Has Porn Affected Your Sex Life?

So we all know that porn is demeaning to women. There's not really any 2.0 feminist, self-empowerment argument around that – half an hour's worth of POV action where a girl is thrown about between eight men isn't exactly what Alice Paul had in mind while forming the National Woman's Party in 1913.

But is the culture of porn ABUSING OUR DAUGHTERS? Allison Pearson, writing for The Telegraph, reckons it is. Sure, there may the odd dude who gets the wrong idea about where he should be putting his fingers after submitting to a month-long Brazzers marathon, but is it really affecting a whole nation of children in the way Pearson claims? I wasn't sure, so I decided to put it to the public. Ladies of London, has porn affected your sex life?

Mia, 25, DJ: Um, no, I don’t think so. I don’t think it's affected my sex life at all, actually.

VICE: What about your sexual education?
No, I wouldn’t say porn affects that whatsoever. I mean, I don’t really like porn. I have watched it and I've seen a load of stuff, but I don't find that it turns me on, or anything. I wouldn’t get my education from it of, like, how to do stuff. I think you work that out for yourself.

Emily, 24, events coordinator: No, not at all. It hasn’t affected my sex life one bit.

What about your friends – do you think it's affected their sex lives at all?
No, not that I know of. The boys I know watch it all the time and they don’t have any problems in bed. I have considered using it before, but I've never ended up going there because, well, we don’t have any problems.

That's good to know.

Kita, 32, architect: Maybe if you watch porn it might, but not me, really. I have watched it a couple of times, but I didn’t like it.

What didn’t you like about it?
It's just such a – uh, what do you call it – such a clinical representation of sex, you know?

So too sterile and boring?
Yeah, exactly.

Emma, 31, interior designer: I don’t think so, no. I actually find it all quite comical. I don’t know if it's just a female perspective, but it's just one of those things – a bit like Chippendales or something like that. There's something quite amusing about it all, so, from my perspective, I can't see it having much of an effect.

You end up laughing at porn more than getting excited about it?
Yes, exactly.

So you wouldn’t use it to spice up your sex life?
I don’t think so. There's this whole humour thing to it, so you'd just end up sitting there and laughing. And it's always from a kind of one-sided perspective on it, so you can't get that emotionally involved in it.

Beth, 21, marketing: Not hugely, no. I mean, maybe my boyfriend shouldn't be watching porn every day, you know? But it's not too big a deal.

You don’t mind that he has a little peek every now and then?
No, not so much. I mean, I figure he's probably going to do it anyway, so there's no point in trying to stop him.

Have you guys ever used porn in the bedroom to spice up your sex life?
Not that I am aware of, but maybe he has.

Have you ever watched porn yourself?
Yeah, I don’t mind it. The strongest memory I have of watching it was from I was, like, 13 and you'd sit round with all your friends and giggle at it. So I can't really take it that seriously at all.

It doesn't turn you on?
No, all the ridiculous facial expressions and noises and stuff are just too silly.

Previously - Should There Be a Separate Olympics for People Who Take Steroids?