Book Review

[March 5th, 2003] Watching Sex: How Men Really Respond to Pornography
by David Loftus
(Thunder's Mouth Press, 336, $17.95)

The author reads at 7:30 pm Tuesday, March 11, at Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651.

In a 1974 essay, feminist Robin Morgan declared, "Pornography is the theory, rape is the practice." Although public mores and feminist thought have arguably evolved away from Morgan's overreaching claim, author David Loftus laments the porn debate's focus on women's perceptions and reactions.

To elucidate the male perspective, he interviewed 150 men, asking them how and how often porn turns them on and gets them off. He presents his rather ho-hum survey results as groundbreaking: Men don't like porn's formulaic and unrealistic depictions; men masturbate to porn even when they're in a relationship; porn is not a "gateway drug" that leads from vanilla to kink to snuff films; violence against women doesn't turn men on.

While these findings are far from shocking, it's refreshing to see them in print, where perhaps they can counterbalance the glut of anti-smut voices on the Joe Lieberman Left and Moral Majority Right. Amid the chronicling of givens there are a few eye-openers: The average man encounters erotica at age 11. Gay porn repulses many gay men. Close-up beaver shots turn a lot of straight guys off. The best line in the book comes from a divorced 35-year-old who complains that porn leads him to masturbate excessively. He could be speaking for anyone of any persuasion who enjoys sex of any kind: "I still don't understand how a few seconds of ecstasy can be so addictive."