ERA Cheap Sex Ch 4

Chapter Four of Mark Regnerus’ Cheap Sex focuses on the relatively new prevalence of pornography and masturbation in American society today. He argues that pornography has greatly impacted the mating market and caused sex, which women hold as a commodity and men desire, to become increasingly cheaper as a result. Women are stuck in an incredibly difficult position considering that many do not approve of their significant others watching porn, however they often refrain from exiting a relationship as a result because the accessibility to pornography can and sometimes does serve as a replacement for sex with a real person. If women refuse to engage in sexual activity unless their significant other refrains from watching pornography, in many cases, men may simply resort to pornography and let the woman go. Regnerus also points out that pornography has shaped the ways in which people think about and view sex. It has opened people’s eyes to different sex positions, different sexual orientations, and expectations. He notes that a higher frequency of pornography viewing is correlated with a more liberal view on same sex marriage and other non traditional marriages. This may be a result of the fact that pornography incorporates many different types of sex with different people of varying sexual orientations. The prevalence of pornography and masturbation may also lead various people, specifically men, to remove themselves from the mating market. Not only this, but pornography contributes to unrealistic expectations about sex and sexual preferences. When viewing pornography, a person can focus solely on their own pleasure, they do not necessarily have to engage in sexual acts in order to please another person, because that other person is virtual. All of these points contribute to the lowering of the price of sex. As a result of pornography, sexual activity is readily and easily available at anytime with oneself.

Regnerus also goes on to write about masturbation and its connection with pornography. They seem to coincide. When a person reports having viewed pornography yesterday, they also reported having masturbated yesterday. When considering the entire population, he notes that when considering both pornography and masturbation, sexual minorities, for example bisexuals, lesbians, and homosexuals, seem to show the highest levels. This brings up an important point that Regnerus addresses multiple times throughout his novel. This is the concept of reliability of responses. Most of his data is based off of various surveys and interviews in which people are recording their own information. It is possible that those who are of a sexual minority show higher levels of watching pornography and engaging in masturbation simply because they are more comfortable with their sexuality and have already gone against the norm by identifying themselves as bi, lesbian, or homosexual. They are therefore more likely to admit to their actual sexual experiences and norms. This leads me to consider how accurate the author’s argument truly is. While he makes an effort to account for this potential flaw in the data, I still believe that response reliability could be greatly influencing the evidence used throughout the book. I would be interested to hear what my other classmates have to say about this topic.