I dont know if I’m allowed to ask this question, but I’m genuinely curious. As a woman, I don’t partake too much in too many illicit videos. I think the industry is exploitative, I think the normalization of it is gross, and I think porn in the long run does far more damage to your brain than you’d think. Regardless of that, sometimes my imagination is a little lacking, and I’ll watch a video or two. While I’m actively watching before I yk, finish, it’s usually all fine. But as soon as I’m done I find myself staring at the screen and looking at all of these women that are just better than me. In every way. I get left with this deep feeling of insecurity and hatred for myself, its not like a “post-nut clarirty” where I’m like why am I watching this or feel gross for having watched it… I just get stuck in a comparison loop where all I do is compare and compare and pick out everything I don’t like about myself. So I guess my question to you men is- Does watching porn ever make you feel insecure about yourself? Your build, your face, your intimate areas, or is it maybe not as deep as my brain makes it? submitted by /u/mental__chillness
Originally posted by u/mental__chillness on r/AskMen
Interesting question. For myself I would say no, not usually. Porn doesn’t make me feel bad about my body or genitals or anything. Most dudes in porn are so jacked they don’t even look real, or they are like skinny wimpy guys, or old fat guys and it’s easy not to compare myself to that.
Same thing with the women I would say, the not looking real part. Mainly that they have so much makeup on and surgeries that when you take all that away they aren’t all that pretty sometimes. And most of them are all drugged up too - probably to make all the exploitation tolerable. It’s all just super fake, and once I realized just how fake it was it’s easier not to watch it because it does fuck with your brain and expectations around sex, and also the gratification that comes from sex when you have it. Basically porn makes it harder to enjoy actual sex.
I do feel bad for other reasons that you touched on though - mainly the exploitation. When I found out one of the pornstars I used to jerk it to back in the day killed herself violently it made me feel sick. I have since tried to pivot to other forms of erotic entertainment like virtual novels which are mostly 3d art + text. I found that I get just as excited from reading a story and getting invested in the build up and payoff. There are also some erotic voice actors that just record themselves reading a script mostly by themselves that can be really hot too.