The Deglamorizing of “Netflix and Chill”
“Why can’t you do the things that the porn stars do in porn?,” once said a 16-year-old boy to his girlfriend.
It might not come as your surprise that “porn addiction” is a term used not just recently but way back in the 1970s. Due to the easily accessible nature of the Internet, porn seems to occupy most of the watch screen time of millions of people worldwide — six in 10 Americans have watched porn more than once a day, according to research done in 2022 by the Institute of Family Studies (IFS).
“Netflix and Chill,” the Internet slang that corresponds to sexual activity, has turned into one of the most used terms in the past couple of years. While “Netflix and Chill” may have gained cultural prominence, it does not necessarily overshadow the continued popularity of pornography on the Internet. Quite the contrary — pornography continues to be a relatively preferred video content. Why? Well, it does not cause any harm, right? Or does it?
In the spectrum of for and against porn, I consider pornography having a negative influence on the way young adults think about sex. Since social media is highly criticized for warping beauty standards, pornography can do the same thing to body image and relationships by bringing wrong expectations on intimate connections.
In most of its essence, pornography presents sex in a light in which partners are objectified. The different categories in porn can span from 10 to 30 minutes of search time, and the majority of them build the image of sexual partners indulging in sex as a form of an act not “love.” Subconsciously, young people create this image of sexualizing their partners more and objectifying their needs to the so-called “animal instincts.” And here comes the question of which was first — the animalization of humans or humanizing animals.
The side effects of regular consumption of pornography does not stop there. In 2013, a Cosmopolitan magazine survey found that out of 68 top sex therapists in the United Kingdom, 90 percent acknowledged an increase in the problems aroused in relationships due to porn use. Not only does it alter the way young adults perceive their partners as sexual targets, but it also takes away from their emotional connection and intimacy. Watching porn is one thing, but consuming porn is another — once pornography gets into the way of partners’ sexual intimacy, it could destroy the emotional side of the act.
Yeah, one can argue that pornography cannot be that harmful of an influence, especially when it takes only four percent of the Internet’s content. A bigger percentage of the Internet is occupied by propaganda, violence, and crime, which can result in a more severe psychological impact on young people. However, it is not about the size of the content but rather the size of its effect — the annual income of the porn industry exceeds that of the NFL, NBA, and MLB combined. Moreover, it outnumbers the total income of ABC, CBS, and NBC, which again proves the point of the high consumption theory.
Therefore, the easily accessible nature of pornography and its huge viewing can also lead to the way young people form their expectations. In an interview with several students from the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG), people shared that for a long time when they did not have access to the real experience yet, they did not truly know what sex was like. Porn provides a limited and dulled-down picture of what sex is, according to the interviewees. They described porn as unrealistic, which eventually makes people worry about the wrong things (for example, “sizes and orgasms more than actual passion and shared pleasure in the intimacy,” a girl from AUBG shared).
Many agree that pornography paints this explicitly vulgar, unrealistic image that just does not work outside of the studio. Moreover, people get so caught up in the idea of porn, that they wish their partner did the same things in real life. Sometimes those things were pleasant and nice, sometimes they felt fake, unnatural, like something they would not have done if it was not for porn.
Sex is definitely a taboo topic that is usually kept out of people’s conversations. And maybe that is why so many young people become users of pornography — this, as with any other misuse and/or overconsumption has its negative impacts, especially on young people’s perception of sex.
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Martina Stoyanova is a senior double majoring in Business Administration | Journalism and Mass Communication at the American University in Bulgaria. Martina believes that pornography can have a negative influence on the way young people think about sex.
