You watch porn. I know you do. I don’t know if you are male or female, black or white, young or old but I know you watch porn. How? Because everyone watches porn occasionally, contrary to what that crazy conservative bunch want you to believe. In 2013, Pornhub alone was getting 1.68 million hits – an hour.

So, good news, you are not alone. I did a quick Google search to find some interesting statistics on pornography and, surprise surprise, six of the top eight hits were against the whole thing (my favorite was a website called “porn is the new drug”). Sigh. We all know that I am sex positive  but I didn’t realize that so many people were so vocally anti-porn. Anti-sex for fun? Sure. But anti porn?! What has polishing the family jewels ever done to them? (Seems to me that they could use a little tension release…)

The answer is nothing. Look, I understand that porn addiction is a legitimate problem. However, it effects very few of the total consumers. If you think you have a problem please, reach out, but it is such a small number that I couldn’t even find real (read unbiased) statistics on it. I’d argue that watching porn is actually a good thing for a few reasons. I’ll touch on a few here.

It keeps sex interesting. Is there a better place to get new ideas or cool moves? Couples can use porn as a jumping off point when the want to introduce a new aspect to their sex life. It can be an easy way to bring up fetishes and desires that you’ve been nervous about mentioning. It’s easier to mention a porn scene and keep things hypothetical sometimes. 50 Shades of Grey anyone?

It helps, that’s right helps, monogamy. I’ve said it a thousand times, people are not generally good at monogamy. We are programed to want variety and that’s great. But what about people who want to give the old fashioned thing the college try? Porn gives people the fantasy, you can cum to so many different types of people, crazy scenarios and hot fantasies. It might just help keep your “real life” relationship monogamous if you are buffing your banana to other stuff. There is no harm in trying it. I think even the most hardcore monogamous can agree that it doesn’t matter where you get your appetite when you’re eating at home.

It’s safe sex. The largest pornography viewers are 12-17 year old boys. Please, contain your shock. You cannot get anyone pregnant or catch an STI by jerking off. Period. Not possible. I would rather young teens masturbate than have sex as far as safety is concerned. Let’s be honest though, they do both. But every load dumped in a gym sock is one less to worry about… I’ll take what I can get.

Pornography doesn’t lead to sex crimes. Don’t believe me? No fewer than four thousand studies back me up. In fact, no link has ever been made between the two. People with “dark” fantasies might even benefit from watching pornography. An adult film is shot with two (or three, or more!) consenting adults. They can role play whatever they want but that’s what it is, role play. Watching a fantasy unfold might be enough to curb some people’s desires though. In fact, sex crimes are actually lower in countries that have easy access to porn.

Don’t fall for the hype. Pleasure is good for you, there is no shame in test firing the old meat pistol – everybody does it (Jackie Chan was in a porn flick in 1975, just saying). We need to stop stigmatizing normal sexuality. We need to stop shaming people for healthy desires. It’s getting out of hand (pun intended).

So ladies and gentlemen, jerk off today – think of me!