this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
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"Porn" is extremely broad. There's plenty of perfectly ethical porn around. Most major producers have pretty strong standards these days. It's not the same industry as it was 10 years ago.
But in this specific case they went after a porn game, not featuring real people. There's basically no real harm here. People occasionally argue that porn addiction is a problem, but that's mostly an addiction problem, which goes for most addictions. The thing addicted too isn't the problem, it's the very nature of being addicted that's causing the issue.
It's fine of course to dislike porn, but to effectively ban people from producing and consuming it is an entirely different matter. That does seem like a massive encroachment on individual rights to me.
What even is ethical porn? And what you consider "ethical" is just your subjective opinion.
Porn made with the willing consent of all parties involved, where everyone is compensated appropriately. No harm = no ethical problems as far as I'm concerned. Most big studios these days make sure of this. But there have also been pioneers that push the bar further up (e.g. Lustery, Ersties or Erika Lust).
So if a father and daughter consent is that ethical now?
There is a clear power disparity between a father and a daughter. It's debatable if the daughter could even realistically consent in that case.
But a depiction of it in porn is in my view not inherently unethical. I can disapprove of it personally, but that doesn't mean we should start banning it based on feelings of inappropriateness.
We depict murder and violence in movies and video games too. Actual murder is of course not exactly ethical, but we have no problem accepting it in a movie, because nobody is actually being murdered. You might not like to watch a movie like Saw or something (I personally don't), but it doesn't make the movie itself unethical. To me, porn is no different. There's a clear separation between fiction and reality.
Where imo a line is crossed, is if said media actually makes a clear effort to promote these acts IRL. But that's not the case here.
What if the daughter is in their 20s or 30s? As for depiction, yes there are depiction of violence and murder in movies and games but it is not done in a way that glorify it and most people don't watch it with thirst for murder and violence and they don't get off to it either. The problem with porn is it's made with that in mind, it only exist for people to lust after and get off to it. In many circumstances they are always trying to look for more extreme content because the normal stuff isn't as satisfying anymore. It has been shown to affect the same area of the brain as meth and cocaine. It doesn't cause harm physically but mentally. Sure a thing existing doesn't make it inherently wrong but it more the effect it has on the people consuming the content. It's also why drugs are bad. You could say the drug is just a plant, that it's natural and that there is nothing wrong with that plant existing. But the problem is the effect that plant has on people who consume it. And I am not against you drawing something in private at home or anything, in fact I am strictly against spying and mass surveillance and people should all have privacy in their own home and place they live. So whatever you do on your own time by yourself alone I don't care but the problem comes when that thing gets shared with others and affects them negatively.
We don't have a specific cordoned off section for meth and cocaine in our brains. Many things trigger those areas of the brain, including some pretty innocuous stuff.
Porn isn't physically addictive like meth and cocaine. It can be psychologically addictive though, but that goes for a lot of things out there.
Stuff like meth and cocaine can actually alter your brain, porn does not.
Anyone can develop an unhealthy relationship with porn, but that goes for just about anything out there.
Here I found something for you, you won't need to search for it now. https://neurosciencenews.com/neuroscience-pornography-brain-15354/
This article is overly sensationalist/alarmist and doesn't match the study behind it.
This is the study they're referencing: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/5/3/388
It primarily focuses on internet addiction and video game addiction. Pornography is mostly mentioned in passing as "likely similar".
In it, they review evidence that these things can be addictive, and that people experience pleasure doing them (this is the whole "same-areas-as-coke-and-meth" thing btw; the brain is happy playing video games, and it is also happy doing coke). However, they distinctly mention that behavioral addiction is not necessarily the same as substance addiction:
The exact quote about areas of the brain thing:
The brain rewards sexual behaviour. Makes perfect sense from an evolutionary point of view, so not exactly a shocking conclusion.
And regarding the "brain-altering" thing, the study also directly mentions that this is simply what happens when the brain is activated through its reward systems. This "altering" happens for everything that triggers some kind of dopamine hit. It's not the case that porn does something special here; a model train hobby for example would do the same to enthusiasts for example.
I remember this study actually, I've seen it before. It is frequently misquoted or represented in an extremely alarmist way, mostly by people with a dislike for pornography. But the study doesn't back up their assertions that porn is anything special when compared to any other behavioral addiction, it actually expressly doesn't.
I mean video game addiction is real thing to and it can be pretty bad like some people play games and stay up for days and it affects them badly but video games and porn are two different things. Not even comparable. Also I don't think anyone "dislikes" pornography. But some recognize its harmful effects on the brain and on society so they do their best to not watch it and to quit it. They are not working hard to quit that habit for nothing.
Hmm yes porn actually can alter your brain look it up.