With all its liberal attitudes, the U.S. is still repressed sexually in many respects. The notions of sexual taboos are still very much alive and well here. The attraction of porn must be somehow related to the idea of using the vicarious experience of porn to circumvent sexual taboos.

Another aspect at work is that porn allows a sexual encounter of sorts, without the committment that an actual relationship entails. You get the goodies, without the work. And this desire for instant gratification is present in much of what occupies our time: drugs, drinking, cinema, TV, etc.

So in a way, porn is not just porn, but is symptomatic of larger issues: sexual repression, religious repression, political oppression, the desire for instant gratification, the inclination for vicarious relationships as opposed to real relationships, and in addition, the demeaning of women. I don’t really have a handle of all the implications, but my guess is that it is deeper than we think.

@ Nissim:

But I think that there is a natural inclination for people to desire what is forbidden.

That’s true, but in can’t be the sole reason for the fascination of porn. In many countries it is not only legally available, but also no longer morally condemned. Still people view porn in these countries.

Maybe porn is just a modern substitution for no longer up-to-date fertility cults…

good point. “the newness”, however, is not the sole cause for porn being attractive. in this case, biology matters as well.

were magazines and videos easy to get? Or is it all new now that you can get it privately over the Net?

indeed Internet (and some other new technologies) made it much easier, though it were possible in the old times as well. I heard that copies of porn magaziones (playboy) or VHS videos had been available in Iran, even immediately after the revolution, perhaps as the stock gathered during Shah regime.

let me add one other point, about which Im going to publish a post as soon as possible: with regards to “breaking the traditional mold” in general, and porn in particular, Internet was the superhero supplier of past decade in Iran. today’s superhero (though very often supplied itself by Internet) is Bluetooth. this phenomenon… wait!

Perhaps the overall effect of desiring the forbidden is intensified in societies where religion and social taboos play a more repressive role. But the tendency to want what we can’t have is pretty much universal, and is an aspect of the human condition that gets us in more trouble than we care to admit.

I doubt many thought it an indication of much else.

You’re mistaken. Take a look at the trackbacks. I refuse to link to Jihad Watch and the like, though. So you would just have to Google it. You’ll find some within the comments as well. There were some forum posts about us being “animals,” I believe the link is also within the comments somewhere.

I see no reason why one should cover up such idiocy – just shows us how much shit we have to deal with when we post this kind of stuff. God forbid we post anything about Israel being the worst amongst human traffickers though, then we just get e-mails of us being “anti-Zionist pricks.” Gotta love the interweb.