'Have you paid for pornography?' poll discussion

A question about : 'Have you paid for pornography?' poll discussion

Have you paid for pornography?

The legal porn industry is said to be one of the biggest industries worth billions, yet it's rarely ever discussed as a consumer purchase. So whether it's on the internet, TV, phone, films, magazines or elsewhere...

Which of these is closest to your situation (select your gender and answer) over the last year?

A. I'm a man - I never use pornography - 8% (1518 votes)
B. I'm a man - I only ever use free pornography - 41% (7718 votes)
C. I'm a man - I use pornography and have paid for it - 11% (2016 votes)
D. I'm a man - I use pornography and often pay for it - 1% (182 votes)
E. I'm a woman - I never use pornography - 25% (4799 votes)
F. I'm a woman - I only ever use free pornography - 11% (2100 votes)
G. I'm a woman - I use pornography and have paid for it - 2% (447 votes)
H. I'm a woman - I use pornography and often pay for it - 1% (111 votes)

Total Votes: 18891

This vote has now closed, but you can still click 'post reply' to discuss below. Thanks

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Best answers:

• The UK adult industry is being strangled by outdated laws that are simply bypassed by our European competitors. Forgetting the moral arguments for a moment:-
  Hardcore porn is ONLY *legally* available from a licensed sex shop.
  Mail-order from magazines/websites or any other electronic distribution mechanism is technically illegal and some of the biggest names in the adult industry (Interfact,ABS,Apollo,Net1on1,Scala etc to name a few) wont supply via mail order due to the risk of prosecution - well covered under the video recordings act, obscene publications act and distance selling regulations to name a few.
  Our international competitors dont care - they mail-order in from Holland,Spain,Germany AND it doesnt have to be BBFC licensed, so no R18 required. That means that ANYONE can buy hardcore DVDs, unrestricted in their content from Euro and American suppliers direct. Thats a huge disadvantage for the UK industry, tax revenues, control etc. The BBFC never get to see the material, so cant control it. Only rarely do the police get their hands on - but it's a fraction of what gets through.
  Allowing UK publishers/distributors and retailers to sell mail order (with controls of course) would generate in excess of Ј175mn a year in tax revenue for the UK - starting overnight. Instead, all that revenue is lost to overseas competitors.
  I shant rant on about electronic disrtibution/internet/late night satellite shows - thats even worse in terms of the UK imbalance.
  Time for a level playing field.
• Is it april 1st?
• There's no "I'm a midget transexual and I make a lot of money by being in porn films" option on the poll ?????????
• I dont really fit in with any of the options, but F is prob the closest....
• Thanks for the chance for an open discussion. Awaits first accusations of MSE dumbing down ...
• I have watched and read porn many years ago which I didn't pay for.
  I am opposed to commerically produced porn now so I wouldn't watch it or read it, let alone pay for it.
  I did buy a dirty book by Nancy Friday though.
• I think its a case of 'each to their own' on this one. Its not for me, but I dont really see any harm in it, when its legal and safe.
• I bought a few jazz mags in my late teens and 20's...and watched a few 'under the counter' videos from independent video hire shops (you don't get that type of service from Blockbuster!) but thats about it...
• These days there's so much free stuff out there that I can't imagine paying for it. You'd have to have VERY specific tastes to not have more free stuff available than you could ever need.
• I don't use pornography for the same reason I'm vegetarian - I do my best not to cause harm to others. This link gives a voice to men, women and children who have been harmed by it. Maybe the 90% of men in particular who said they watch it should find out more about the people who suffer within it and because of it.
  https://againstpornography.org/effectsandharms.html
• Whether some people like it or not, pornography is with us and won't go away. Indeed, I'd hazard it's more socially acceptable now than ever before. And when we read that the woman young girls look up to the most and aspire towards is Katie Price we know it's not likely to lose it's social acceptance at any time in the near future. There's a small but significant minority of young girls who see the potential for glamour in pornography - an opportunity to escape from their current poor social circumstances, with the chance of travel to exotic places, live the high life and even meet rich and successful men who'll give them a football wives lifestyle. These young women often don't see, or want to see, the reality that only a minuscule number of them will achieve their dream, while the vast majority of others will be cast aside as soon as they've "got their kit off" the first time.
  So, certainly there's exploitation but also there's a raft of young women who willingly participate in pornography "for a laugh". They may not understand that once they've had a photo-shoot their photos can and will be distributed over the internet and/or magazines for ever more, and there's nothing they can ever do to stop it in the future. Maybe they don't think about the consequences that the photos may be recycled years down the line if and when they become successful in a professional role. Maybe they don't realise that once they've participated in pornography that people (particularly men) will always see them as "up for it", or "easy", etc.
  Many pornographic photos that appear on the internet and in magazines these days are of Eastern European girls. Perhaps they're participating because they can quickly earn an amount of money that's comparatively insignificant in Western terms, but substantial to them. Or maybe they think the photos will be distributed far away and they won't have to suffer the personal consequences they'd incur if the photos were published in their home country.
  The alternatives to the current situation are either to ban pornography altogether or to relax the rules and make it even more open.
  To gain an insight in to what the consequences of a ban on pornography we can look at the current situation with prostitution in the UK. While the social circumstances in to which (mostly) young women are drawn in to prostitution are possibly different - or at least more extreme - we can see that while there is an unending demand for pornography someone, somewhere will supply it. And as is often the case, once something is banned it is taken up by unscrupulous profiteers who will exploit vulnerable women even more than they are now.
  I doubt in this country there's much of an appetite to make pornography more widely acceptable, or even to relax the rules on what can and can't be shown. But that's probably because the Internet has changed the boundaries, enabling just about every man or woman to find something in their chosen niche, often for free, usually with little chance of others knowing and invariably in the comfort and privacy of their own home.
  Social mores have certainly changed in the last few decades. I don't see any desire (or likelihood) of a return to the Victorian days when a piano leg had to be covered up for fear it might make a man think of it as a young woman's leg! What I'd like to see is a properly researched study (not a flimsy article in a celebrity tell-all magazine) that follows up say, 10 and 20 years later, asking women who had participated in pornography whether they regret it or whether they feel it did them any harm.
• [QUOTE=d-seven;35574899]I bought a few jazz mags in my late teens and 20's...
  I once received a job application from a man who stated on his CV he had a large collection of Jazz mags. I didn't dare ask for more details..................
• There clearly is a good market for it as it's everywhere on the internet today....... do a google search for "adult" and you will see what I mean.
  Some of the stuff goes beyond anything you could imagine 20 years ago or maybe it's just me I've led a sheltered life.
  I can't understand anyone paying for this stuff today unless it's a couple of live girls in your house. No offence the minority groups (boys, dogs, cats, dolphins, the elderly and dolls I'm sure there are many more). We're not allowed to be phobic today.
  I do think it's got out of hand with footballers partying with orgies and so on copying porn but often as soon as you try and outlaw it more devotees appear.
  I think maybe show people that it isn't real and the scenes are acted cut and edited and filmed over days rather than minutes. Stills are posed and again done over a long time span.
• Nothing wrong in a bit of porn. Agree that it needs more controls and there is some sick stuff on the interent (2girls 1cup anyone). If my wife and I choose to watch an R18 film then that is our decision, a decision made by two consenting adults who have the freedom to choose if we watch it or not. The problem with this country is there are too many do gooders trying to tell us what we can and cannot do, watch, read etc.
• I think the whole industry should be licensed
  Nothing to do with human rights or anything, just that the quality of a lot of it is just awful and I think licensing may help