I have no problem with sexually explicit material, but I do have a beef with most porn for this reason. It teaches bad sex, and most children are exposed to it from a young age, with few if any mitigating alternatives for learning about sex, connection, and pleasure. Even people who say that they understand it is entertainment are negatively influenced, particularly when so much of mainstream porn is violent and degrading to women.

"Watching natural-looking people engaging in sex that is consensual, mutually pleasurable, and realistic may not be harmful—heck, it might be a good idea—but the occasional feminist porn site aside, that is not what the $97 billion global porn industry is shilling. Its producers have only one goal: to get men off hard and fast for profit. The most efficient way to do so appears to be by eroticizing the degradation of women. In the study of behaviors in popular porn, nearly 90 percent of 304 random scenes contained contained physical aggression toward women, while close to half contained verbal humiliation. The victims nearly always responded neutrally or with pleasure. More insidiously, women would sometimes initially resist abuse, begging their partners to stop; when that didn’t happen, they acquiesced and began to enjoy the activity, regardless of how painful or debasing it was."

Orenstein, Peggy. Girls & Sex (p. 34). Harper Paperbacks. Kindle Edition.

I've heard from more than young woman who said that her date slapped or choked her in the middle of sex without even asking if she was into that. This wasn't her boyfriend or partner, but a date, and they were surprised when the woman was upset because they thought that's what they were supposed to do.

In addition, young women who say they know that porn is unrealistic still may find themselves disconnected from their bodies during sex, wondering how they look in comparison to what they've seen on screens. It's more than a little disturbing.

Thanks so much for writing this. It needs to be said loudly and often.