Kelli Kroepel | Opinion Co-Editor

It goes without saying that a strong percentage of both men and women have watched porn at some point in their life, whether it was with a friend or a significant other, or perhaps just a consistent hobby of their own. I have never cared whether or not a person watches porn. I personally think that watching porn is beneficial, especially if a person relies on it to relieve stress; however, recent studies have shown that watching porn can have substantial, negative effects on a person.

According to an article written by Lauren Duca in The Huffington Post, “A recent study published in Psychology of Women Quarterly asserts that watching porn can reinforce negative stereotypes, making both men and women who watch porn less likely to support affirmative action for women. And a similar finding, published in the Journal of Communication, found that porn has an extensive impact on how men think about women, leading to sexist attitudes.”

The results from the study featured in the Psychology of Women Quarterly leave me puzzled. My thoughts are, if a person is viewing sexist porn, they perhaps had sexist thoughts prior to watching the porn, which is why they were watching sexist porn in the first place. I believe the same thing about porn and affirmative action for women. These people, more than likely, already disagreed with affirmative action before viewing porn. Personally, I think that a man can watch sexist porn and even fantasize about dominating his female co-worker without having sexist thoughts about real-life issues, such as affirmative action for women.

Also, according to Duca, “The fact that a woman who otherwise aligns with the feminist agenda may experience a reduction in strength of her beliefs after watching sexist porn is especially upsetting.”

This statement bothers me for copious reasons. The first reason being that Duca feels so strongly about this even though it isn’t a proven problem. I’m also bothered that a woman would change her outlooks about herself just because of porn. If you don’t like the way that porn makes you feel, why would you watch it? Also, if you feel strongly about something, why would something as simple as porn have any affect on that feeling?

I will agree to only a certain extent that porn can have an effect on the way you think, but I also think that in order for that to happen, a person must’ve not had strong feelings about the issue in the first place. It’s common sense that men and women watch porn based on what appeals to them. If sexist porn is what they’re choosing to watch, then they were attracted to sexist sexual situations before even viewing the porn. Porn doesn’t make you feel or think a certain way unless you allow it to.