotely like causality. Someone asked me yesterday why, if porn and sex work legalization reduce crime rates, don't people run out and commit murder if they're deprived of the gym or playing sports? The fact is, maybe this is bigger than just porn, but it's far too early to say. 2020 was the largest year-to-year increase in homicides in American history, per Pew Research. (1)
It's not inconceivable that when people are deprived of their catharsis, be it sex or sport, horrible things happen.
And yes, I was also thrilled to see consent checklists and that performers are talking about it. I dig through a lot of commentary on human sexuality every single day. There's a very radical strain of society who believes that all porn performers are doing it against their will. Maybe in the 1990s, you could say that many, certainly not all, would rather not have been doing it. But today, the game has changed. Technology has really liberated countless things, even if it's destroyed others. Women no longer need to be under the thumb of porn producers to make a buck in the industry, they can just create an OnlyFans and do it all themselves. This totally changed the game and for the better. I also think the industry is just growing up. It's one of the few industries that's really made inroads into body positivity in a way that isn't tokenism. Long gone is the monolithic, super-thin bleached blonde model. Today, the industry accommodates an expansive variety of preferences that's super inclusive. I still don't watch it myself, I have my own gripes with it (it lacks the intimacy of in-person encounters). But I can say, I feel like giving it at least some applause from afar.
