Hardcore porn. The ultimate guilty pleasure. Does the average user really want the dirty temptation out of his or her life? Maybe not.
A study conducted in Denmark shows that men and women generally consider hardcore pornography a positive influence in their lives. They credit it with improving their sex lives, their sexual knowledge, their attitudes toward the opposite gender, and even their general quality of life. Those who use it the most, those who pleasure themselves the most, and those who consider their source material the most realistic perceived the greatest positive effects.
Lead author Martin Hald concedes that people generally view themselves as relatively immune to harmful media effects and that users may focus on porn's benefits to rationalize continuous consumption. Indeed, studies by others show that exposure to X-rated material makes both men and women less satisfied with their partners, less supportive of marriage, more interested in emotionless sex, and more accepting of female servitude.
