this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2026
27 points (88.6% liked)
Ask Lemmygrad
1367 readers
22 users here now
A place to ask questions of Lemmygrad's best and brightest
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Bcz sex commodification is, shocker, bad.
Pornography is just another aspect of the commodification of sex under capitalism,.like prositution, it contributes to the capitalist construct of transitory sex, either in the form of marrying people based on there wealth (most commonly) or well just good old fashioned prositution.
Within any developing socialist society the destruction of sex commodification should be considered a important task, at it reinforces capitalist mindsets within a local culture, as well as reinforcing sexist attitudes in the local culture to whichever gender is considered the "lesser" gender.
This prohibition on pornography is one sign out of a thousand for China's socialist nature, as obviously in a capitalist state capital wouldn't want for a avenue of wealth generation to be closed off.
Of course pornography also has bad mental effects and can cause addictions to develop, which is another reason for it's banning.
While I agree that the commodification of sex is inherently bad, pornography itself doesn't have to be a form of sex commodification. Unarguably It does exist under capitalism as a form of sex commodification and exploited as much as possible, having destructive effects on everyone that is involved in making and consuming it. However, one could argue that under socialism, with direct control of the party over media, as i assume is the situation in the PRC, pornography could theoretically transform into an artistic and educational form. It could be leveraged to spread healthy sexual practices and body positivity among people. Its potential positive effects shouldn't be ignored.
As we all know, the curiosity of young people will have them cross paths with pornography sooner than a relationship. Now, would it make more sense to give the youth access to some sort of controlled or healthy pornography to safely explore sexuality or just have them access capitalist porn through an easily obtainable VPN?
The problem rather than being pornography as a medium, is actually of its content. It is the content which due to most of the pornography being produced in the global north, promotes the capitalist mindsets you mentioned. This can of course be heavily regulated/controlled in a socialist project.
I would also argue that addiction to pornography isn't rooted in existence of pornography either; it is the result of unhealthy social relations or lack thereof within the addicted person, which is more the fault of a toxic norms in society or bad education/upbringing. (this is actually a way bigger subject which i can't do justice at the moment)