This article covers the direct and indirect harm of pornography from a non-consumer-centric point of view.

Non-simulated violence and the glorification of rape, child abuse, and incest feature prominently in pornography.

Pornography has come a long way since Grecian urns and Playboy centrefolds; anonymous, easy access to an overabundance of content has resulted in an desensitised consumer, and a saturated market.

In response to such challenges, pornographers are making bank by filming people, primarily women, subjected to increasingly degrading and dangerous sex acts. Secondary distributors also profit while turning a blind eye to the fact that many a video uploaded to their platform was the end result of blackmail, threat, coercion, rape, and child abuse.

Violence in popular pornography

Rough group sex (including “gangbangs”, “double”, and “triple anal”), women gagging on male genitalia (sometimes to the point of vomiting), slapping, choking, misogynistic verbal abuse and ejaculating on a woman’s face — particularly common in the “interracial” genre — are now the mainstay of pornography. …

The idiosyncratic nature of perception

Perception is an integration of the limited but varied sensory information available to us. Our personalities, expectations, and past experiences also affect how we interpret what we see and hear. Perception is not a one-to-one mapping of reality, rather it is a constructive process, the end result closer to a mosaic with pieces chipped and missing than a flawless mirror reflection. Thus, errors are inevitable.

Sometimes misperceptions arise without any sensory input, entirely the product of random neural firing. These are known as hallucinations. …

As a society, we tend to admire the mighty over the meritorious. The wealthy, powerful, and genetically-blessed provoke our envy, and thus we put them on pedestal —one that’s often unwarranted by their character.

However, even when it comes to goodness, we are often fooled by flashy gestures and wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Beware those who…

Are honest… because they lack restraint

“People who are brutally honest generally enjoy the brutality more than the honesty.” — Richard Needham

Honest people are a rare gift, you’ll always know exactly where you stand with them. They are honest about what they want, and what they want from you. They don’t cower before confrontation; they’ll never phase out of a friendship or ghost you after a date to spare themselves minor discomfort at the price of your pain and confusion. …

Bullshit jobs

You and I are trapped in a Kafkaesque nightmare, a pantomime of busywork and make-belief with others engaged in the same. If we break character, someone else may be offered our part. It’s a farce staged in offices all over the world; whether in the public or private sector, bullshit jobs and pointless tasks abound.

“A bullshit job is a form of paid employment that is so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence even though, as part of the conditions of employment, the employee feels obligated to pretend that this is not the case.” …

“Scientists built an intelligent computer. The first question they asked it was, ‘Is there a God?’ The computer replied, ‘There is now.’ And a bolt of lightening struck the plug, so it couldn’t be turned off.”

— Stephen Hawking (speaking sardonically)

Rare is the man who is ready to meet his maker, rarer still is the person prepared to come face-to-face with their artificial, self-aware creation.

We rightly fear the ramifications of unleashing an artificial intelligence (AI) on the world. It’s a Pandora’s box that once opened, cannot be closed. Despite a keen awareness of this, we persist. …

“Doctor, doctor, please help me, I’m plagued day and night by tiny alligators. They crawl all over me!” says the patient, flicking away imaginary reptiles.

“Well, good God, man! Don’t get them on me!” yelps his psychiatrist.

Is it possible to induce madness in another?

Folie à deux (“the madness of two”) involves the transference of a delusion from one person to another. The term was coined in 19th-century France, with the first documented case of folie à deux involving a married couple convinced strangers were terrorising them by breaking into their home for the nefarious purpose of wearing down their shoes. …

SATIRE, POETRY

“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down” — U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin

“Even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that . . . is something that God intended to happen” — U.S. Senator Richard Mourdock

“they had no problem having similar to a [forced, unnecessary] trans-vaginal procedure when they engaged in the act that resulted in their pregnancy” — Right-wing talking head Dana Loesch

“Pregnancy is not a life-threatening illness” — Senator Ted Cruz

The Human Body Has Ways Of Shutting It Down

I hear the human body, once said a clown,
In legitimate rape, has ways of shutting it down.
And so I entreat you to imagine a man of his ilk,
Drunk, wearing “provocative” boxers of silk,
Abducted from corn field, or maybe a glen,
Sucked into a flying saucer by little green men. …

While backyard trampolines are death traps dearly beloved by children (and strongly discouraged by the American Academy of Pediatrics), their miniature counterparts are safe, inexpensive, and easily stowed in a corner of your home. Not only does jumping on one allow you to experience the thrill of near-weightlessness, as force is required to launch yourself into the air, bouncing also gives you an excellent lower body workout.

Trampolining — rebranded “rebounding” in the fitness industry — does wonders for your cardiovascular, respiratory, and musculoskeletal system, as well as your mental health. …