Porn watchers, rejoice. New research suggests that watching erotica doesn’t actually desensitize men to normal sex.

Researchers from University of California, Los Angeles and Concordia University have found that watching porn is unrelated to a man’s ability to get it up, and may actually relate to a stronger desire for sex.

The study was published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine last Monday and surveyed 280 straight male volunteers about their relationship status, how often they watched porn and if they ever had problems with erections. It found that men who said they watched more porn were more turned on by the films than those who didn’t. Basically, the research combats the claim that porn ruins relationships and sex lives by desensitizing men to normal sex.

Isn’t modern science a wonder? But what does this new research mean for the collective porn-watching society? People will probably continue to delete their browsing history, but this new research could be a positive step in removing the stigma around porn and sex work.

It shows that porn doesn’t actually ruin lives, and people who say it’s a sign of the end times can finally calm down. This study isn’t promoting porn or saying it’s awesome — it’s more along the lines of proving its neutrality. And that’s important for the people who are trying to prove that sex work as a profession should be respected.

In the past few years, more and more adult film actors have spoken out on why their job deserves to be treated with respect, not disdain. A little more than a year ago, Duke University freshman Belle Knox — not her real name — was outed by one of her classmates and was then the target of bullying and ridicule, even though her classmates were the ones watching her films.

But instead of allowing herself to be a victim, she spoke out and defended her choice, saying in an essay for XO Jane, “We need to remove the stigma attached to (adult performers’) profession and treat it as a legitimate career that needs regulation and oversight.” Even though she was still criticized by some, she received an outpouring of support from the adult film industry, as well as others who don’t stand for slut shaming.

Another article in the Newstatesman.com asked that acting in adult films be treated as a legitimate profession. It was in response to a debate at the Women of the World festival, which posed the question, “Does porn empower women?” The author of the article argued that asking if it empowers women shouldn’t matter when it comes to the fact that sex workers still have rights, and points out that we don’t ask if waitresses or any other service workers need to feel empowered in order to be considered working in an actual profession.

But can a study about porn and its non-negative effects really help that cause? Maybe it’s a bit of a stretch, but I think so. Some people only respond to proven facts. And for a long time, the image surrounding porn was that it’s this terrible, dirty thing, which meant the people associated with it must be terrible, dirty people.

But as the study suggests, people who watch porn weren’t negatively affected by it. Hopefully this is the first of many studies that basically say, “everybody calm down, porn is just a thing that happens in life, and it’s not bad.”

If you can normalize the rhetoric surrounding porn, maybe it will start to normalize how we view those in the adult entertainment industry — that they’re working professionals, just like us.

Kate Beckman is a sophomore magazine journalism major. Her column appears every week in Pulp. You can reach her at kebeckma@syr.edu or follow her on Twitter at @Kate_Beckman.

Published on March 24, 2015 at 10:53 pm