A popular video on YouTube depicts a sort of social experiment that highlights an important and disturbing truth about the pornography that is made and watched in our society.
The subtitled video titled, Korean Girls Watch American Porn, shows several women being interviewed in an empty white room, with nothing but a pair of headphones and a laptop in front of them. The video begins by asking them a series of questions about non-pornographic pictures of porn stars, to which the Korean women comment on the unrealistic and obviously surgically enhanced body types.
When the Korean women are asked to estimate the age of the porn stars, they all guess between 30-40 years old, only to be shocked by the fact that the women are in their early 20’s. The women are then directed to the laptop in front of them, and told to press play. While the YouTube video doesn’t show what is happening on the computer screen, it becomes clear that what they are seeing is a typical American hardcore porn scene.
At first, the reactions to what they are viewing–and the graphic (and scary) nature of today’s mainstream porn–can only be described by the looks on their faces:
While it’s clear that the creators of this video are trying to get people to laugh, we can’t say we catch the humor in exposing people to graphic and explicit sexual exploitation.
Videos like these only go to normalize porn in our society, and seemingly celebrate the fact that we have become so numb and desensitized to the extreme nature of porn today. With porn sites seeking to make porn a normal part of every day life by creating porn workout exercises and explicit reality TV porn competitions, it is no wonder that today’s mainstream pornography has become increasingly violent and hardcore.
Dr. Gail Dines, a British professor of sociology and women’s studies, summed up our society’s concerning porn culture in her book, Pornland:
“In a world populated by women who are robotic “sluts” and men who are robotic studs, the sex is going to be predictably devoid of any intimacy: Porn sex is not about making love, as the feelings and emotions we normally associate with such an act – connection, empathy, tenderness, caring, affection – are replaced by those more often connected with hate – fear, disgust, anger, loathing, and contempt. In porn the man makes hate to the woman, as each sex act is designed to deliver the maximum amount of degradation.”
Dr. Norman Doidge, in his book on neuroscience, The Brain That Changes Itself, says:
“Thirty years ago ‘hardcore’ pornography usually meant the explicit depiction of sexual intercourse,” wrote “Now hardcore has evolved and is increasingly dominated by the sadomasochistic themes … all involving scripts fusing sex with hatred and humiliation. Hardcore pornography now explores the world of perversion, while softcore is now what hardcore was a few decades ago …. The comparatively tame softcore pictures of yesteryear … now show up on mainstream media all day long, in the pornification of everything, including television, rock videos, soap operas, advertisements, and so on.”
It seems that the internet and social media dismiss the negative effects of porn by making this all seem normal. For example, one online news source that reposted this video wrote in their article: “…spare a thought for these Koreans who have never watched American porn before, and were clearly not ready for how s— gets done in the land of the brave.” Add to the fact that sites like BuzzFeed never stop posting videos/articles with titles like, Men Watch Porn With Porn Stars, Couples Watch Hardcore Porn Together, 4 Good Reasons Everyone Should Watch Porn, and the most ironic, Relationship Advice From Porn Stars.
Porn is warping views of sex and showing a depraved version that is harmful to individuals, their relationships, and society as a whole. With reactions like this, we should all see that something is seriously wrong with what passes as normal today:
So while people’s first instinct may be to laugh at these reactions, for those who are informed on the issue, it’s more concerning than anything.
We don’t think it’s cool at all for our country to be considered a place where the most extreme, degrading sexual material can be found. The message of this video shows an unfortunate truth about our society. Seeing porn as normal only fuels the demand for it to continue. With a fact-based understanding of the issue, we can take a stand and make a change.
