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The Internet Is for Porn

themargins.substack.com

251–260 of 460 posts

Re: The Internet Is for Porn

#251

> [About SV] An observer might note that all of these companies are dominated by men, in an industry dominated by men, tightly interwoven with a venture capital industry that is super-dominated by men. So it’s curious why none of these men have shown any interest in addressing the massive and lucrative sex work industry that overwhelmingly serves, well, men; until you consider who pays the real costs of that industry…

When all you have is a hammer....

Re: The Internet Is for Porn

#252
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facial tattoos are a traditional practice for many ethnic groups. Many modern practitioners feel that they're reclaiming a practice that was persecuted under American Puritanism. It's not that there can't be reasonable appearance standards; however, it would be incredibly disingenuous to claim that those standards are established within a neutral cultural atmosphere. I personally find white dudes with short or no hai…

> Facial tattoos are a traditional practice for many ethnic groups. Many modern practitioners feel that they're reclaiming a practice that was persecuted under American Puritanism. I'm curious about this: is there any record of actual Puritans persecuting someone explicitly for having a facial tattoo? (It is true, of course, that Puritans in England and the colonies did not have a modern perspective about the separat…

> I'm curious about this: is there any record of actual Puritans persecuting someone explicitly for having a facial tattoo?

Like “fundamentalism”, “Puritanism” is probably more commonly (outside of specific technical discussions of sectarian history or theology) used in a sense which does not refer specifically to the theological group the term technically denotes but a broader (but overlapping, not a superset) group defined largely by a set of traits stereotypical of the group designated by the technical term.

Re: The Internet Is for Porn

#253

Comments in here just corroborate the writer's argument about SV's prudish culture, that confuses sex with morals,power, politics etc. It shouldn't be debateable in 2020 that sexual expression should be free. Anyway, pornhub and other sites seem to be going the onlyfans direction which will only increase competition and make things better for these entertainers. Interesting interview by one of the top earners: https:…

>Comments in here just corroborate the writer's argument about SV's prudish culture

Isn't that American culture? You see that everywhere, from movies to games.

Violence and murder: ok!

Sex: OMFG EWW ARE YOU INSANE THINK OF THE CHILDREN

Re: The Internet Is for Porn

#254
post #29

Porn always reminds me of other classical debates that have no end like guns and abortion. The camps of folks in the middle who are cognitively capable of making a difference can't because the outsized voices on either side of them are screaming for either total freedom or total shutdown. They actively fear monger people out of action so no real progress is made. It prevents the best coders and business people from w…

> classical debates that have no end like guns and abortion. I think this is a pretty american centric point of view. These debates don't have anywhere near the same back and forth in other countries (thinking of canada in particular) that they do in USA. I imagine how taboo porn is is also very much a cultural phenomenon that varries a lot place to place.

The abortion debate still happens (at varying intensities and varying degrees of public view) in much of Europe.

The gun control debate is largely settled but I suspect it will start up quite loudly if the EU ever tries to normalize gun laws across member states. The difference between say, the Netherlands (low ownership, very hard to get a license), Austria (moderately regulated and lots of unlicensed ownership), and Finland (very high ownership rate but strictly regulated) is probably wider than any US state, because the US constitution has been interpreted to set a fairly high bar for any regulation.

Re: The Internet Is for Porn

#255

> [About SV] An observer might note that all of these companies are dominated by men, in an industry dominated by men, tightly interwoven with a venture capital industry that is super-dominated by men. So it’s curious why none of these men have shown any interest in addressing the massive and lucrative sex work industry that overwhelmingly serves, well, men; until you consider who pays the real costs of that industry…

Welcome to 2020 where identity politics is the name of the game. It seems everything these days can be explained based on your race/gender and yet this is supposedly the most "woke" time ever. Cue the downvotes.

You mean "Cue"...

Re: The Internet Is for Porn

#256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting to hear because I've been assuming this is obviously why people don't like people taking drugs. That it will drive kids away from productive stuff like studying because the joy of achieving something like academic or athletic success can't keep up with the bliss that drugs provide. Why else? Perhaps you mean that drugs physically harm you, like you will become a methhead or crackhead with your teeth…

I think the main issue I have with drugs is when they have the possibility of harming others. I don't mean to say all drugs and all doses have this effect. There are drugs and doses that can cause someone to go crazy and hurt people or damage property. In the other hand, you also have a feeling of this person not being a productive member of society. My tax dollars go to fixing this persons' mistakes. I wouldn't comp…

Drugs are a replacement for meaningful positive feedback from society, like achievements, progressing in life, being able to provide, getting things like love and respect, encouragement etc. etc. Drugs can keep one's attention away from this and release similar hormones you would from being a productive, recognized member of your community or society.

It is a chicken and egg problem though, like many others in life. Do people take drugs and therefore stop progressing in life or do they not see any other paths forward, any positive examples to follow (for whatever reason) and therefore turn to drugs, and it's perhaps one bad decision they can take out of lots of bad options from the cards they were dealt?

People rarely ruin their lives if they just experiment with drugs for recreation, self-discovery, psychedelic trips etc. if their life is in order, with healthy relationships, a pride in their work etc. The danger is mostly when it is a substitute for life/social achievements.

Similarly with porn and OnlyFans. It provides an intimacy to people who don't currently have the means/skills to get it in real life. But could they perhaps develop it if they put in more effort? Now the bitter kind of people would say it's not worth it, they will just cheat on you, trap you in marriage, the divorce you and take it, everyone is a golddigger or just wants to date assholes etc. etc. There's lots of ideologies for this. Again chicken and egg. Are you unable to form relationships because you spend so much time with fake intimacy, fake achievements in video games, fake virtue and validation on social media etc, or the other way around?

The underlying issues are societal and they aren't just about the surface level products and services.

Re: The Internet Is for Porn

#257

"Everything in life is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power." I think the debate is not really about porn, but people's sense of justice, cheating, deserving things or not etc. Some feel like porn gives unearned satisfaction to young men, a virtual substitute they don't have to work for. The bitter other side will say, no shit, I won't slave away to get screwed over, it's much more straightforward business to co…

> That it hollows out the sanctity of this intimate and symbolic act. See that's the problem. We as a society need to stop putting sex on a pedestal. It's just sex. Pleasure is pleasure, why would anyone not want to be pleasured? And why is pleasure something that has to be earned ? It is very simple to give and receive pleasure, why complicate that?

Perhaps because many communities deeply believe sex is more than just for pleasure?

Re: The Internet Is for Porn

#258

> Why did it take this long? Why would no one else have the courage to address sex work? OnlyFans isn't the only tech attempt to “address sex work”, it's basically a hybrid of the premium user content with centralized content infrastructure model of many recorded-video sites with the patronage / p2p subscription model of Patreon, etc. It may (or may not) be revolutionary in effect, but it's a stepwise change in model…

For a better picture, there were many people back then trying to monetize their adult content on Patreon - well, until Patreon started to ban them aggresively, which eventually gave rise to OnlyFans. It’s right that OnlyFans didn’t do anything substantially innovative, but the main point of the article still stands - tech companies have have failed to provide agency for adult creators for a long time.

Re: The Internet Is for Porn

#259
post #20

I'm glad that monetized platforms like Twitch and OnlyFans exist. It's an accessible way for the younger generations to make ludicrous amounts of money for not too much up-front investment. There's definitely work and downsides involved, just not like some lesser paid, more credentialed professions. Hopefully this puts pressure on the essential jobs in society to actually raise compensation in comparison. The rest of…

You're glad that cash-strapped young women are ruining their lives for a new handbag? What prospects do they have for marriage and family after permanently uploading filth to the internet? No high quality man is sticking around after he discovers that bombshell. It has normalised this catastrophic trend. It has eliminated whatever barriers may have been in place. At a societal level, it is degrading and humiliating.…

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Re: The Internet Is for Porn

#260

"Everything in life is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power." I think the debate is not really about porn, but people's sense of justice, cheating, deserving things or not etc. Some feel like porn gives unearned satisfaction to young men, a virtual substitute they don't have to work for. The bitter other side will say, no shit, I won't slave away to get screwed over, it's much more straightforward business to co…

> Others may feel camgirls are collecting undeserved money, they don't do actual noble valuable work, just cash in based on their genetics and immorality. As someone who is a supporter of legal sex work and pornography. The "cashing on genetics" part bothers me the most. I don't know how to process when good looking people can earn thousands of dollars almost doing nothing (particularly on digital platform like OnlyF…

I don't think it's just the stigma, to be fair. Earning lots of money through OnlyFans requires more than good looks, in the same way that earning lots of money through a tech startup requires more than just writing code. Also, people have cashed in on genetics for as long as modelling as been around, and obviously sex work is even older than that
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