I would add a qualifier. Pornography itself is not necessarily degrading. The same could be said about sexualization in general. I think human sexuality is something that should be celebrated, and that both sides handle it too much as taboo. Rather, the plurality of pornography is degrading. Not because it is porn. Porn is just a type of media. But specifically because it is degrading porn. I'm not going to link to or mention specifics, but there are a lot of forms of porn you could almost describe as "wholesome", though that might seem like a weird or nausea-inducing word to use. Stuff directed by women is usually good about this. Or stuff that features real couples doing their thing. Or it's generally fun and upbeat, rather than some exercise in dominance. Some feature all body types, rather than filtering for specific people with specific proportions. Different people are into different body types, but nobody sees that if only one type is presented. But yeah, on the whole, the medium is swamped with degrading stuff. I will say that it is at least getting better.

**Pornography objectifies and degrades women and this translates to the real world and makes porn a factor in the issue of violence against women.** Pornography shapes how young people see sex. Porn is often young people’s first time experiencing or being exposed to sex. And the way that porn depicts sexual encounters is often _extremely_ different to how sex is in real life. Overwhelmingly, pornographic content is produced and consumed by men and has extremely consistent themes. The [content categories of two of the most popular porn sites](https://www.vice.com/en/article/3bjbp8/an-interview-with-rashida-jones-about-her-porn-documentary-hot-girls-wanted-186) reveal a pattern of ‘endless scenarios of male dominance and female subordination’. These are often categorised by specific acts, female body parts, races and ages. This is therefore damaging because of the effects on men, women and society as a whole. • For instance, in a [randomised experimental study](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jcom.12037) among young men in Denmark, exposure to (nonviolent) pornography led to higher levels of hostile sexism. • Being sexually objectified [encourages women to adopt an observer’s perspective of their body](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0361684314521784) (i.e., to self-objectify), which is deleterious to their wellbeing in a multitude of ways. • Pornography consumption has been found to correlate with men’s sexually coercive behaviour in [several cross-sectional surveys](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03637751.2014.981558?needAccess=true) • In 2010, a [study conducted by Adult Video News](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/lisa-ann-how-demand-extreme-porn-damaging-new-performers-does-break-you-down-woman-a6838751.html) found most of the scenes from 50 top-rented porn films involved the female performer appearing to be physically or verbally abused. Furthermore, the degradation and objectification of women is not only f=damaging to viewers but also to the female performers themselves: • Rashida Jones, a producer of porn documentary ‘Hot Girls Wanted’, [described the cycle young women face when they start making amateur porn](https://www.vice.com/en/article/3bjbp8/an-interview-with-rashida-jones-about-her-porn-documentary-hot-girls-wanted-186). She says the industry encourages them to participate in more extreme scenes. In an industry where pay rates have continuously declined, extreme acts pay more with the most radical commanding up to $2,500 per scene. As a society, it might be time to evaluate whether this clear objectification and degradation of women in these ‘fantasy scenes’ is of too much damage to women in the real world.

**Does porn degrade or empower women?** • Pornography (or porn) is a genre of media that exhibits sex for the purpose of the consumer’s sexual arousal. In the present day the most popular type of porn is video porn viewed online, in which actors perform sex acts. • Many genres of porn display the domination, humiliation, and abuse of women. A [2021 study of porn sites](https://fightthenewdrug.org/violence-and-rape-connected-with-porn/) found that 1 in 8 of every porn video advertised to site newcomers included acts of sexual violence against women. Many fear that these themes promote rape culture and violence against women. • Some people argue that porn degrades women in its objectification of their bodies. Many women find porn alienating due to its presentation of a certain type of female body and develop [negative self-image](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1359105320967085) as a result of this. Whilst some argue that porn objectifies male and female bodies in equal measure, many argue that this is not the case due to the fact that [the majority of porn-viewers are male](https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/all-about-sex/201803/surprising-new-data-the-world-s-most-popular-porn-site). • Many porn actresses find their work fulfilling and empowering. Some people argue that the concept of pornography does not automatically degrade women, as both men and women are equally depicted engaging in a common human activity. Some studies have found that porn-viewers are [more likely to be feminists](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3476607/Does-porn-really-degrade-women-People-watch-adult-content-likely-feminists-don-t.html) than non-porn-viewers, suggesting that porn does not degrade women but destigmatises female sexuality.

**Pornography actively degrades women as it presents females as sexual commodities.** • Pornography fosters the idea that the degradation of women is acceptable as it often presents women in an inferior role. • Males watch pornography more frequently than females; this [study](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1099039/pornographic-websites-access-frequency-gender-france/) shows that 9% of men said they watched sexual content on a regular basis and 13% of women said they very rarely watched porn and only 1% of women indulged in those activities quite often or regularly. • Therefore, males' greater exposure to sexual material in the media means they are more suspectable to associate women as sex objects. • In this sense, men are more likely to describe women in overtly sexual terms due to this unrealistic and degrading depiction of women in pornography.