From the viewer to the doer, porn is stigmatized. Given its abundance and presumably large audience, why does this remain so? Larry Gross highlights multiple unique dimensions of porn productions, from the concept stage to the VCR (read: laptop, today), that may help fuel this public contempt. At each level of production the artistic efforts are manipulated by the actors, editors, and eventually the viewer (by skipping to the action). When it’s all said and done, there’s not likely to be much overlap in what the production's creators envisioned, how viewers consumed it, and definitely not much “water-cooler talk” about what they viewed. The audience, though widespread, remains largely invisible.
The stigma clearly lies in the nature of the content. Even in a world that is growing more accepting of sexual flavors other than virtuous vanilla, the publicizing of sex and the endless deviations from pure procreation remain thoroughly tainted. It can also be claimed that this increased sexual liberty may be an effect of increased prevalence of porn consumption, especially nowadays where it’s increasingly easier to access and view. The effects of extended porn consumption that Larry Gross relays from a Meese Commission report, such as altered perceptions of sexuality and acceptance of promiscuity, continue to characterize what I’ve heard called ‘porn culture’. In tandem with dating apps, porn continues to be viewed as a culprit for the erosion of traditional idea(l)s of monogamy. (The third-person effect is sure to play a pronounced roll here. As virtual reality and BYO porn experiences also become more technologically feasible and marketable, the opportunities for substitutionary, para-sexual interactions are also become more of reality, which poses a new host of questions revolving around sexual stigmatization. (What do sex-ed teachers, religious leaders, and clinical psychologists have to say about boinking a robot?)
As Gayle Rubin point out, such anxieties, along with those surrounding abortion, sex-ed, and homosexuality, serves as prime fodder for the new Christian Right to exploit. In the late 70’s to early 80’s, these issues held enough inter-sectarian weight that they were able to unite disparate Christian groups in political alliances like the Moral Majority. It’s fascinating to see that much of the evangelical political discourse has concentrated on LGBT issues and abortion, while porn and sex-ed seem to be more peripheral issues. This makes me wonder about how central they were to political agendas that the new Christian Right began to form around and how this discourse has changed since its rise. An especially interesting question is to explore what events, legal battles, political contestations, and evangelical leaders shaped this discourse into its current expression. For instance, might evangelical leaders who support Trump stay quieter on sexual indiscretion (at least when addressing partisan news cameras) as to avoid stoking dissent, i.e. to avoid undermining their political opportunism?
