Does 'rape culture' accurately describe (many) societies?

[Darat]

Is that the 'we' where everyone agrees with you that porn featuring legal age actors imitating the underage is abhorrent?

All such pornography is already illegal in the UK and other countries.

 

[Darat]

Rape culture isn't just about rape - it includes sexual violence. Everyone knows such acts are either actually occurring or being simulated in porn...and telling the difference might be difficult. Anyone who claims to be serious about eradicating this would not tolerate porn. Would we be in the current deep fake crisis if we had said no to porn? It starts from teaching children from a young age.
What do we do instead? - we show them porn.

No we don't - showing porn to children is illegal.

 

[Poem]

No we don't - showing porn to children is illegal.

Apparently Pontius Pilate washed his hands too.

 

[Poem]

Avoiding what - there is a series of quotes in that post but no question being asked.

The first quote contains a question mark.

 

[Darat]

Apparently Pontius Pilate washed his hands too.

 

[Darat]

The first quote contains a question mark.

Just state your question in straight forward English and be clear.

 

[Lithrael]

I'll help, since Poem is so reluctant.

I'm fairly confident he wants us to explain why we should find porn that looks enough like CSAM to be mistaken for CSAM (aka simulated CSAM) abhorrent.

I already did (#5021) but Poem wants everybody to weigh in I guess. Or we can just reread that page of the thread.

 

[arthwollipot]

All such pornography is already illegal in the UK and other countries.

We've already done this.

 

[Skeptical Greg]

We've already done this.

If at first you don't succeed.

 

[Poem]

I'll help, since Poem is so reluctant.

I'm fairly confident he wants us to explain why we should find porn that looks enough like CSAM to be mistaken for CSAM (aka simulated CSAM) abhorrent.

I already did (#5021) but Poem wants everybody to weigh in I guess. Or we can just reread that page of the thread.

As I posted before, there will be a continuum of content moving from mild to flagrant. We also know that this is real:

.......I think it's also important to understand that our tastes change. What did it for you before is boring today. And things you couldn't imagine being interested in when you're younger now are delicious.

No, I am not suggesting acbytesla is consuming illegal content.

 

[Darat]

As I posted before, there will be a continuum of content moving from mild to flagrant. We also know that this is real:

No, I am not suggesting acbytesla is consuming illegal content.

That does not say what you think it does.

 

[Poem]

I have posted this before:

‘I didn’t start out wanting to see kids’: are porn algorithms feeding a generation of paedophiles – or creating one?

More than 850 men a month are arrested for online child abuse offences in England and Wales. They come from every walk of life: teachers, police officers, doctors, TV presenters. And the numbers are rising every year. How did this happen?

www.theguardian.com

(Articled date: 5th April 2025)

Mark claims he was shellshocked. “I knew I had looked at lots of porn but I genuinely did not think there was anybody underage in there. They said they had found 200 illegal images.”

Andy: “You know it’s wrong, but the dopamine hit from what you are doing overrides everything else. I think the pathways in my brain had been changed by all the porn I had watched.”

 

[Poem]

That does not say what you think it does.

Telling me what (you think) it does in fact say would be more helpful.

 

[Darat]

Telling me what (you think) it does in fact say would be more helpful.

Well for instance you may be into nipple play when younger but then your tastes change over time and you become a foot fetish person.

 

[Poem]

Well for instance you may be into nipple play when younger but then your tastes change over time and you become a foot fetish person.

Sure, but the slippery slope can and does lead to tastes that are very much darker. From that article:

But I didn’t start out wanting to see kids. I was addicted to porn and I went down a road of being totally desensitised as I got further and further from what was normal.

 

[Darat]

Excuses, that's all I read in his self serving crap. Remember these are not people who are mistaking a 16 year old for an 18 year old or even a younger teenager child who is post or undergoing puberty, we are talking about clearly prepubescent children, toddlers and babies. These people are not having this pornography served to them by mainstream pornography sites, they are seeking it out, they do not simply come across this type of criminal material when browsing the WWW.

From that article: This highlighted the fact that most people – around eight out of 10 – caught with images of children being sexually abused are not jailed.

That is inexcusable, either the legislation is at fault or the courts are. I can see no reason at all why people who are dangerous to children are not punished by a custodial sentence, and then lifelong monitoring and treatment.

 

[Poem]

Excuses, that's all I read in his self serving crap.

Some will be - but some won't

Remember these are not people who are mistaking a 16 year old for an 18 year old or even a younger teenager child who is post or undergoing puberty, we are talking about clearly prepubescent children, toddlers and babies.

Why do you say this? - child porn in the UK is defined as material featuring anyone under 18. You have said yourself:

..........snip........
In the UK it is illegal to produce or consume any pornography that depicts the participants as being under 18 regardless of the participants actual age. To do so could lead to you being imprisoned for up to 10 years, heavy fines and being for the rest of your life on the "sex offenders" list.

These people are not having this pornography served to them by mainstream pornography sites, they are seeking it out, they do not simply come across this type of criminal material when browsing the WWW.

Citation.
The article states (regarding the case of 'Mark'):
“The police never found a single search for images of children: it was all from clicking through links – what the algorithms were offering me. Porn sites have a button that says ‘See more like this’. I was desensitised, I had looked at so much teen porn.”

From that article: This highlighted the fact that most people – around eight out of 10 – caught with images of children being sexually abused are not jailed.

That is inexcusable, either the legislation is at fault or the courts are. I can see no reason at all why people who are dangerous to children are not punished by a custodial sentence, and then lifelong monitoring and treatment.

Or it is a sign of rape culture.

 

[Darat]

Some will be - but some won't

What wasn't excuses for his abhorrent behaviour?

Why do you say this? - child porn in the UK is defined as material featuring anyone under 18. You have said yourself:

Because that is what the two in the article were trying to imply - that they "slid" into under age porn. Both of the criminals in the article went onto the dark web and purposefully searched for images of child abuse and even shared such images. They did not somehow go from legal pornography by slow incremental steps into images and videos of sexual abuse of 7 year olds.

Citation.
The article states (regarding the case of 'Mark'):
“The police never found a single search for images of children: it was all from clicking through links – what the algorithms were offering me. Porn sites have a button that says ‘See more like this’. I was desensitised, I had looked at so much teen porn.”

Or it is a sign of rape culture.

Again excuses - legal teen porn features adults who have gone through puberty, they did not go from that to images of prepubescent children being sexually abused without knowing 100% what they were looking for and what they found.

 

[dann]

Easily the strongest argument I've seen so far, that 'rape culture' accurately describes our society.
One of its greatest strengths is that it doesn't waste any time on irrelevant questions of pornography, and gets straight to an example of how our society treats rape itself.

He was strangulating women! That makes porn very relevant in the context of rape culture!

Wednesday briefing: Why strangulation during sex has become so common among young people (TheGuardian, Nov 19, 2025)
In today's newsletter: Despite the risks, many young people now see choking during intimacy as acceptable or even expected, which experts put down to the proliferation of increasingly violent online pornography.

Sexual choking is a hidden danger in public health and a crisis of consent (LSE Blogs, Feb 20, 2026)
Sexual choking involves applying pressure to the neck with a hand, forearm, limb, or ligature to restrict airflow or blood circulation during sexual activity.
While it may be portrayed as adventurous or thrilling, especially in pornography, the practice in real life is medically dangerous, often not consensual, and is becoming. more widespread in bedrooms and hospitals around the world.

Sexual strangulation has become popular – but that doesn’t mean it’s wanted (Durham University, Sep 26, 2024)
Social media hashtags promoting these images include #Daddy, #ChokingKink, #BreathPlay and #Strangle. Disturbingly, the investigation found hypersexualised tags and descriptions accompanying many of these images, including one which said “bruise my oesophagus”.
Pornography has also played a role in eroticising strangulation, as part of a wider normalisation of violent sex. And research has found links between people seeing choking depicted in pornography and engaging in it themselves.

I have never thought of strangulation as arousing or titillating, and I have never had a woman ask me to strangulate her or try to strangulate me. Both would be a dealbreaker. End of that relationship.
And it's bloody awful that inexperienced young people, men in particular since they tend to be the stronger sex, may learn from porn, mainstream porn, not SM-specific porn, that strangulation is a natural and normal part of sexual intercourse.

That kind of porn is very much a part of rape culture and it is relevant to consider its impact on rape culture.
And any and all sex ed for young people should bring it up:
'No, you're not the one who is weird or too 'vanilla' or whatever if you don't find choking pleasant or arousing. If your boyfriend doesn't understand that you find it unacceptable and that porn may have misled him to think that it is, break up with him immediately!'

 

[Darat]

People have been using (partial) asphyxiation for apparently increased sexual pleasure for some time. Predating the internet - for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Milligan#Death