The Porn Spectrum

I feel like people may be getting sick and tired of hearing about "spectrums" (spectra?) by now. First it was the sexuality spectrum - Kinsey's groundbreaking research into the shades of grey that exist between "gay" and "straight". Nowadays it's the gender spectrum - people existing at disparate points between "male" and "female" (and even living at multiple separate points simultaneously, or somewhere off of the spectrum entirely - more on that in another post). But regardless of whether anyone likes it or not (and why do people not like diversity and inclusivity?), spectrums are a useful way of looking at things. Unless you're a coin, very few things in life are legitimately black or white. Oversimplification can make things easier, but it can also obscure the full nature of reality.

In any case, I just came (that's what she said) to the realization that porn can be viewed as being on a spectrum, too. This isn't a new concept to me - I've argued in the past that most anti-porn activists are committing a logical fallacy by equating all porn with the particular kind (usually abusive) that they don't like. But using the idea of a spectrum - hey, that works great! Most people recognize the difference between hardcore and softcore porn, which is a good place to start. But unless they're trying to get off, few people actually make much of a distinction between the two. In their minds, it's all porn. But not all porn is the same. It shouldn't all be treated the same. And it shouldn't all be subject to the same rules and regulations.

For example, people frequently have a hard time determining whether something constitutes "porn", in order to be able to decide whether or not it needs to be censored - or, barring that, censured. In on-the-fence cases - like fine art nudes and nudist media - there's a wide margin for error, that often results in miscategorization. The fact of the matter is, anyone can use anything for porn. But that doesn't make it sexually explicit. If one person jerks off to a Home & Garden magazine, does that mean we should start selling it on the newsstands in an opaque sleeve, to protect innocent eyes? No, of course not! That wouldn't make sense. The FBI would have to start investigating gardeners for not getting written proof of age for the plants they've shared pictures of on Facebook.

The truth is, porn exists on a spectrum. Actually, it exists on a lot of spectrums. From softcore to hardcore, dressed to nude, non-contact to penetration, solo to group, consensual to nonconsensual, pain to pleasure, vanilla to kinky. All of these things vary in quantity and quality - and popularity. They encompass different acts with varying degrees of repercussions - physically, psychologically, and socially. Some of them are vastly different from the rest. They do not all demand the same treatment. The fact that snuff films (if they are more than just a fantasy) are unconscionable does not, for example, impugn the reputation of naked selfies. And if you like naked selfies, this can not, similarly, be construed as a tacit endorsement of snuff films. Understand?

Social evil? Or wholesome fun?