A Semi-serious analysis of porn...sort of

Does it help or hurt?

Having a few troubles keeping the link up...just so you know.

Porn: When It Helps & When It Hurts
Some couples use it to sex up a relationship. For others, it spells the end.
by Anne Marie O'Connor

Nowhere do you find stranger bedfellows than in porn—and I’m not even talking about the performers. Seldom do feminists, fundamentalists and the federal government find themselves on common ground, but all three are currently united in an anti-porn ménage a trois. On the other side of the issue are free-speech advocates, porn stars and the 40 million Americans who, according to Internet Filter Review, regularly visit X-rated websites.

The only thing everyone agrees on? There’s more porn now than ever, thanks to the wonders of technology.

Like most things, porn was a lot harder in the old days. Back then, getting your hands on anything steamier than Playboy required donning a pervy-looking raincoat, driving to the seamy side of town, skulking into a shop with blinking “XXX” neon lights, browsing the wares in the company of some scary characters before getting up the courage to bring your purchases to the cashier. And then you still had to sneak the plain brown bag into the house.

Now, porn is delivered instantly at the click of a button, steaming hot, right into your living room.

The thrust of Ms. O'Connor's article is an analysis (from a woman's perspective, of course,) of the pros and cons of open discussion and sharing of porn in relationships. Good sides and bad sides, fairly even-handed but falling back on a few old cliches here and there.

From my own (admittedly male) perspective, I'm pro-porn, and that includes within my own relationship. When my Lovely Wife first discovered my stash, she hit the roof, not because I was a porn afficionado, but because I was HIDING the stuff from another aficionado. Turns out my Lovely Wife likes porn as much as I do.

Well, maybe not as much as I do. 'Cuz I really, really like porn.

But the point is that it was the hiding that was so bad. Now that we share our mutual enjoyment of pornography, it makes it easier for us to share other things, as well.

Just my pair of copper engravings of the Great Emancipator.