No, it’s not pornography’s fault.

On July 12, 1991, the Party of Love was founded by manager Riccardo Schicchi and entrepreneur of the pornographic sector Mauro Buzzi, which first saw Ilona Staller and Moana Pozzi then enter politics to spread issues related to sexuality on a social level, in a libertarian and Christian social sense. Thus, even if the list did not have access to seats, Pozzi, as head of the list, received more preferences in the 1992 elections than Umberto Bossi of the Northern League, Sergio Garavani of Rifondazione and Francesco Rutelli of the Greens. However, today the name of another porn icon, Rocco Siffredi, is placed next to the name of the Minister of Equal Opportunities, Family and Fertility Eugenia Roccella, of course, not known for her forward-thinking positions, but rather for those that are very far from rights. associated with the female body, despite the fact that she calls herself a feminist.

In fact, Siffredi said extremely reasonable and pleasant things, but which the minister immediately took advantage of to promote her requests. After a gang rape in Palermo, a former porn star actually released a clear analysis of the situation, but then coming to perhaps a slightly populist conclusion, perhaps also dictated by an immediate emotional reaction to what happened. Siffredi began by saying that the real problem is that children don’t understand (because they don’t get help) that what they see in hardcore films is a complete fabrication, and also reinforced by drugs, anesthetics and various stage props , and he continued, rightly stating that porn cannot and should not play the role of sex education, making up for its deficiency. Porn is entertainment, he emphasized, later saying he felt a responsibility more as a concerned father than as a porn star, and suggested we spread a culture of respect by supporting sex education. Ultimately, however, he also supported a ban on free access to pornography, as if the recent gang rape was directly inspired by the latter, when in fact it turned out that it was some kind of “punitive expedition.” From The anti-pornography rule has already been discussed in 2020but unfortunately the solution is not so simple, on the contrary.

After cases of sexual violence that are more or less covered in the media, amidst the rhetorical distractions to which public debate shifts – immediately after blaming the suspects’ mothers for having raised them poorly – the one great suspect always reappears. And no, it’s not the misogynistic and patriarchal culture we are immersed in on a daily basis, it’s pornography itself. Yes, if men abuse women, it is not because they are taught from childhood to dominate them by pushing them and pulling their hair to get attention in case they want to make friends, but because of pornography and the images it conveys . Like I’m going to rob a national bank after watching this.

paper houseor I cut up random people because I like to watch Dexter or I have a passion for horror.

Every time, to support this argument and tighten the grip of respectability, even years later, all those (few) personal experiences disseminated by various types of celebrities and prominent figures against the use of this content are exhumed as if they constitute an absolute. In fact, Billie Eilish’s statements come back to the fore even months later, as she regrets being exposed to pornography when she was very young – a formula that always makes me think of Ludovico’s cure. A Clockwork Orange. This practice would “destroy her brain”, give her nightmares and force her to accept an unbalanced and demeaning female model, as if the world women live in is not enough already.

The problem is that often the first and only access to sex is pornography, which, in the complete absence of education in the field of sexuality and equality, risks being perceived not as staged and fiction, but as reality or, even worse, some kind of uniform model to which we must strive and on the basis of which to form our desires, because if it is shown so, then it is so for others, and so it should be. In general, in fact, if it is true that pornography is becoming increasingly multifaceted in terms of tastes and practices, then it is also true that the view in which it talks about sex is in the vast majority of cases always the same, that is, patriarchal sight. one in which the woman is the object, the submissive prey. Clearly, as an industry, pornography responds to the demands of its consumers, who until recently have been almost exclusively male, steeped in the toxic culture we all know so well. Only recently have they begun to take into account the female audience, already partially present but ignored.

Anyway, as long as there is respect, a sense of boundaries, relationships with others and safety, a woman, even the most feminist in this case, as happens in BDSM or perverted practices, can of course submit if she wants, the problem is that the plans are confused, but again they are confused because no one helped us to distinguish them. Indeed, it takes a little common sense to understand that gang rape as a punishment cannot in the least be compared to an orgy between free, aware and consenting people. This means stirring up dust and fueling harmful moralism, as they only exacerbate the consequences of these taboos, which include violence, unwanted pregnancy and dissatisfaction.

Of course, it is true that pornography has its dark sides, in which the same professionals who are part of it have been discussing it for years – and that some types of video products, which certainly include porn, require a certain mental maturity precisely because they are (unfairly?) considered “adult content”, but this shift in reasons is completely inappropriate and betrays a certain bad faith due to the simplistic way of its implementation. The discussion, in fact, is valid for pornography, and for some dramatic or war films, but not only. A structured identity is needed to address certain narratives. For example, it is always said that great works of art are meant to change our lives, but exposing children to some of them can be deeply upsetting, especially if the experience is not shared, analyzed and contextualized in a safe and inclusive context. I read this by accident Wall Sartre at age 12, and I still carry traces of him.

It’s been a while since you read this and other books – too much? “When I was young, they really fucked me out and drove me to the brink of depression, but I don’t think there’s a sticker that says that children under 18 are not allowed, on the contrary, they go to school. As my friend who teaches philosophy of religion always says, you can’t think of a teenager studying Schopenhauer or Nietzsche and expect that those readings won’t change his life, that one day the bell will ring for the end of philosophy class. “Everything goes back to normal” is very hypocritical on the part of adults, because these are texts that are created precisely to disturb. However, the solution is, of course, not to abolish them: censorship is never a solution in a mature society. As always – and this is what good and good teachers know how to do – it is important to accompany in the relationship with the text, or with the image, and in general with any work that conveys a message, be it a poem by Seamus. Heaney about death or a porn film.

Another route that could be taken would be to differentiate pornographic products and perhaps create new ones in a form and in languages ​​that best suit the sensitivity, psychological and emotional maturity of the audience to which they are addressed, and therefore why not offer ones suitable for a teenage audience. As with any storytelling, diversity and inclusiveness in representing many different stories and life experiences is fundamental. Even if pornography is now theoretically prohibited for minors under 18, who are known to face few obstacles if they want to enjoy it, it is no secret that people reach physical development between the ages of 10 and 14 and experience sexual desire well . y before issuing a high school diploma or ballot. It’s absurd to ignore this. I won’t tell a two year old sleeping Beauty the way I will tell it to one of the seven, just as the last one will still be different from the version that an adult can read, collected in Lo cunto de li cunti (definitely close to pornography), Sun, Moon and Talia or even the live action Disney movie. We can talk about sex in different ways, no one stops us, only our own short-sightedness.

The problem, essentially, is that most of the time, as Siffredi himself said, we approach porn without the tools to integrate it into our psychological, physical and emotional experience, and this is often the first threshold of access to the world of sexuality. , which then turns out to be very different from the imagination, for better or worse, precisely because we are not given the tools to make it our own, to discover and understand. In addition, there is the issue of ease of access to it and the fact that it is very important to trace the contacts of children, even very young ones, with content found on the Internet, but that is another story that, unfortunately, also has to be addressed. to do with digital education.

However, in Italian public discourse, any reasonable and justified criticism of the pornography industry is exploited by cultural realities close to the right in an obscurantist and respectable manner. But by completely demonizing pornography, we take another step into the world of censorship and taboos that do nothing but feed the demons that live there and cannot find expression. In fact, pornography can be an important outlet for some impulses that are rejected by the community, allowing those who experience them to control and manipulate them. Instead, it would be important to enrich the concept by diversifying and regulating it, perhaps revolutionizing it, rather than abolishing and banning it.

There are four points to consider related to sexuality: sexual and emotional education, education about relationships with others and in particular the topic of respect and consent, exploration and conscious exploration of one’s own pleasure, sexual health not only associated with pathology. , but also a holistic vision that also includes the psychological sphere or physical conditions that are not considered pathological, but which deeply undermine satisfaction, especially for women,

we remember that when heterosexual people have the least orgasms.

Speaking about sex education, in Istisan ratio 20/35, conducted on a sample of Italian boys and girls aged 16 to 17 years, among those who had already had full sexual intercourse (35% among boys and 28% among girls), 23% of boys and 29% of girls used interrupted coitus as a method of contraception, and 8% of boys and 13% of girls counted fertile days. Obviously, neither of these two methods is a method of contraception. Less than 10% of students then visit counseling centers, even though they are widespread in the area, and 22% are not even aware of their existence. Only 20% talk in detail in the family about sexual development and the physiology of sexuality, contraceptive methods and sexually transmitted diseases. A situation that should concern us much more than access to pornography.

In short, according to this data, what is already “destroying our brains” is the world we live in, which always takes on disturbing forms that go far beyond the scope of any fiction or film set. Reality, unfortunately, cannot be prohibited or limited, but only changed if one has the courage to act differently, not by censoring, but by delving into the most murky areas of our culture, which are still completely inaccessible in order to open a social discussion about sex without false judgments. and hypocritical modesty, which masks shortcomings and inability and does nothing more than to make existence worse of all.