Pornography has its Finger on the Pulse of Tech
As new technology emerges, pornography always evolves with it. The first movie ever, only 2.5 seconds long, was released in 1888, which was immediately followed by the first porn video in 1889 (I was considering hyperlinking it via PornHub, but my better judgment decided against it). A Medium article read, “”The recipe seems simple enough: people had bodies, people had cameras, and people had sex, so it’s no surprise that all of these elements eventually came together to make the pornographic movie.” During the 19th and early 20th century, topics such as sex and porn strictly taboo in America, which did little to stunt the porn industry, it was simply underground and images, amateur videos, etc. flourished. What worked effectively to stunt pornography production was the depression and World Wars, until the sexual revival of the 60s. Videos, full length movies, and magazines were intertwined with the porn industry for the 20th century, until the internet and search engines. This revolutionized the porn industry and killed the former requirement of paying for sexually explicit content. Print and flicks fell by the wayside as this world of pornography exploded. With every single advance in technology, pornography stuck closely with its progress. Movie houses, VHS tapes, DVDs, dial-up internet, high speed internet, smartphones– porn has its finger on the pulse of technology.
With the emerging mainstream use of VR, how is pornography going to evolve, and subsequently impact society? The aforementioned explosion of internet porn, which (although has its upsides) generated sex addictions, overconsumption, and desensitization, which can only be furthered with a more immersive experience. In trying to research the intersection between pornography and virtual reality, it proves hard to google without being bombarded with explicit results (who would have thought???) which simply speaks to the massive industry already established, even though virtual reality is yet to be a household staple in the same way laptops or mobile phones are.
In the video below, a sex addiction and relationship therapist explains how with each step in medium that porn takes, there is also an increase in stimulation. That first porno from 1889? It is less than 6 minutes long and the couple wears just so much clothing for most of it. Now? There are no limits on any explicit content. If you can dream it– it exists.
Pros and Cons
This video also explains that full immersion of VR can break boundaries for people, precisely because it is so realistic. Men can simulate having sex as a woman, and that swapping of perspective can be incredibly powerful, perhaps to the point of generating social change in the way men treat women. I can see this swapping of perspective helping people expand their sexualities, gender fluidity, and ideas of taboo vs. acceptable sex as well.
However, I do believe we will see an increase in porn addiction and overstimulation. The thing is, we cannot pose the question of whether VR porn should exist or not, because it is and will be used from here on until the next big (or little) technological advance. People have been afraid of new technology as soon as it is introduced, forever. The telephone, TV, radio and internet, were all points of fear for people in the past– and look at society today. We wouldn’t live without these things, and although they have negative impacts, modern day tech is generally considered good. With the introduction of VR, people might fear the sudden realism of pornography, but it will happen no matter what. More importantly, we should be teaching in schools the power of moderation, self control, self love, and other skills to prevent addictions of all kinds, including sex addiction. The brain is wired to beg for reward, so we keep inventing these reward factories like video games, dating apps, and yes, VR porn. The innovation is unstoppable, it comes down to the personal choice of what each individual wants to engage with. So… was VR born for forlorn porn? Perhaps, it’s up to the individual to decide.
