What are your thoughts on pornography and sex work?

StoneTown · 2025-09-18T10:44:52+00:00

ID verification laws are a security issue, so I hate those. Plus not everyone can get an ID anyway.

Porn should remain legal and regulated. Making it illegal throws it into the underground and horrific things will come from that.

I'm all for legal and regulated prostitution. Make it safer and take it off the streets. It's safer for everyone in a regulated building with security, condom requirements, and frequent STI testing. I don't even wanna engage in those services but a lot of people do, so let them.

SentientReality · 2025-09-18T09:53:58+00:00

My opinions:

Porn: should be open and legal. If there is any age-restriction, it should be on the device not the website. For example, devices given to children can have a setting on them that indicates the user's age. Porn websites can check that setting before displaying content. Websites already get info such as your browser and operating system, it would be simple to add a flag for if the device owner is underage or not. That way no sensitive information is sent over the internet; it's just a boolean check of whether the user's device is allowed or not. Uploading ID to a porn site is insanity.
Sex work: should be legal and regulated. That will keep people safe and above board. Also, it will generate tax revenue. When prostitution is illegal, it makes undocumented (and often underage) prostitutes go underground and into back alleys where they are an easy target for violence. A verified documented worker has a paper trail and company support system, it is much harder to get away with abusing them. And pimps won't have so much control over them.

From a moral standpoint, pretty much anything that involves unexploited consenting adults is fine to me.

Edit: I forgot to address the questions of "ruining people" and "addictions and bad expectations". In that aspect, porn and OF and the large amount of money involved certainly aren't great. It's a bizarre and troubling situation that young women have such huge financial incentives to make porn and can earn better money by undressing than through doing proper work. That's mindblowing.

Also, I'm not sure how much of a widespread problem porn addiction actually is in reality; I think it may be exaggerated in media. Not sure. I've read that porn addiction itself isn't really a real issue, but instead the people who "suffer" from it and seek help are actually upset because it conflicts with their (usually religious) value system. In other words, they're only "suffering" from their "addiction" because they judge themselves harshly for their behavior, whereas most normal people don't criticize themselves so much for viewing porn.

Ok_Wonder3107 · 2025-09-18T09:27:28+00:00

Almost all of the opposition to pornography and sex work is just thinly veiled misandry. Every single argument they make is just a version of “man bad woman good”.

Most_Attitude_9153 · 2025-09-18T09:30:23+00:00

Whatever our individual feelings about pornography, in the US it is a protected form of expression.

Personally, I don’t have strong opinions about sex work other than that we should generally allow people to freely make choices for themselves so long as it is without coercion. Sex trafficking should be universally condemned but otherwise I’m fairly indifferent to sex work.

IllusoryIntelligence · 2025-09-18T09:39:21+00:00

As a general rule I don’t think it makes sense to criminalise doing for money something it’s legal to do for free. Given I quite like having sex I’d rather we not make that illegal.

griii2 · 2025-09-18T09:56:33+00:00

What should be legal?

Almost everything that consenting adults do should be legal, including sex work. You need an extra good reason to make something illegal.

Should we verify age by ID before receiving or sending any porn?

This is a separate question. In principle, the answer is YES, the problem is how you do this on the internet without giving the state the tools to censor and spy on everyone. The practical answer is probably NO.

BigDadEnergy28 · 2025-09-18T12:45:50+00:00

Is OF ruining people? What do you mean? The fact a woman can take her clothes off from the safety of her home instead of stripping at the club is probably a good thing. I don't think it's nearly as widespread as some men think, and even if it is, it's men who are subscribing and paying for it.

Most people like porn sometimes, allowing for differences in taste and relationships. Like anything, too much of it will fuck you up. Regulation might help that, but improved access to quality mental healthcare and better socializing for boys would be the best way to fix that.

In general, I think sex work should be legal and the work regulated for the safety of workers and customers. I'm not going to be spending money that way, but that doesn't mean I think it should be illegal.

blackmamba4554 · 2025-09-18T11:02:21+00:00

Any voluntary occupation should be legal. While there are some problems with pornography that it promotes double standard on same sex experiments for men and women. But it's different issue.

Fuzzy_Department2799 · 2025-09-18T15:07:38+00:00

The government on any level has no business interfering in the private business dealings of individuals when they business causes no harm to anyone but those involved. Those on the right and the left always say its harms the woman or the community but those are straw man arguments.

frackingfaxer · 2025-09-18T15:53:12+00:00

Anything involving consenting adults should be legal, and we should work to destigmatize both sides of the transaction.

I do think overuse of porn leads to problems and unrealistic expectations from men. Though I would situate that in the context of our digital atomization and convenience culture rather than make a blanket condemnation of sexually explicit material. Porn has been around since forever, but it's never been so available thanks to technology. Meanwhile real human interaction has become more unavailable than ever. I do think that's more than a little worrying.

As for ID verification, there are massive privacy issues with sending IDs to third-parties and trusting them with the info. I wouldn't mind device-based age verification though. That would restrict minors without making adults hand over their IDs.

brycie_boy · 2025-09-18T18:42:04+00:00

There’s study’s showing porn has no impact on getting laid. I think all this fear mongering about porn comes from our lonely and sex repressed culture

austin101123 · 2025-09-18T09:07:18+00:00

I think ID verification is too intrusive and just pushed people to places that aren't asking for ID and might break other regulations, so it's not good. Even if porn is harmful to children that may access it either intentionally or inadvertantly.

I'm also not sure about prostitution, but it should be all or nothing. Some places having selling legal and buying illegal or vice versa and that's ridiculous.

SvitlanaLeo · 2025-09-18T09:30:45+00:00

I don't think sex is the first thing in the world that should be decommodified.

BoxFar6969 · 2025-09-18T12:17:32+00:00

I'm curious to know what people think would happen if porn was banned for kids. You think kids will stop watching porn? Lol. Lmao.

ESchwenke · 2025-09-18T16:44:21+00:00

Whenever the the topic of pornography comes up, I want people to define it. Does pornography only refer to photography or live-action video? Do fabricated/drawn/3D-modeled etc. images/videos count? What about roleplay audios? Prose?

I’m against exploitation of either worker or customer. Further, if either party feels contempt for the other, I would call that exploitation.

There may be psychological/social issues in the long run for either creating or consuming pornography, which would be a reason to be against it, but since it is rare to see condemnation on those grounds that bother to define or differentiate, it’s difficult to take the arguments seriously.

Karglenoofus · 2025-09-18T16:56:51+00:00

OF has ruined social media and pron, not people. I miss when people took their clothes off for the love of the game.

PassengerCultural421 · 2025-09-18T18:21:18+00:00

As long as it is with consenting adults. I don't care.

publicdefecation · 2025-09-18T23:44:41+00:00

I think it's really unhealthy but so is junk food. Neither should be illegal.

Dark_Prince_of_Chaos · 2025-09-21T08:22:25+00:00

Women exploit men testosterone levels that urge us to want sex for money.

Basically, they are greedy capitalists.

Without money, very few of them would do it.

Ok_Doughnut3700 · 2025-10-08T05:28:56+00:00

Sex work helped me a lot. I was a very shy, timid guy who didn't lose his virginity til 28. And with the first few women I dated after this (including the one I lost it too) it was a big issue. Anxiety, over-sensitivity to your pretty standard situations (ED and PE) as well as just having no confidence voicing my needs or desires led to 3 potentially good things breaking down before their time.

I spent a year or two visiting sex workers and now I can honestly say I'm healed in that regard. Learning how normal it all is and how to communicate in that no-pressure environment(a big worry for me with the women I was dating was a fear I'd be dumped for not being good, which was a self fulfilling prophechy in the end) was huge for me

dimod82115 · 2025-09-18T11:50:12+00:00

Prostitution is inherently bourgeois. It is the commodification of sex and intimacy. If we had communism and there was no money and so there would be no prostitution. Since we don't have communism and won't have it in the near future then the best thing to do is reduce the harms that it causes. In my view this means safety for the prostitutes is paramount so government run brothels with security around. Also safety with disease so mandatory condoms which we can verify with testing the prostitutes. Finally there needs to be help for the prostitutes so they have a way out of prostitution. As in education, employment opportunities and drug treatment.

Pornography doesn't have a lot of the same problems that prostitution has or at least not the same degree so it's mostly fine for the people working in it. The same sort of solutions would be my preference here too where there are problems.

For the consumers of porn it's mostly fine. Anyone addicted to porn it's not really the porn but having an addiction that is the problem. If it wasn't porn it would be something else like drink or drugs. People make bad financial decisions all the time buying an expensive car you can't afford or donating to a prostitute on OF is the same thing underneath it all.

"Creating bad expectations" implies there has been a point in time where there was a good expectation. In the past there has been no sex education now there is much more. We live in a time of unprecedented education of people we currently have the best expectations ever.

Parental controls are easy to get so ID is dumb as it will get hacked and ruin people's lives.

MW_200309 · 2025-09-18T11:39:46+00:00

I don’t know about you guys but I watch porn for the acting

AbysmalDescent · 2025-09-18T15:12:41+00:00

I think sex work should not only be legalized but also regulated and even subsidized in certain cases. The way sex work laws work right now in the west is pretty varied for the most part but it is mostly illegal. The worst version of this being the Nordic model in Canada, which makes it illegal to purchase sex but not to sell it, almost exclusively targeting men in the process and empowering sex workers all kinds of tools to trap or extort their clients as well. This is awful and very harmful/dangerous for men, and doesn't actually protect women from trafficking at all(it actually makes it impossible for men to report potential trafficking, without incriminating themselves).

The better alternative would be to have legitimate means for sex work to exist, and to make sure that it is done in a clean and safe environment. This could be either private practices, which would be subject to inspections and regulations(much like bars, alcohol stores or weedshops), or a government owned company that acts like a private company(or a crown corporation in Canada).

I believe this would be a much better alternative to the kind of sex work we have now is because it would give people a legitimate venue to find sex work, and move it away from illegal/unsafe circles. It would move most, if not all of the demand, away from trafficking and it would be far easier to report malpractices. It would ensure safety precautions from both the client and the providers, and remove a lot of the taboo from sex work as well.

The reality is that the demand for sex work is always going to be there and, for some, I would even consider it an essential service. We live in a culture in which the barrier to entry for sex is significantly higher for men than it is for women. This is due to the way we devalue men, pedestalize women, expect men to initiate/pursue and expect men to secure social/financial worth to women in order to be considered viable sexual partners. This is also due to the fact that men are generally also expected to be sexually experienced and sexually competent from the get go, in order to be considered valuable sexual partners and individuals.

So not only do men look to sex work because they are lonely or because their access to sex is very limited compared to women's but because men also need to build that sexual experience in order to be considered viable sexual partners to women in the first place. These types of sexist expectations placed on men haven't really changed in the last 50 years, and neither sides have really expressed any desires to change that dynamic. So, until the day changes where a man's sexual experience no longer matter, and women treat virgin/inexperienced men with the same enthusiasm they would for overtly experienced men, there will be a need for sex work.

There might also be a lot of people out there who suffer from major anxiety when it comes sex, and that is especially problematic for men because it not only makes it very difficult for them to perform but invalidates them as sexual partners to most women(very few women will have the compassion or patience it takes to really deal with an anxious man). In these cases, sex work in a safe and secure environment would serve them greatly, both emotionally and in building their confidence. This is one of the cases where I would consider sex work to not only be an essential service but something worth subsidizing as well. It is a form of hands-on therapy that normal therapists just are not equipped to deal with. This could even open up an entire new branch of sexual health therapy on its own.

A lot of other negative things that do happen in society, including violence, theft and porn addiction, stem from men not having access to sex. Men often commit violence to secure resources and establish themselves as more competent men(which they see as a path to sex/connection) and often commit theft to secure resources(which they see as a path to sex/connection) because they do not have access to sex the way women do. Men over consume pornography or develop parasocial relationships with OF models because they are lonely, and do not have access to sex/connection the way women do. Even drug consumption and alcoholism could often be rooted to extreme loneliness, which also happens to men more because they do not have access to sex/connection the way women do.

A lot of dating today still also still very much comes with this one-sided expectation on men to pursue women by paying for dates, buying them gifts, doing all the emotional labor and taking all the risk of approaching(even in an increasingly hostile and misandric world, and despite the inherent inequality of that one-sided dynamic). In a lot of ways, dating is still very much is like sex work already, with one of the main differences being that there is no real guarantee of service(which is often used at men's expense and completely normalized) and that there's a lot of risks(emotional and physical) dealing with a stranger. Legitimate sex-work would at least guarantee some level of mutual respect and fair exchange.

Maximum-Industry2175 · 2025-09-18T11:32:33+00:00

Pornography or sex work are waaaay too vague.

You can't have sex slaves (or only technically not slaves) and rebellious/bored rich daughters doing wildly different things with wildly different consequences in the same umbrella.

The only way you could clean up these contradictions is through good faith debate about labor and class, which will never happen in a capitalist world.

So even as a degenerate sex pest, I try to stay as far away from sex work and pornography as possible.

There is also something to be said about dehumanizing sex. Not from a feminist angle, but at some point I realized that the more I watch porn, the more I disconnect the idea that sex is something that happens WITH a woman, vs TO a woman. But thats a different conversation I guess.

Jealous-Factor7345 · 2025-09-18T13:37:57+00:00

While I'm personally convinced sex work is extremely bad for everyone involved, especially the workers, I'm not convinced that it should be illegal everywhere.

Like a lot of industries, it matters how and where you do it, largely because of the ancillary effects

I think it's reasonable to not to want a brothel near your home or kids school, or near your own storefront that caters to the general public.

If someone is discreetly making content in their home, and no one nearby can tell, then what's your business is your business. If you're bringing a bunch of people over with a filming crew next door to me, I should be able to have that shit down.

AlphaSpellswordZ · 2025-09-18T19:47:15+00:00

I have zero issues with porn. They should both be legal but we should encourage young girls and women to respect themselves and not do these things for a living.

The current culture promotes Onlyfans culture to teenage girls and that just contributes to the loneliness epidemic. We need less thots and more female scientists, doctors etc.

Saerain · 2025-09-18T20:05:27+00:00

I think the fears of this type which possessed my parents' generation were much more responsible for the suffering of my youth than the subjects of those fears.

I have great problems with the Frankfurt School, but I think Adorno was right about fascism and sex.

hillstodieon2025 · 2025-09-19T04:33:36+00:00

Theo Von did a great 2 hr interview with Laila Mickelwait on February 3, 2025 about pornography. Highly recommended.

subreddi-thor · 2025-09-19T07:22:26+00:00

Putting aside people who do it out of desperation, I think that how public and mainstream it's become with platforms like only fans is a problem. What you do in the comfort of your home is your business, but I fear that with social media and people increasingly turning to sex work outside of extenuating circumstances, it promotes a culture that objectifies women, while claiming to empower them.

retrosenescent · 2025-09-19T16:36:01+00:00

What should be legal?

Everything which is consensual.

What should be illegal?

This is too broad to answer

Is OF ruining people?

No

Does pornography create addictions and bad expectations?

It has the potential to do that, yes, and it does do that for some people, yes.

Should we verify age by ID before receiving or sending any porn?

Who is "we"?

maomaochair · 2025-09-19T18:53:05+00:00

With the development of AI and sex rebort, every discussion or concern on porn and sex work (and maybe CP) will be disolved (the only concern will be affordability .etc)

Different-Product-91 · 2025-09-20T08:56:20+00:00

In my opinion, anything except child porn/porn with underage partecipants and animal cruelty should be legal.

Lord_Vxder · 2025-09-20T17:31:16+00:00

I think it should be legal, but I believe that porn and sex work is extremely unethical (mostly on the producer side). OF models use TikTok to promote their content. I have seen MANY TikTok lives where an OF model teases viewers while linking their instagram (which has their OF links). A large part of the internet is organized in a way that drives young men toward porn, and to me, that is evil. It seeks to exploit our sexuality for financial gain. Porn is the biggest industry on the internet. The subreddits with the most interaction and daily visits are NSFW subreddits. And porn is all over Twitter. Sites like instagram and TikTok don’t allow porn (because of their predominantly young user base), but they absolutely drive young men to porn through sexualized content.

I view sex work and pornography in the same way that I view cigarettes and addictive products. I think it is extremely unethical to commercialize something that is addictive. I was addicted to porn starting at age 8 (I skipped 2 grades when I was younger so I was around people who were older than me). It destroyed my world view, and it severely damaged the way that I interact with women. We should do everything in our power to make sure that there is age verification for porn sites.

And even in an ideal world where no underage person has access to porn, I still think that it is a net negative for society. I think that it is one of the main driving factors behind unrealistic beauty standards, and the lack of healthy relationships. When you have instant access to the most attractive naked women in the world, it’s hard to be satisfied with the women who actually exist around you.

Ok_Emergency9059 · 2025-09-23T02:26:18+00:00

I would say yes it should be banned since Most of it since its 90% focused on the woman and there's nothing for women and degrading most of the time

Pitiful_Awareness_48 · 2025-09-24T05:47:43+00:00

I think ID verification is a slippery slope, I feel like if sex work was legal it would be way safer

epiczacko · 2025-09-18T10:15:24+00:00

As a leftist I despise pornography and sex work. It shows how ugly capitalism can get that it can lead to exploitation of women just for few bags of paper. I also believe that it ( porn and sex-work industry ) also exploits men as it capitalizes on their basic urges and does not care about the consequences of porn and sex work.

Tech_Romancer1 · 2025-09-18T14:11:44+00:00

I think pornography is very harmful to men, it's an u realistic stimuli of sex and a harsh abuse of the body's dopamine system.

As for sex work, I believe it should be decriminalized, it doesn't benefit anyone to have it illegal. Though, it's best to keep it a taboo; openness to sex often leads to animosity between men and women, and a gradual degradation of morals within a society.

sunyata150 · 2025-09-19T18:33:36+00:00

Should be decriminalized in my view and have the same laws and protections as any other business. Most of the arguments against sex work I find are based on misconceptions, gender roles, stereotypes, double standards, cherry picking, methodological and researcher bias in studies.

Altruistic-Hat269 · 2025-09-18T11:21:59+00:00

As someone with 3 kids and who has a deep, soulful connection with his wife (including great sex life), I can tell you that porn and only fans would just debase this incredible, wonderful thing I have in my life.

I think all of it is the equivalent to medications like Lexapro. If you are suffering psychologically and there is no underlying cure to your condition, it can help you get by, but if (in the majority of cases) there IS a cure to your condition, then it prolongs your suffering and trades better odds for recovery with temporary and partial relief of symptoms.

My (informed) opinion is that most men who aren't suffering from emotional trauma are happiest when they have a stable relationship with a romantic partner and family, be it extended or their own. From what I've seen, there's a lot of work in emotional trauma research, polyvagal theory, and some subdiscipines of sociobiology regarding sexual behavior of social animals to support this idea.

What porn, OF, etc does is bombard your mind with cues to your nervous system telling you that the sexual landscape is terrible for stability and family formation. Everyone is cheating or in gang bangs or getting sexually assaulted or is porking their step sister or whatever. My strong suspicion is that by consuming all of this, we're strongly debasing the state of our nervous system and unintentionally inflicting ourselves with emotional injuries. "The world is slutty. Don't seek deep connections. Seek raw survival and short term dopamine hits."

This is really bad for stable, loving, safe relationships. However, if you are doomed to never have a good relationship and suffer, then porn, OF, etc is an acceptable way to "staunch the bleeding" of your soul.

AustronesianArchfien · 2025-09-18T13:29:14+00:00

Pornography is bad for Men's mental health and an inherently exploitable genre.

Evening_Crazy1579 · 2025-09-18T14:35:32+00:00

Ban sexwork, ban all forms of sex exploitation, ban all forms of pornography involving real people.

HantuBuster · 2025-09-18T12:38:23+00:00

My only issue with this is that the sex industry relies on men's 'patriarchal' programming to run the sex industry. Think about it, which gender is far more likely to pay for sex? Sure as shit won't gonna be women. The sex industry relies on men to pay for it to keep it alive. So when people are saying 'sex work is work', sure i do believe it should be counted as real work, but it comes at the expanse of men. I think this is one of the instance where we can say: "you want to keep the sex industry running? Let other women pay for it."

Local-Willingness784 · 2025-09-18T20:37:25+00:00

i think that sex work and especially porn/onlyfans are like drugs, they take advantage of social/emotional voids that some people (especially vulnerable people and probably vulnerable men) have to make profit and addiction out of it, its very vulture-like, tho i dont think it shoul be banned or anything like that but surely there should be conversations about using porn/drugs/parasosicial relationships as copes for stuff our society and envoirements are not conductive to give us.

flashliberty5467 · 2025-09-18T21:48:02+00:00

Both porn and sex work should be legal

Instead of wasting taxpayer money putting people behind bars for paying for sexual services in person or on the internet

It should be legal and you can use the tax money to build housing funding education pay for maintenance of infrastructure etc

We should legalize all drugs as well

Many of the state governments have a budget crunch that they have to deal with

jonny-p · 2025-09-18T22:01:29+00:00

I’m all for sex work as long as the person doing it has made and informed choice to do so. Let’s be honest, the people who are most vocally against it generally turn out to be customers.

I think regulate it so that workers have some protection and pay taxes on their income.

liveautonomous · 2025-09-19T13:17:21+00:00

People got to make a living. I sell my body for money, just not selling sex.

Title	What are your thoughts on pornography and sex work?
Author	austin101123
Upvotes	58
Comments	172
Date	September 18, 2025 9:06 AM UTC (10 months ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates/comments/1nk3b4b/what_are_your_thoughts_on_pornography_and_sex_work/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates/what-are-your-thoughts-on-pornography-and-sex-work.1562252 https://theredarchive.com/post/1562252

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