Pornography has few defenders among those not busy making money out of it.
Morals campaigners say it corrupts the young; computer buffs complain it clogs up the Internet.
But researchers in Australia have put a different view in a landmark government-funded study.
The Understanding Pornography in Australia study came out on the side of liberality, arguing that pornography was not a monster devouring all before it but a friendly giant that gave simple pleasures to many people.
"When you look at people who are using it in everyday life, over 90 percent report it has had a very positive effect," author Alan McKee said.
Of the 1,025 respondents to his survey, only 7 percent said pornography had had a negative impact on their lives. In contrast, 58 per cent said pornography had improved their attitudes towards their sexuality. McKee, who conducted the study with fellow academics Catherine Lumby and Kath Albury, warned that "the more we try and turn porn into something that's seen to be bad and has to be kept away from families the more problems we might be causing for ourselves."
Some respondents said pornography added spice to a jaded sex life. Others said it smoothed a rocky marriage by soaking up the excess sexual demands of one partner. Still others credited porn with making them more attuned to their partner's pleasure and more accommodating of bodily imperfections.
The research findings were immediately attacked by Clive Hamilton, the director of private-sector think tank The Australia Institute, who was quite categorical in denying any social benefit accrued from the multi-billion dollar industry.
"No man who regularly uses pornography can have a healthy sexual relationship with a woman," he stated bluntly.
PHISHING: The con might appear convincing, as the scam e-mails can coincide with genuine messages from Apple saying you have run out of storage For a while you have been getting messages from Apple saying “your iCloud storage is full.” They say you have exceeded your storage plan, so documents are no longer being backed up, and photos you take are not being uploaded. You have been resisting Apple’s efforts to get you to pay a minimum of ￡0.99 (US$1.33) a month for more storage, but it seems that you cannot keep putting off the inevitable: You have received an e-mail which says your iCloud account has been blocked, and your photos and videos would be deleted very soon. To keep them you need
For two decades, researchers observed members of the Ngogo chimpanzee group of Kibale National Park in Uganda spend their days eating fruits and leaves, resting, traveling and grooming in their tropical rainforest abode, but this stable community then fractured and descended into years of deadly violence. The researchers are now describing the first clearly documented example of a group of wild chimpanzees splitting into two separate factions, with one launching a series of coordinated attacks against the other. Adult males and infants were targeted, with 28 deaths. “Biting, pounding the victim with their hands, dragging them, kicking them — mostly adult males,
The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported more mass detonations in other border villages, but satellite imagery was not readily available to verify these claims. The demolitions came after Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz called for the destruction of
SUPERFAN: The Japanese PM played keyboard in a Deep Purple tribute band in middle school and then switched to drums at university, she told the British rock band Legendary British rock band Deep Purple yesterday made Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s day with a brief visit to their high-profile superfan as they returned to the nation they first toured more than half a century ago. Takaichi’s reputation as an amateur drummer, and a fan of hard rock and heavy metal has been well documented, and she has referred to Deep Purple as one of her favorite bands along with the likes of Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. “You are my god,” a giddy Takaichi said in English to Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice, presenting him with a set of made-in-Japan
RSS