Porn and The League

For the past few weeks, I have been absolutely consumed with the show The League. My 17-year-old brother recommended it to me, and as he has never failed me with his pop culture stamp of approval, I decided to give it a shot. I'm so glad that I did. It is maybe the only show I have ever watched that consistently makes me laugh out loud. So now my roommate may want to kill me, but it's worth it. Anyway, the show follows a group of middle-class Chicago adults who have a fantasy football league. Kind of a simple concept, but it is HILARIOUS. However, like any adult comedy, it is also problematic. It is a pretty male-oriented show, as you might guess. Today in class, one of the things that popped into my head is the fact that the guys in the league are obsessed with porn. Not Don Jon level, but it is a very normal part of each of the guys' on the show's lives. In fact, one of their acquaintances' job is to scout locations for porn films, and one episode centered around the filming of a porno in one of the guys' lofts as a joke. I'm pretty desensitized to media at this point, and am not surprised by guys watching porn, but I did find it really interesting that it is expected of every guy on the show to watch it regularly, and that the female character on the show does not watch it.

In Peter & Valkenburg's 2010 article "Processes underlying the effects of adolescents' use of sexually explicit internet material", the authors found that frequently porn exposure caused adolescents to view this material as more realistic in its depictions of sex. This has always struck me as annoying about The League, because most of the characters are totally unsatisfied with their sex lives even though they are in committed relationships or having a lot of sex. Only one character doesn't watch porn, and this is because according to him, "My wife looks like a porn star" (she does). The others' frequent consumption of porn seems to interfere with their own expectations for sex and their own satisfaction. In a 2009 study by the same authors, they found that more exposure to porn also reduced sexual satisfaction, which is totally consistent with the show. I have no moral issues with watching porn, but it makes me wonder if it is really worth it when it stops being a fantasy and starts interfering with one's expectations for real life.