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Intelligence Squared

Pornography is Good For Us: Without it We Would Be a Far More Repressed Society

Intelligence Squared

Intelligence Squared

Arts, News, Society & Culture, News Commentary

4.21.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 October 2016

⏱️ 60 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Hooray for porn! What would we be without it? Bored, repressed, frustrated. Porn allows the timid to indulge fantasies they’d never live out in real life and the adventurous to experiment with new forms of pleasure. Now that it has stepped down from the top shelf and waltzed across the internet we can all enjoy it. All we need to do is stop pretending it’s something dirty and come straight out and salute it. Or maybe not. Porn after all is selling a lie: that women are always eager to engage in extreme practices, that bodies are always tanned and buffed, orgasms explosive. Isn’t this a recipe for frustration and disappointment? And to attract the restless voyeur, porn is always having to up the ante – cyber-sex is getting ever more degrading and extreme. Men are finding it harder to be satisfied with their real world partners, women are feeling inadequate and pressured to live up to the cyber-competition – this is the reality of pornland. So which is it – the great liberator of the libido or a blight on... — We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to [email protected] or Tweet us @intelligence2. And if you’d like to support our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations, as well as ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared.. Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Thanks for our listeners in London we've got a lot of events coming up this autumn.

0:06.4

We're going to be debating everything from Ian Fleming versus John Lecare, to veganism with

0:11.7

A. A. Gill and George Mombio. You can find out about all our

0:15.5

events and sign up to our newsletter at our website, Intelligents Square.com,

0:19.8

follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Now here's the podcast. We hope you enjoy it.

0:24.8

Welcome to the Royal Institution for tonight's exciting debate on whether pornography is

0:31.5

good for us. My name is Viv Grosskop,

0:33.6

and I'm going to be chairing tonight's debate.

0:36.4

So our motion for tonight is,

0:39.4

porn is good for us.

0:41.0

Without it, we would be a more repressed society. So with that in mind let

0:46.7

us say hooray for pawn. Where would we be without it? Board rep, repressed, frustrated.

0:54.0

Pawn lights up the lives of the depressed, the lonely, and the sexually unadventurous.

0:59.3

It spices up dull marriages.

1:01.4

It brings excitement to relationships. It tells us where to look and where to touch.

1:06.8

On the other hand, is pawn land really such a nice place to be?

1:12.4

Far from nailing a lie, isn't pawn selling a lie, that women are

1:16.2

always eager and willing to engage in extreme practices, that bodies are always tanned

1:21.2

and buffed, breasts are always pert, orgasms always explosive.

1:26.6

And to attract the restless voyeur, internet porn in particular is having to up the ante.

1:32.2

Cybersex is getting ever harsher, more degrading, more extreme, what

1:36.1

kind of a warped desensitized view of human intimacy does this offer up to our children?

...

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