I hope we all know this and are just doing it as a bit, but sometimes I do see shit on this website that makes me go “Oh y’all are genuinely just weird prudes”
The “gooner epidemic” is not real, gooning is an incredibly niche kink that very few people engage in.
“Porn addiction” is basically non existent and affects such a small portion of the population as to not be relevant. The idea that most people have in their heads about porn addiction is propaganda made up by evangelicals.
We do not live in an overly-sexually-liberated time. There is not an excess of sexual content or exposure to it.
Most of the time when people talk about “the gooner problem” what they’re actually talking about is a mix of two unrelated things, people living normal sexually liberated lives, and undersocialized young men that don’t know how to interact with people.
Sex is good. We should be having more of it. We should encourage healthy, safe sex featuring whatever kinks you and your partner(s) consent to. Don’t fall for puritan propaganda comrades.
I've often heard the notion that Japan is more lax on sexual content or less puritanical more broadly. I would be fine with that if pop culture wasn't infested with fan service and stuff like designing young female characters with intentionally tintillating combination of ultra-short skirts and thigh highs. Too many times where I get curious about an anime and find out it's horny for no good reason. It's often in a very immature way too, it has the vibe of naughty teenage boys.
I can't shake off the idea that a lot of it is just cultural reinforcement of the patriarchy, asserting male authority over women by inherently sexualising every aspect of them.
I think consent is very important in this discussion, so much stuff happens involuntarily. I don't want to immediately look at a woman's butt or boobs when seeing one, it feels gross and insulting to her and I can't imagine how women especially have to navigate such a landscape.
I wasn't trying to make a broader claim about Japan, just on that one thing specifically, and there are surely plenty of other examples like that Denmark children's TV show that apply equally well to make the point I meant to make.
I see your point about the patriarchy. There are definitely concerning things which I would prefer not to learn more about if possible.
This. Consent goes both ways...
I just wanted to vent about it, because it has made me hypervigilant about any pervy shit in Japanese media.
I had heard before about that Danish tv show. Part of what frustrates me with current discourse is how the female body in particular gets... mysticised I guess. Like there's all the teasing about showing as much as possible but not those areas, then you see a woman actually bare-chest and it's: "oh, I guess her nipples are bigger". On the other end, I personally get discomforted by a visible... uh... "penile bulge". I don't really like to think about the stuff that goes on down there...
I still wrestle with how much I should write that off as childish sensibilities.
I get that, and the feeling childish about it, but I don't think it's a bad thing. Like the other thread mentions, it's a bit acephobic that it feels unacceptable to not want to have anything to do with it personally.
That's an interesting point to consider... I wonder why it is like that
[I didn’t actually say much of anything here but I think I was being kinda combative for no reason at all, immediately regretted after hitting post.]
I understand where you were coming from and it's a complex topic. I struggle with the topic myself and how to read my aversion to sex stuff (I think the main reasons are that as a cis male sexual arousal makes me afraid of hurting others, plus I get creeped out by many parts of human biology, I could never perform surgeries)