I personally don't watch internet porn (except to check out what is new that the amateurs are doing), because I like to watch the entire porn feature, not just short clips, and I like it to watch the porn feature (with my wife) on the large screen TV in my bedroom, not on the small computers screens that my children also use.

If you are going to watch any kind of entertainment, it is best to watch it on the best display you can get, and in the most comfortable setting you can get.

But don't bankrupt yourself for the best display and comfort (but a good second hand Mac and entertainment system should cost less than 3.5 grand and should last for at least 4 to 5 years).

It would be wrong to say that no one is using porn as a substitute for meaningful relationships (I personally do know people who do precisely that, and not all of them are men), just as it would be wrong to say that no one is becoming violently motivated by senselessly violent entertainment and video games (and sports in some cases), but most aficionados of porn aren't using it as a substitute for meaningful relationships, just as the vast number of people who enjoy violent shows and games are not becoming more violently motivated.

The majority of the people I know who are using porn as a substitute for relationships, are people who should not be pursuing sexual relationships, regardless of the fact that they watch porn.

If for various reasons a person should not be in a sexual relationship (mental issues, harmful addictions, chronically unemployable, and etc), then masturbation is a good substitute for them.

I'm not so obsessive-compulsive about porn; ever since the internet became so full of porn and so easily accessible, I even stopped buying it (most of the stuff I like is available online from search engines for free; my wife subscribes to a couple of sites, but I don't).

I also haven't noticed any effect on my relationship with my wife -- nor does her interest in porn seem to affect it either.

It's a bit like food. Some people will become addicted to it, and either become obese or develop an eating disorder. Others will simply eat and go on with their lives.

I don't think there's anything wrong with porn; I don't think porn is necessarily non-empowering (Ms Harding's arguments seem to have been already successfully defeated in this comments thread) just like any specific profession or endeavor is not per se necessarily empowering or non-empowering. I think this whole problem comes from the wrong perception that some feminists (and many men and women, feminists or not) have about sex, what it is and what it means, plus a couple of stereotypes and/or half-truths about male and female sexuality.

But just as I don't want to force my taste in food on other people, I also don't mind what others think about porn. Some people are carnivores (like me), others are vegetarian and/or vegan; some vegetarians and/or vegans are radicals who get angry at carnivores, others are more accepting of differing viewpoints. Some carnivores are also unnecessarily angry or dismissive towards vegetarians and vegans, others are again more accepting of differing viewpoints.

Such is life.

I must admit that I am obsessive-compulsive, and I do watch a fair amount of porn (I receive 1 porn title from sugardvd at a time, which take 5 to 6 days to reach my house), but I think my obsessive-compulsiveness comes more from being a sailor (we have to do a lot of cleaning and tidying-up, and everything has to look immaculate and be immaculately in order).

But I do obsessively (more correctly devoutly) worship my wife with my heart and soul, and compulsively worship her body with my hands, arms, legs, feet, tongue, and mouth (both with what I do with me mouth and what I say).

And I believe that because I worship my wife so obsessively and faithfully, women feel more comfortable forming professional and friendship relationships with me.

Does porn make me a better husband, father, friend, and coworker?

I don't know and I don't care, I just know that I am a good husband, father, friend, and coworker (and I like to watch porn; legal non-kiddy porn).

What you say is an empirical question -- does porn destroy men's ability for relationships, or is it rather immaturity? I really don't see the connection. It's like saying that practising sports destroys men's ability to simply play games for fun, rather than for performance. Some people do get obsessive-compulsive about it, but it's their personality, not the sports. As for most porn being moronic, so is most of literature, most of music, most of art -- yet nobody wants to banish it.

Those guys who have been staring in porn for decades must be really special.

Porn is tremendously less moronic than the hours of TV commercials that the average America subjects themselves to everyday.

Whether it is empowering or not, too much porn damages men's ability to perform and relate to normal women in normal situations. The brain is plastic, and men end up with neural pathways that allow them to get turned on only by porn. There will always be pornography, there will always be prostitutes, but less allows for better relationships. And besides, most pornography is moronic.

I think that what you are describing as "anxiety induced by a social threat" is nothing more that envy, plain and simple. You seem to be saying that women who pose for Playboy have something - sexual power - that other women don't believe that they have in the same measure, and that they want. Hence, the animosity that women feel for other women who do take advantage of opportunities to pose for those publications.

You've got. I want. Hence, I don't like you. Is this not the very definition of envy?

I would also like to refute your contention that virtually all women have some sort of dislike for what you call "beauty porn" with some anecdotal evidence of my own, so long as we are citing anecdotes on this thread. My father has subscribed to Playboy since 1970. Its presence was a regular feature of my house all while I was growing up. My father looked at the pictures, read the interviews, and read the jokes. My mother read most of the rest of the magazine. Occasionally, she tells me, she would look at the pictures out of curiosity. Never has she expressed to me anything even remotely resembling animosity, anxiety, or resentment at the magazine, or at my father for subscribing to it. She had no problem with it being an open presence in our house.

Aside from the fact that any sentence that includes the phrase "virtually all women" is usually pretty far from true, my own experience of Playboy's envy-free presence in my house while I was growing up is a pretty clear indication to me, at least, that "beauty porn" and female envy are not of necessity a pair.