Today, there are a lot more people out there speaking out against pornography on the grounds that it really isn’t a very healthy industry. The more they read the stories of the women and men in pornography, the conditions of their work, the use of drugs, the physical pain, the instances of shady behavior among porn producers, the manipulation, the sexual abuse (both on and off camera), and the spread of STDs, the more people are saying, “If porn is this abusive, I don’t want to endorse it.”
Even when women consent to this lifestyle of abuse, people are still saying, “Look, I don’t care if she’s consenting to being abused. A woman who has forgotten her own dignity does not give me a green light to treat her as an object.”
For more, see Is Porn Bad?: 10 Things To Consider Before Watching.
Introducing Hentai
For many people, this is one of the reasons they enjoy other kinds of pornography that don’t involve live action filming. One genre of porn really corners the market on this, and it’s called hentai.
Hentai is the western label given to anime pornography and is derived from the Japanese word for “perverted.” Over the last generation, hentai has become some of the most popular pornography in the world. In fact, cartoon porn is currently among the most searched for niches of porn on certain Internet devices.
What do we say to this? Is cartoon pornography a more ethical option for porn consumers because it doesn’t involve live action actors?
Less Bad ≠ Good
First, if we find a form of media where women are not physically harmed or degraded in the making of a specific kind of media, this is a good thing. However, it’s also important to note that just because something is better than something else in one respect does not mean it is therefore “good.” Smoking a carton of cigarettes every day might be better than smoking 10 cartons, but smoking one carton should also not be labeled as “healthy.”
3 Reasons Cartoon Porn Is Still Bad
First, anime porn is infused with the same messages and values as live action porn.
It’s all about the degradation and objectification of women for the masturbatory pleasure of men. The female figure portrayed is nothing more than an object for male pleasure. Women are still portrayed as powerless—either powerless over male advances or powerless over her own sexual euphoria that compels her to be used. Anime porn is marketed and sold with messaging as its live action counterpart.
Second, anime porn is just as addictive as live action porn.
Addiction to porn—any kind of porn—is known by the American Society of Addiction Medicine as a “behavioral” addiction, where someone is pathologically pursuing neurological rewards their brain gives them when they engage in certain pleasurable behaviors. All kinds of porn addiction, regardless of whether the actors on the screen are filmed or drawn, are harmful to us because they warp our normal sex drive into something unhealthy and compulsive. Porn might feel pleasurable, but it’s ultimately the enemy of real satisfaction.
Third, anime porn is in some sense worse in its messaging that live action porn because the characters are completely malleable.
Artists can make make the characters look exactly the way they want. Every fetish can be fulfilled, no matter how unreal or bizarre. Artists and consumers can pleasure themselves any kind of abuse and dull their consciences doing it. They can just tell themselves “No one is really getting hurt.” Because the films are animated, this has a disarming effect on the viewer. The consumer needs not practice any compassion for the character because she isn’t real. She’s just a lifeless scribbling of ink.
Hentai pornography is known showing the gross mistreatment of women through horrific acts of bestiality and even images of children having sex. Can we commend the makers and consumers of this material because they aren’t using real people—“I don’t like it when real children are abused, but I really like to get off to images of cartoon children getting abused.” Is this virtuous or healthy to shape our libidos around this kind of material?
Don’t be fooled. When people justify this kind of material, they’re often asking the wrong question. They’re often saying, “Who isn’t abused in the making of this pornography?” The real question they should be asking is, “Who is abused in the making of this?” The answer is: the viewer himself.
I think this anti-porn crusade is dumb. I mean Yeah it could be degrading (and some people enjoy it belive it or not), yeah there could be messed up imagery etc. But 99% of adults can differentiate between fiction and reality (if you are part of the 1% you should visit psychiatrist and i don’t mean that as a joke). And yeah that addiction argument… well human can get addicted to anything (food, movies, games, porn, sport, alcohol, nicotine) and what is the solution… Its not ban but education. Pretty much anything in moderation isn’t harmful (yes there are exeption where ban is justified like herion).
My motto live and let live. Don’t bash people for having wierd taste if its not hurting others.
I’m in long term relationship and me and my gf is watching porn. Does it affect our lifes? Short answer no. Long answer in some ways we can spice our sex live with something different thanks to thing called inspiration.
Another thing is: How do you even define porn addiction, what are the limits, how much is too much? This is real problem because thanks to hormones in our body everyone has different needs. I got tested and my testosterone levels are higher than average and i watch porn like 6 time a week. Some people watch it less some more so what?
Last thing: most of the studies point to health benefits of masturbation so yeah.
Btw sorry for my english i’m not from english speaking country but i hope you got my point
To all those who call porn an abomination and think god is the only answer, you’re wrong. Porn is fine, in moderation. Addiction in any sense of the word is bad, addiction itself is labeled as a mental disease stemming off the journey of always trying to find a form of stimuli. I watched porn, normal and hentai, quite excessively despite me knowing the blatant downside it was having on my mental health. It’s a hard thing to overcome due to the fact that it can satisfy your fantasy. You may never have a risky threesome encounter in a darkened alley, but with porn you can experience it mentally. As for hentai the boundaries of limitation are obscured even more as things that could never physically ever happen in reality gives you a better outlet for your lust. But that in itself is fine, it’s quite harmless to indulge in porn once in a while as a way to channel that lust because bottling it up isn’t exactly good for you either. The key is moderation. But porn is incredibly easy to become addicted to because the only thing you derive out of it is pleasure and as we know it, pleasure is always good. But that falls to you to restrict yourself and not over indulge, this applies to any addiction you can think of. That upside to porn addiction is that it won’t ruin or kill you like some others though the act of getting over it may be just as difficult. Overall, porn should be consumed in moderation in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Maybe set aside a day every other week where you allow yourself to indulge before restricting yourself again. It will help you channel that lust and keep yourself from becoming addicted. If you are currently an addict then find a distraction, something to fill your time because if you have free time you may decide to instead fill it with more porn. Find a hobby, if you feel the need to watch porn do some exercise and fill your body with different chemicals that make you feel good, but if you absolutely have to masturbate then do it with no porn. Use your imagination. Now, if religion is your support I won’t talk bad about it but you shouldn’t think porn is garbage, it has it’s benefits. If religion isn’t your go to and still need support, find a group. There are many who suffer from porn addiction and being in their company and discussion the issues you are having will help you find ways to cope and overcome your addiction. Ultimately, the viewer is the only thing keeping themselves from healing. You hold the reigns on your life, will you stay on the course of addiction or take the uphill path to healing? It’s all up to you.
Well, I think porn is ok, BUT in moderation. If you are in the middle of puberty, It’s perfectly natural to watch porn. But if you become addicted it is very unhealthy. I watch hentai some times, and it has in no way affected my attraction to actual women. I only masturbate about two times a week and some times its hentai and other times it normal porn. But no one should shame anyone for something as normal as porn. But I advise people to tread lightly as porn addiction is very dangerous and can consume you.
Well, we are all sinners…
I quit watching porn for good nine years ago when I truly came to understand how abusive it is (or usually is) to the perfomers and my feelings on that have not changed. I somehow stumbled upon animated porn a few months ago and now suddenly I’m addicted again.
I have mixed feelings about. One thing’s for sure- it is a LOT better than real porn. It has also increased my libido, which had really been so low that I lost almost all interest in trying to find a girlfriend and possibly remarry. In short, it makes me horny again! You can call that lust, but that’s the drive God gave us to bring chlidren into this world.
Animated porn is not the greatest thing in the world to be sure. I don’t look at the cruel or monster stuff- not interested in it- but I have seen weird things that are interesting as fiction and could never be done in real life. The biggest thing is I never confuse the characters for real people. Not at all. But whatever distasteful abuse you’ll see in real porn you will also come across in animated porn. Even more so, because it’s animated! I almost always watch really pretty ‘girls’ that are approximations of a girlfriend I’d like to have in real life but never will. People with cry that ‘see, unrealistic expectation’ thing but as a guy, believe me, an average looking woman would satisfy me just fine. Porn is not a substitute for a person- it’s a drug, and it’s fantasy. Some people can handle it better than others. But I never think that hardcore porn involving real people is good.
I’d like to stop watching it but sometimes it gives me so much pleasure that I can’t help but to want to watch it again and can’t stop. I suppose the addiction is peaking. I keep praying and try to do other things. Sometimes I succeed, and sometimes fail. I do sense it is sin, but I sin in other ways too- anger, etc. I’m glad I’m not lusting over real people. Hopefully I’ll move on soon and replace it with something better.
To be honest I love hentai. My boyfriend too. I don’t think it’s bad if you know the limits. And it doesn’t affect our sexuality
My thing is, if you let it take over your mind and desensitize women if your point of you then maybe you shouldn’t watch porn at all? I watch hentai and I’m usually called a gentlemen cause I know damn well real world women are more than scripted animation. The only thing that gets me is that not all hentai is like this. There are hentai series that have consensual sex all the time and they’re usually in love as well.
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I’m not religious or anything, but I do believe both live and animated porn can become problems when the people watching them are addicted and carrying it into their real lives… There are those who casually enjoy porn, but there are also those who obsess with it to the point of depravity and immorality, especially when it comes to such taboo kinks like “Lolicon/Shotacon”, which is essentially animated child porn.
Unfortunately, a lot of those who are obsessed with hentai in particular nowadays, are so open about it, they’ll openly talk about it or post pictures of it in public without bothering to ask if everyone present is even open to seeing such things.
Especially when it’s ONLY sexualizing women, is when I feel it becomes something like a personal attack to my integrity and worth as a human being.
Not only is it the problem of objectification of women, but also that those obsessed with hentai also form very disturbingly unnatural body expectations… Unlike those who only watch live porn.
I’ve noticed a trend among fans of hentai who will demand that women have really narrow and short tiny torsos like that of a skinny 5-year old girl, yet also with the wide thick hips, butt, and thighs of a grown curvy woman, unnaturally long legs, and also with an unnaturally wide thigh gap.
There is also the body shape that I call the “Tera Elin” body shape… which seems to have become the new ideal for many Lolicon fans in particular.
I see that this is also becoming a much bigger problem as there are also women who as a result, want to attain this impossible body shape…
And if you look in east Asia, there have been a few cases already where people (mostly girls such as Tina Leopard) go through extreme plastic surgery to modify their face to look more like anime/cartoon/game characters, to the point that they look more alien than human, but because of how messed up they’ve become in the head, they insist they are the most beautiful ever.
In Japan, when you go to somewhere like Akihabara, there are open displays in public of obviously-underaged girls in pornographic/sexual situations, it is really disturbing. I hate to see the “Lolicon”(pre-pubescent anime girls) fans as being the typical “anime fan”. In reality, there are also many anime fans who exclusively are attracted to adults, males, as well as those who do not wish to see any sexualization at all in anime.
Somehow we must all be lumped with the hentai-loving crowd because Lolicon has already come to the point where it’s become “normal” in Japan’s anime industry.
Meanwhile, hentai featuring adult women who look 20+ or are more natural-looking in general, is becoming something of a rarity, and Japan does have “Under 15” sections in their adult video stores which includes gravure photos/videos of REAL kids as young as 5 posing sexually in swimsuits/underwear, which is a disturbing loophole because the law only considers it porn if the child is nude and exposing genitalia.
It is also becoming a problem with many male hentai fans in Japan who refuse to meet real women (most claiming that all women are gold diggers), and instead choose fictional anime girls to “marry”. I believe that is one of the causes for the low birth rate currently, as much as they may hate to admit it. Sadly they’d rather pin the blame on women who get careers when that’s clearly not a problem in USA or Europe where many women (such as my mother) have careers along with families.
This is why many female anime fans choose to rebel through BL or Yaoi, which is essentially the opposite of regular hentai, and it helps to balance the over-sexualization of women by sexualizing men as well, and giving women or really anyone who is sick of exclusively-female pornography, a form of relief from everyday stress of seeing nothing but sexy girls in the media. To reassure that women can also create porn for women, that porn is not something that should be exclusively for straight men to enjoy, but that it should have at least something for everyone.
However, if there ever were such a world where both men and women were equally portrayed in porn, pin-ups, etc… and equally attractive/sexy, I wouldn’t mind so much because then women wouldn’t feel like they were being singled out as sex objects while men aren’t… but we know that level of equality will not happen in our lifetime.
Umm hey you do you realize that all porn stars that do porn as a primary source of income are tested for STD’s right. Oh yeah and most pornstars aren’t metaphorically blind 18 year old girls who get manipulated into having sex on camera most are all over the age of twenty and know what their getting into and completely agree with what they’ll have to do to make it in the porn world heck some pornstars male and female are married and their spouse is ok with it.
Bob, let’s assume for a moment that what you’ve said is true. It comes down to a question of dignity. Do you believe that human beings have dignity? The answer to that question will dictate your attitude toward porn. If you believe that all human beings have dignity, then EVEN IF a woman has forgotten her dignity and her identity and has chosen a life as a porn star, who is more of a man – the one who tries to protect her dignity when she isn’t able or willing to do it herself? Or the “man” who takes advantage of her? The “man” who visually abuses her? The “man” who uses her for his pleasure, his desires, his needs? The old, elementary school adage holds true – 2 wrongs do not make a right. They never have.
This is directed to Chris. Don’t you think that belittling the hypothetical woman’s choices, implying that she isn’t capable of making her own decisions, and telling her that she’s forgotten her dignity is more dehumanizing than respecting her life choices is? You’re suggesting that this metaphorical maiden needs you to judge her actions. And as someone who actually does watch porn, I can tell you that the majority of porn stars are adults; some are even married adults. Lastly, STD’s aren’t as common as most people think they are in the porn industry. There are instances in which actual porn stars have mention these things if you want to do your own research into the topic.
Communism is a good alternative to hentai. Unlike hentai, communism is completely equal. Like good ol’ marx said “Some men are more equal than others”.
It’s comrade. Hentai is product of bourgeoisie.
guys , i need ur help now , pls am a porn addict ,and i want to quit .pls how can i do dat
Hi Samuel – you’ve taken a big step to admit where you’ve missed the mark, and strive to live a different way. Here is a blog post that you might find helpful: https://www.covenanteyes.com/2010/05/13/3-biblical-strategies-for-fighting-lust/ You are not alone!
Peace, Chris
I decided to look this topic up because I found myself debating with watching it. I have in the past watch human porn. But I gave that up because of feeling like I began to lessen the love of God in regards to his masterpiece man and woman. However I dabbled into cartoon porn because it was fiction. But I still had concerns. And I wanted to get some advice before I open that porn door again. I beleive in God but I don’t restrict myself to religious rules. I use the Bible as a guideline not a dictatorship. My coinscious felt like if I watched cartoon porm which is still watching the sex act, that I would be unable to be straight with a holy God when I prayed. I felt like He would not necessarily tell me it wrong, but that I w ould be bringing something into the relationship with me and Jesus that I could not soberly present to Him. It made me uncomfortable. A had to make a choice. And in thinking of why I wanted to watch any type of porn I could not find a reason other than I am grown. Cartoon porn really does not have any real value. It does not add unto me. And when I thought about how I could potentiality make it a part of my regimine of entertainment I imagine myself spending more time on it than in other things that matter more. Like goals, or family, or brain developement like reading a book. Or focusing on going to college and getting a job. When I tried to measure cartoon porn up to place it in my life I found that it most definitely become a distraction. I think it is silently dangerous with a potential of becoming a fetish, addiction, or silent subliminal bondage. It has the potential to seethe into your mind and harden you away from reality. I can’t say if it is wrong or right to watch porn. I think an educated decision should be made by estimate and research and focus based opnions of those who have be affected by any type of porn. Thx to everyone who left a reply. It helps to know that there are others in this great big ol world with feelings and skin on them. It is sometimes daunting to read an article and feel like what could the writer possibly know about how I feel. They may not have my best intrests in heart. They could have just wrote something intelligent but only tapping sources of information. Replies from experienced people helped me to say aomething too and make my choice to leave porn alone. Got better things to do with my time. Time is something that is not promised and you can’t get back. I want to invest into myself other things and keep my head above water.
You might appreciate some of the links here: https://www.covenanteyes.com/2014/06/30/resources-women-struggle-porn/
Peace, Kay