To call Russell Brand outspoken would be an understatement. Katy Perry's ex-husband is known not only for his acting and comedy career but also for his social and political rants — delivered in interviews, in his autobiography My Booky Wooky, and on his YouTube channel, The Trews (true news — get it?). As Aurora Snow reports for The Daily Beast, Brand recently came out swinging against pornography in a fast-talking video promoted by "Fight The New Drug," an organization that professes to "educate and raise awareness on the harmful effects of pornography using only science, facts, and personal accounts." (Not sure what other tools you can use to educate and raise awareness, but okay.)
"I was obsessed with porn when I was a teenager," Brand shares, but now, "I feel like if I had total dominion over myself, I would never look at pornography again." According to Brand, "our attitudes toward sex have become warped and perverted and have deviated from its true function as an expression of love and a means of procreation," and he believes porn is largely to blame. He goes on to ascribe "desperation" and "self-doubt" to those involved in the making of porn — not only dismissing porn's content, but insulting the professionals who work to create it.
There is certainly unethically filmed porn out there, as well as porn that many people view as degrading (toward women in particular). But, to qualify all porn as harmful is to cast judgment on the countless people who incorporate it into their lives in a healthy way — as well as those who make porn safely, ethically, and with great enjoyment. (We also have to ask whether Russell Brand has seen any of the beautiful female-centric erotica out there, or whether he's even aware that it exists. Porn nowadays is on as wide a spectrum as sexuality itself.) Of course, if porn-watching starts to negatively affect your real-life relationships, it's time to reassess its role in your life. In the meantime, Brand can rant in his corner; we'll be over here in ours, indulging guilt-free in the erotica of our choice.
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