FAKE SEX AND A REAL WORLD:
THE HYPERSEXUAL PORN INDUSTRY
VERSUS SEXLESS SOCIETY

The Western world, namely the United States, is at an awkward, unhealthy divide when it comes to views on sex. Take the country's religious conservatives (both liberal and right-wing) along with the porn industry, and add those two very opposite components to a mix that is already absent of comprehensive sex education, and you've got yourself a recipe for a nationwide sexual health disaster. On one hand, Americans like to pretend that they don't watch porn, or have sex simply for pleasure. On the other, there is a culture of pure sex woven into almost everything we see on a daily basis: television, Internet, advertisement and most media. This division has produced a mass wave of people who either know absolutely nothing about sex and reproductive health, or everything they know was learned from media or pornography, neither of which is beneficial to anybody's health.

Basically, Americans have two choices for sex education: the sterilized version from the Church, or the glamorized version from the porn industry. The religious approach to sex education barely exists, and information about sexual health and practices is ultimately withheld. This leaves countless people - especially young people - with no formal education about sex, until they stumble across pornography and finally figure out what is going on. Politicians and religious figures alike continue to pretend that abstinence education is our children's best answer, but in reality, it leaves them uninformed and open to have their views built and shaped by what they see in pornography. Though the porn industry at least provides people with more positive, thorough views of sex than the Church does, it is obviously not the best model to learn from when it comes to practicing safe sex and understanding real life intimacy.

THE PORN INDUSTRY PROMOTES UNREALISTIC BEDROOM EXPECTATIONS

People tend to forget that pornography is, indeed, fake. Yes, obviously the sex is real. But the naturalness of the sex in most cases of porn is completely faux. All people see on their computer screens is a well-chiseled man rapidly making love to a long-haired, hourglass-figured woman in full makeup and heels. They often forget that what they are viewing is heavily edited, and there is a whole crew of people in the room filming, directing, reapplying makeup, and snapping photographs. Doesn't sound like such a sexy environment, does it? Unless of course you enjoy being told by a complete stranger what position to do, what dirty phrases to say, and how loud to scream, even if you're not actually enjoying what is going on.

Besides the overall truth that porn is just acting, it gives people of all genders off-the-wall expectations not only of themselves, but of their sex partners as well.