cream_and_custard

I think the thing that has caused me to view porn and porn use differently from others is that I've always had a strong interest in sexuality but not always an interest in live action porn.

I've rarely been able to empathize with people who say they've been "traumatized" by porn exposure and am still skeptical of the phrasing but I think I can understand. I had years, starting in late elementary school, of reading health books, videos on alternative sexuality and bdsm, and having a parent that let me check out books on kissing and dating and whatever from the library.

I would watch a few pervy anime, and read lots of porn but that was paralleled with increasing education. I would see some nudes, and look at sex toys, but most pictures of irl people grossed me out. I knew that and stayed away from it. I'm not the type of person that will get entranced in stuff that scares or disturbs me.

Not all kids are gonna come around to being interested in these things at the same time and some of the adult stuff I touched I think, alot of people would not be interested in learning about even into adulthood. I can imagine like, an 11 year old getting into a porn and not being grossed out by it like me but not having the parallel education I had and not having the other not as "in your face" types of stuff preceding it like with me.

I've also been looking back on this discourse with the eyes of a person with a decade of learning about sexuality. I think many people who claim to be traumatized did not have this education even close after.

So now I have empathy, and I still think sex ed, and not just the most basics of anatomy need to be as accessible as humanly possible.