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This episode examines our personal relationships to pornography and erotica and how they鈥檙e shaped by dominant cultural narratives about pleasure. It also journeys inside the adult film industry with a filmmaker and actor to interrogate what it means to create ethical erotic content.

Am I a good person if I watch porn?

Tens of millions of Americans watch porn every day. While there is not a lot of specific data about what exactly people watch or how often, it is clear that porn consumption in the U.S. spans age, race, sexuality and gender. Despite the numbers, a lot of people keep their porn consumption private and may even carry shame about the kinds of stuff they find arousing. While there has been ample media coverage of porn addiction studies in the past decade, there鈥檚 actually not that much data to support thatt porn itself is the problem according to sex researcher Emily Nagoski.

鈥淢ost people can have a healthy relationship with porn,鈥� Nagoski says. 鈥淢ost of the time when people struggle, it鈥檚 not because there鈥檚 something about porn inherently that鈥檚 dysfunctional.鈥� What are your stereotypes about who watches porn and who gets addicted? Are there aspects of your identity that particularly inform your beliefs about porn? How do those beliefs shape your ability to access pleasure?

Should I pay for my porn?

According to historian and author Lynn Comella, the adult industry in the U.S. began to form in the late 1960s as the result of loosening obscenity laws and countercultural movements. Plot-driven adult films shown in theaters guided the industry through 鈥渢he golden era鈥� of pornography in 1970s, and by the early 1980s the industry began to shift with the advent of VHS from public theaters into the privacy of one鈥檚 home.

And then...the Internet changed everything. Some online services give performers a lot more control, while others create opportunities for millions of folks to access content for free and provide little-to-no transparency about whether or not that content was created consensually.

Adult filmmaker Shine Louise Houston says that if people pay for their porn, they engage in an economic cycle that allows talent, producers, directors and other crew members to get paid for their labor. That payment helps support systems like the Free Speech Coalition, which is the adult industry鈥檚 national trade association. It provides legal support to industry members, as well as runs the FCS-PASS system, which regularly tests performers for a cornucopia of sexually transmitted infections. If you currently consume free content, how much have you thought about how those performers are compensated and treated? Did learning about life inside the industry from Shine & Mia change how you think about the kind of porn you consume or want to consume? Would paying for porn change your relationship to the content?

What kind of erotic content works for me?

While the adult industry is diverse and ever-growing, some people still prefer not to watch porn. The audio erotica app Dipsea is one alternative. It features a diversity of short audio narratives recorded by voice actors and a 鈥淲ellness & How-To鈥檚鈥� section with everything from guided tantric breathing exercises to an introduction to BDSM with a certified BDSM and kink educator. What was your experience of listening to the Dipsea story at the end of the episode? How did the lack of visuals shape your experience? If porn is not your thing, is there something else in the world of erotica you鈥檙e curious to explore?

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