I’ve tried to think of every single objection people have to pornography and to rebut them all. If  I’ve missed anything then feel free to tell me (the comment section is there for a reason, plus I'm going to submit this to REPEAT, so any feedback would help!)

Warning: Feminists may not approve of this…

What is Pornography?  Pornography is linked with masturbation. It’s an aid that single men, and in increasing numbers, women as well as couples use to help them reach various states of arousal and possibly climax. There are some things which clearly are not acceptable routes for arousal – and by that I mean child pornography, bestiality, pornography that simulates rape… these would cause offence in all major cultures whereas pornography would not.

Isn’t it really unnatural?  Pornography is a relative term and a natural consequence of the human condition. What do I mean by that – well – even if you were brought up in a society where for example, movies / images of sex and full frontal nudity were not available – all that would happen is that your definition of what’s “ pornographic ” would change – i.e if you were male it would take less to arouse you, and say an image of a lady exposing her leg would have the equivalent effect that full on nudity has now…

But shouldn’t we still try to get rid of it?  You cant just erase it. Pornography will always exist, and that’s not because of market forces, it is because of the basic instincts that exist within us, we will always find certain images / scenes to be stimulating and there is a part of us that will always want to seek such media out. If it doesn’t exist, then we create it...

There are two sub points here – the first is that because pornography is an inevitable consequence of the basic forces that drive human behaviour – to be opposed to pornography is to in effect, hate yourself – and the second is that because we live in the age of media - images be they static or moving, of men and women will always be around, and if we link that to the concept of pornography as a relative term then - you get to the point where you realise that pornography will always exist.

Isn’t it addictive?  From a Neuronal perspective, sex will always result in the stronger orgasm, in other words, in theory sex is more addictive then pornography, so using that line of argument, sex is more of a threat to society… but in any case, only a minority will get addicted to pornography - and you don’t legislate* for what the majority can or cant do based on a dysfunctional minority.

What about Women in the Industry who are abused?  That’s the result of societies’ attitude towards pornography. If you treat it like it’s an evil, then because it isn’t seen as a ‘mainstream profession’ the personality type that goes for it is more vulnerable.

Of course I am not trying to justify any form of abuse that does occur – if people working in the industry subject employees to abuse that is unacceptable, but industries can only get away with not being transparent if they are marginalized – if society changes its attitude, there is less abuse.

But it devalues Sex?  Pornography serves to reinforces the importence of sex, people masturbate, but then they got bored and want to move onto something else…

But it results in People feeling Inferior? The claim here is that distorted body size in pornographic media is linked to depression in men (penis size) and women (anorexia, breast size). To counter that:

1. Fantasy - People don’t want to watch average Joe / plain Jane. People create the demand. In other words it’s not the fault of the industry. To use this argument is to argue against all film / and media.

2. The growth in the amateur market. Pornography is unique in this respect; it’s a media where the average thrives....

Isn’t it Degrading to Women? Lets break this down:

1 Go back 50, 60, 70 years say and the social framework of today can be traced back to the puritanical systems of old, i.e a system in which sex was equated with sin – and relics of that still exist.

‘Pornography’ has played a role in liberating women, and re enforcing the idea that its actually ok for women to dress in a way that makes them ‘feel sexy’ and to enjoy sex, without being ostracised by society.

What I am getting at here, is that one of the more popular themes within pornography is that of domination and submission, and the idea of women being portrayed as a dominatrix and the extent to which that contrasts with traditional roles that women are expected to take.

By popularising this concept of the women as dominant over the male – there is a clear knock on effect, albeit subconsciously, and it has wider effects on the direction that society as a whole then moves in, just look at recent trends in the advertising industry… 

But Pornography increases the chances of women being raped? Compare statistics for rape in countries with liberal attitudes towards pornography, with those who have more hard line views…

Only dodgy men buy Porn?  Maybe in Britain and the US. We should strive towards the European ideal, where more couples buy porn, and hence the type of pornography produced is different.

Isn’t pornography really boring? Only because the more you see, the more it repeats itself... and that’s the same with anything...

Isn’t it far to mainstream now?  It means that it's got to the stage where even if you don’t watch pornography your life has benefited from it, whether that’s through an increased awareness of what u can do in the bedroom, or the breaking down of stigmas...

What ever happened to being Civilised?  This concept of being 'civilised' is really relative. Many Ancient civilisations practised cannibalism. We would view that as being ‘ wrong, ’ but in reality it helped these people cope with death. It played an important role, and empowered. And that’s what any civilisation should aim to do ‘ empower ’ – to be designed so that its citizens are able to cope with the day to day realities of being. With regards to pornography, I don’t think that a civilised society would act to get rid of it? A person’s ability to express themselves sexually is an important component of their happiness, and if pornography helps that without adversely effecting the rest of society – then wouldn’t total censorship be barbaric?

*with things like murder and anti terrorist laws your clearly do, the only point I was trying to make is that most people who use pornography won't end up self destructing because of it, and those that do - would most likely have done so anyway. The parrallel I am thinking of is with alcohol, most people who use it wont ruin thier lives because of it, and you dont prohibit it just because of a minority.