From: littles@lycos.co.uk
Does pornographic material distort fans' minds? I very much doubt it.
IMO that's a sticky one, though... I wouldn't say that pornography
distorts anyone's mind, any more than violent movies (etc.) do, either. But if you're fed a steady diet of the stuff, with no corrective factor from other material (a healthy sexual partnership, a fondness for great literature, psychotherapy...), I think it might have some bearing on how you view reality, relationships, etc...
I've seen this happen too often in the gay community.
Why single out any one particular community? It happens in every community, throughout the whole of society, every minute of every day. Reality is constructed for us from birth. We are 'fed a steady diet' of something we like to think of as 'reality' throughout our lives, whether it's nude art or billboard posters for jeans. Who is to say that a 'healthy sexual partnership' is a necessary thing, or even a good thing, let alone a fondness for great literature (who defines the 'great'?), and the equation of psychotherapy as a 'corrective factor' is something I find very disturbing.
Not, however, as disturbing as sly insinuations of homophobia.
Neil