important ways: it sexually inhibits both men and women by creating mythical ideals that are impossible to recreate in real life situations, and it is linked to a greater tendency toward aggression and violence against women.
One common myth is that pornographic materials are beneficial outlets for male sexuality. It is commonly believed that males should read pornography in order to gain information, seek stimulation, and obtain guidance in overcoming sexual difficulties (Winick, 1985). However, pornography can be quite detrimental to male sexuality, as well as female sexuality, because it reduces the body to a mere object. Pornography is "anti-erotic" because its "presentation of the immediate availability of the female body, ignoring the independent will of the female, precludes any erotic state of desire" (Brod, 1984). This is a vital part of what has been called the "male sexual fantasy." The women are typically shown to eagerly accommodate any and every imaginable sexual urge of all men. Pornography appears to thrive on featuring social encounters where the women are portrayed as "hysterically euphoric in response to just about any sexual or pseudosexual stimulation they receive at the hands of the 'male magicians'" (Zillman & Bryant, 1982). This of course is detrimental to the female image and undoubtedly leads to male misconceptions about women. Furthermore, pornography displays a power imbalance between men and women, and the objectification and depersonalization of its subjects are symptomatic of the predisposition toward violence (Brod, 1984). When men discover that women in the real world are not the eagerly accommodating sex goddesses they have come to expect through exposure to pornographic media forms, they experience a growing dissatisfaction with sexual reality resulting in possible hostility toward women as well as self-depreciation and the loss of complete sexual satisfaction (Zillman & Bryant, 1982).
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