BREAKING: A large majority of regular tavern patrons say
they drink at least occasionally, according to a new report. What’s more, many
of those that do say alcohol helps them relax and overcome social inhibitions. 
Stupid report? Yep. Nearly as dumb as the one a recent Huffington Post “Women” article touted.
“Women Are Way More Into Porn Than Many Think, Suggests Survey [1],” talked about the results of a survey of customers of a British sex toy manufacturer. But wait, there’s more! Porn isn’t just popular, it’s just what the doctor ordered: “Porn can benefit your relationship – and your sex life.”
As an introduction, HuffPo asked, “How do women really feel about porn?” HuffPo couldn’t take Pew research survey numbers [2] seriously (who would believe only 8 percent of women watch online porn?), and instead turned to sex toy and lingerie maker Ann Summers [3] voluntary survey of 300 female customers.
While HuffPost admitted, “The results probably aren’t nationally representative,” (ya think?) the anonymous authors announced “we learned” from the findings.
After announcing that relationships advance via porn, HuffPo explained, “Fifty-eight percent of women who watched porn with a partner said that it had a positive effect on their sex life.” But that means only 174 out of 300 women who were actively in the market for sex toys had nice things to say about porn. Given the sample, shouldn’t that be much higher?
Never mind. On to more great things about porn! “Porn helps women escape and de-stress,” HuffPo continued. HuffPo cited a Carnegie Mellon study that found men who looked at sexy pictures were less stressed. Whoops, looks like HuffPo decided Summers’ study needed more credibility – and resorted to men to do so! Those anti-feminists.
HuffPo also revealed that, “The vast majority of women don't consider watching porn to be cheating” – “as it should be,” they added.
HuffPo concluded with the findings that women create their own porn and that millennials watch porn the most frequently (translation: 57 percent of Summer’s participants who admitted to enjoying porn were 18-24).
In stark contrast, Morality in Media [4], a “national organization opposing pornography and indecency,” argues that porn increases violence against women [5]. MIM discovered that, among other findings [5], “Pornography, which portrays women deriving pleasure from physical abuse, tends to enable men to foster attitudes more forgiving of violence against women and to become more comfortable with the ‘idea’ of rape.”
Even Oprah published a list of porn’s damaging effects [6] via Rabbi Shmuley:
- Porn is a drug that leads to addiction.
- Porn is a form of sexism.
- Porn portrays all women in one of four degrading, dehumanizing categories.
- Porn makes men get bored with their own wives.
- Porn cultivates a single standard of beauty that no real women can live up to.
But according to HuffPo there’s much to be “learned” from from sex toy manufacturers and their marketing vehicles.
After all, the lefty site has a reputation to live up to, from featuring an abortionist who believes women abort “to be good mothers,” [7] to blogging that religion is to blame for overpopulation and environmental ruin [8].
— Katie Yoder is Staff Writer, Joe and Betty Anderlik Fellow in Culture and Media at the Media Research Center. Follow Katie Yoder on Twitter. [9]