I feel the need to preface this column with an admission that pornography is simply not my thing. Not my flavour of vodka. Doesn’t float my metaphorical boat. Quite simply, I find porn fake, unsexy and peripherally distressing. Not that I think porn is the work of satan or anything – I just find it distinctly unappealing. Fake fingernails in places they don’t belong? Legs in cramp-inducing positions? Bleached anuses and vulvas waxed to within a an inch of adulthood? Don’t even get me started. To employ the vernacular – nah, bro. Not keen.

I’ve watched porn before. Aside from films directed by Erika Lust, I’ve never truly found anything to my tastes. I’ve even watched porn with other people before. One particularly memorable afternoon, my five flatmates and I decided to watch Deep Throat. Mid-film, our city was rocked by a fairly robust earthquake. There’s some sort of deep lesson in there, I’m sure. Karma, perhaps? But that’s beside the point; watching porn with a sense of irony is leaps and bounds from watching porn intimately with your partner. In fact, the ridiculousness of Pirates can only truly be appreciated in company, I think. Read More »

I don’t know this because I saw his Internet history or his collection of Girls Gone Wild: College Edition DVDs. I know this because new research shows that all men do. Let me repeat that: All men watch porn. And that includes yours.

Researchers at University of Montreal set out to compare frequent viewers of pornography with those who have never seen porn and were UNABLE TO FIND A SINGLE MAN WHO HADN’T WATCHED PORN.

Now, if you’ll come to terms with that news, consider these five facts taken directly from the study:

1) Most men started watching porn around 10 years of age.

2) 90% of pornographic viewing consumption is online and 10% is purchased from stores.

3) Although single men watch more porn than men in relationships, their spoken-for counterparts still yield to this activity weekly. Read More »

Men are from Mars and women are from Venus. I’m sure you’ve heard this phrase and a million others about how different men and women are. There are so many differences that we rely on our favorite dudes to help us analyze boy situations and constantly debate the difference between the sexes in terms of love, sex and relationships. But the differences don’t just stop there. According to new research, men and women also differ in how they indulge their sexual curiosity.

Ogi Ogas and Sam Gaddam have been analyzing billions of web searches and found that women are more likely to seek out character-driven stories rather than explicitly visual scenes of sexual activity. Unlike men who need nothing more than a short porn clip (or a hot girl modeling a bra in a Victoria’s Secret catalog) to get aroused, women require more of a story – and an emotional connection – to be stimulated. Proof: women account for 90 percent of sales for the romance novel industry but only two percent of porn site subscriptions.

But why? Read More »

When I walked into my apartment yesterday and saw the television, at first glace I was positive that my roommate was watching porn. There were scantily clad bodies everywhere, dry humping, (barely) clothed crotch-shots and some close-ups of faces that were taken by pleasure. I stood in my doorway shocked and confused – porn on the living room TV in mid-daylight when I’m expected home? — but after a moment of clarity, I realized that what was on TV wasn’t porn – it was MTV.

We’re adults, and if we want to watch other people have sex – or be filmed while having sex; that’s our decision to make.  The real problems come from naughty videos on TV that are borderline pornographic and available to children. I don’t want my niece and nephew to see Miley Cyrus gyrating up against random dudes in booty shorts after getting out of a cage, and I don’t want them seeing close-ups of Lady GaGa’s crotch. The FCC is overly concerned with swearing, or Janet Jackson’s boob – but seem to have no problem overlooking dry humping on mainstream TV. There is a very distinctive difference between nudity and pornography.

Pornography is sexual, nudity is natural. Read More »

[It's pretty obvious that the average CollegeCandy reader has some very strong opinions. Opinions that she likes to share with everyone on the site. We love a strong woman (unless she happens to be charging at us with her fists raised), so we thought we'd give her a real forum to discuss her thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Every Friday I'll be featuring a hot topic (like the internships! ) and leaving it up to you, the readers, to duke it out. So, read it and get your debate on in the comments section below!]

Having gone to a liberal arts college in NYC, it really wasn’t any big surprise to me that a) there were exactly four straight males in my entire school b) there were a lot of “angry feminist” types hanging around in any class even vaguely related to gender or romance. As such, I got to sit through a lot of empowering vs degrading arguments about everything from Voltaire to Batman, and you wanna know what topic comes up the most often? Porn. Yep, the battle has raged, well basically since cavemen first figured out how to draw boobs on their walls and this week, for no apparent reason, the issue came up in congress. Seems like it’s about time we put our vote in on this one, ladies! Read More »

After undergoing a week long sex-education unit in my seventh grade health class, my creepy health teacher passed out two promise cards for us girls to sign, which stated that we promised to remain abstinent until marriage. While we were told to sign one for ourselves to keep in our purse, we were also expected to leave our John Hancock on one of the cards to turn in as an assignment – no questions asked. As my classmates complacently signed their names on the dotted lines, I remember thinking how ridiculous this task seemed – why was my stance on virginity anyone’s business? If only my feminist hero, Jessica Valenti was around then!

Feminist blogger (Feministing) and author of Full Frontal Feminism and He’s A Stud, She’s A Slut and 49 Other Double Standards Every Women Should Know, Jessica Valenti’s latest book The Purity Myth tackles the issue of “how America’s obsession with virginity is hurting young women.”

And it truly is.

Let’s get real. Regardless if you believe in saving sex for marriage or not, it is very alarming in a disparaging way to see girls only being granted value or worth for staying sexually pure instead of for their character. Why should sexuality (in the sense of remaining abstinent) be highly coveted over a teen girl’s qualities or accomplishments that make her unique? In a society that continues to worship abstinence (with virginity programs across the nation and federally funded purity balls), Valenti points out that while virginity is acceptable, having sex is also okay because at the end of the day, a young woman’s choice should not decide her existence as being morally up to standard or not.

From the get-go in The Purity Myth, Valenti confronts the definition of “virginity” and how for such an abstract idea, the concept controls and impacts girl culture today immeasurably: “The Purity Myth is for women who are suffering every day because of the lie that virginity exists, and that is has some bearing on who we are and how good we are.” Read More »

Remember the good ‘ole days when you could buy a porno and not feel so guilty because at least it had some plot line?  Well, that time is over.  Now you’re just a pervert.  The world’s strongest industry isn’t exempt from the economic downturn, after all.  The adult film industry is forgoing longer, plot-centric movies for simple, concept-based collections of scenes (think: MILFs, glasses, brunettes, etc.).

Apparently, I’m not the only one upset about this (and BOY, am I upset!…not really).  Some porn stars are mourning the loss of dialogue and any resemblance to a real acting job.  Now they’re delegated to scene after scene of hardcore sex.  But, who’s surprised?  It’s porn! People aren’t watching it for the suspense – they’re watching it for the sex. Even more, the internet is taking over all traditional visual media – Hulu, anyone?  If anything is over 10 minutes long, then most people move on to something shorter and more entertaining (read: more penetration, less time). Therefore, if porn movies are shot in segments, they can be easily broken down and disseminated throughout the internet more quickly.

But…but…what about the glory days?  Read More »

I believe that it’s a well known fact that almost all guys above 12 look at porn. It usually starts with the magazines stashed under their beds for secrecy, then progresses to scrambled porn channels and online porn sites. And, though you don’t want to believe it, it doesn’t matter whether they are single or in a relationship. Try “borrowing” your boyfriend’s computer and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

According to the guardian.co.uk website,”In the US, with the pornography industry bringing in up to $15 billion annually, people spend more on porn every year than they do on movie tickets and all the performing arts combined. Each year, in Los Angeles alone, more than 10,000 hardcore pornographic films are made, against an annual Hollywood average of just 400 movies.” Read More »

I am absolutely obsessed with the Food Network. My friend Rachael even goes so far as to refer to their cooking shows as “my porn.” Ironic, considering that some say that the Food Network uses angles and editing similar to that of pornography to make it more appealing. I don’t know if it’s the food, the angles, or the fact that my parents refuse to buy the full cable package, but I just can’t get enough of the Food Network. Here are some of my favorite shows/top reasons to check out the most addicting of television networks. What’s your excuse?

Paula Deen’s Home Cooking: You see, I’m a nutrition major. This (in theory) means that I should be a pretty healthy eater. The thing I love about Paula Deen’s cooking is that she makes the unhealthiest food possible. I have yet to see one of her southern dishes prepared without butter, mayonnaise, shortening, or some combination of the three. Watching her make disgustingly delicious food makes me feel like I’m indulging without actually consuming and subsequently gaining ten pounds of lard.

Sandra Lee’s Semi-Homemade: Sandra Lee basically embodies who I want to be when I’m in my 30s. Why? Because she’s hot, knows how to enjoy a good cocktail (or five), and can whip up an amazing meal without actually doing any of the dirty work herself. Plus, she makes the cutest little “tablescapes” out of practically nothing. Basically, watching her show gives you hope that you can be old and still have a life (and good looks to boot). Read More »

Larry Flynt and Joe Francis are all over the current economic crisis. And they are definitely two dudes we should be listening to.

Flynt, the fat guy who founded Hustler, and Francis, the genius creep behind Girls Gone Wild are outraged at the fact that the economy has bent the porn industry over and given it to them hard. Too graphic? Sorry.

Let me, rephrase. Apparently, XXX DVD sales have dropped a whopping 22%! That’s enough to make anyone’s panties jaw drop…

Flynt says that with the economy at a low, sex is the farthest thing from people’s minds (I wonder where he’s gettin his info from, cuz we’re pretty sure it’s not the farthest thing from our mind) and “It’s time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America.”

Yes, Congress. Share some of that sexual appetite we know you are all hiding, you sexy lawmakers, you.

The two men are asking for a $5 billion bailout and Mr. Francis himself is marching up to Washington to propose the bailout himself. Um, really? Seriously?

This gives whole new meaning to a stimulus package.