Because porn is not sex. Really

The Wicked Wretch of the East, Bob Guccione, is dead at age 79.' That headline in particular -- a reference to the late founder of Penthouse magazine -- compelled me to spend a few more minutes at The AntiPornMenProject (http://www.antipornmen.org/) than I originally intended to.

The Wicked Wretch of the East, Bob Guccione, is dead at age 79.' That headline in particular -- a reference to the late founder of Penthouse magazine -- compelled me to spend a few more minutes at The AntiPornMenProject (https://www.antipornmen.org/) than I originally intended to.



I first assumed, wrongly, that the point being made was religious. After all, conservative groups the world over have been attacking the adult industry for decades. What kept me from pointing my mouse toward something else, however, was the revelation that The AntiPornMenProject was co-founded by a 22-year old male philosophy student from London, who wanted to address pornography from a decidedly feminist perspective.

Here's what I found: Matt McCormack Evans, the Londoner in question, created the project after noticing the potentially damaging effect pornography was having on his life. He believed, rightly, that it could negatively affect the way he -- and young, impressionable men everywhere -- responded to women in the real world.

A bit of research showed why he was right to worry. A news report citing comScore Media Metrix data revealed the presence of over 420 million pages of pornography online. Reports from other sources pegged the US adult film industry alone at between 9 and 13 billion USD in gross revenues annually.

Considering the shockingly low cost at which pornography is now accessible, it quickly becomes obvious how potentially damaging it really is. That it is also lucrative explains why Sex.com was allegedly offered $13 million earlier this year for its domain name, and why Porn.com was sold for a reported $9.5 million in 2007.

What folk like Matt Evans intend to do is, firstly, get other men to talk about it. 'Porn is not sex,' they believe, and 'can play a very restrictive and damaging role in the forming of people's sexuality.'

The AntiPornMenProject is proof that, despite the presence of every imaginable evil online, there will always be people putting in place some form of counter-attack, however rudimentary. This leaves me with a feeling I can only describe as hope.

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