It is commonly thought that men represent the main producers and the main consumers of pornography. But earlier this year feminist firebrand Germaine Greer alluded to an important and often forgotten fact: men are also its victims.
'Pornography', Greer said on a September episode of ABC1's Q&A, 'also exploits boys, men and children, but most of all, it exploits the consumer of pornography.
'The consumer', she said, 'doesn't realise that because of the stage in your life at which you become aware of pornography, that his sexual responses are being altered by pornography, so that he is expecting a certain kind of mechanical sequence of events, which he's learnt to manipulate in his own self-gratification. This then gets parked on a relationship, which prevents real intimacy from ever ensuing.
'That's pretty grim but it's much grimmer, the fact that people are moving towards each other in a series of pre-programmed responses.'
Like women, men have fallen prey to the unrealistic expectations of a hyper-sexualised culture.
A recent study from Italy surveying 28,000 men found that pornography addiction began at around the age of 14. Men who consumed it excessively became immune to explicit images and developed an idea of sex devoid from physical intimacy.
Carlo Foresta, head of the Italian Society of Andrology and Sexual Medicine, said: 'It starts with lower reactions to porn sites, then there is a general drop in libido and in the end it becomes impossible to get an erection.'
This reflects what Greer says; men who view pornography come to a sexual encounter with certain expectations but, due to the explicit nature of the material they have been viewing, these expectations are unrealistic. The man loses the experience of intimacy because he is unable to become aroused in a normal sexual encounter.
This has ramifications for both parties in a relationship. One is left feeling undesired and unable to live up to a fantasy image. The other is a man impotent and stripped of his masculinity.
At the same time the man wants sexual release and the urge to view the material which has caused his problems remains; in viewing there is release and instant gratification. And so the cycle continues.
In response to Greer, Sydney journalist Joe Hildebrand asked 'What about gay porn? What about when it is two blokes doing it? Which one is being oppressed then?'
Hildebrand raised the issue in jest and the question went unanswered. But to offer Joe an answer, just because it's two men doesn't mean it is not exploitative or harmful. Gay pornography has the added element of the sub-ordinance of the homosexual male to the heterosexual male.
Common power play scenarios involve teen-looking or less typically masculine males being taken advantage of by alpha males. In some cases this can involve a competition; the male who finishes last is submissive to the other male or males. The symbolism is clear: the male who is less masculine needs to submit to and worship the other males as his superiors.
In other instances, some popular websites attempt to coerce males in financial hardship to put a price on their sexuality, and perform gay sex acts (or, more commonly, have sex acts performed on them) for money. Once again this portrays an image of submission by a vulnerable male to another powerful male.
How many bi-curious young males may be exposed to this material and act out the role of submissiveness, especially when questioning their own sexuality and feeling emasculated? A homosexual male, or a woman exposed to pornography, could take on board this image of submissiveness as sexually arousing, and become conditioned to subordinance.
All elements lead to what Greer described as pornography's ability to promote the acting out of pre-programmed responses devoid of intimacy. Ultimately we need a movement away from porn, and to re-assert a sexuality that is not based on images of actors from a specifically geared, targeted and manipulative industry.
For years the pro-porn lobby has tried to win the argument and take the ground from the left and right by portraying them as either censorship fascists or religious conservatives. The truth is that you can not have exploitation in the name of liberalism.
Matthew Holloway is a freelance writer and social justice advocate from Tasmania, where he stood for state and federal parliament and co-founded Tasmanians for Transparency.