[From YourTango.com]
Maybe the answer to the eternal porn debate isn’t getting rid of porn, but exposing ourselves to more of it. And not just porn, all things sexual. Toys, workshops, bodies. Let me explain.
A few weeks ago I spent a weekend at the Adult Video Network Adult Entertainment Expo and Awards Show. I was exposed to vibrators that look like rubber duckies and masturbation devices for men, girls in bikinis blowing up balloons until they popped and films made to titillate that showed only bare feet. I saw women wearing nothing but paint, dancers sliding up and down slick poles, film stars signing autographs while wearing little more than a smile.
As I flew to Vegas, I have to admit, I wondered how I would feel about it-me, a short, average looking 38-year-old in the middle of all this skin and glitter. Would I feel ugly? Grossed out? Uncomfortable? Sad? Angry? Truth be told, I felt it all at one point or another throughout the weekend. It’s a lot to process. But more than anything, believe it or not, I felt sexy.
No, really.
The sexual tension, the conspiracy of like-minded people, the sense of naughtiness right there out in the open-it was all palpable. And despite the fact that some of the porn and other “exhibits” weren’t my taste, it didn’t make me feel uncomfortable. It made me feel empowered. Like, if all of this is OK, than what isn’t ok?
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about bestiality or incest or any of the things that slippery slope theorists go on about. I’m talking about healthy, consensual, adult fantasies. Being among all these people and all their desires made lust seem, well, healthy. Imagine that.
Time and again I hear that being exposed to porn dulls people’s connection to true sexuality, that it skews one’s understanding of reality, that it turns honest men (and women) into creepy perverts. I don’t buy it. Not after hanging out with and talking to the porn vendors and stars and fans and production people. I think just the opposite happened. Because it was all out in the open, there was no need for anyone to act out in an inappropriate way or feel somehow like a misfit.
Perhaps it’s not the porn that’s the problem but the way we treat it with such disdain…
Okay. Right now you’re either intrigued or infuriated. Want to settle these feelings once and for all? Click here to read the rest of the story, and tell us what you think about the great porn debate.
