Can porn make you gay?

Can porn make you gay? No, I very much doubt it.

What it can do, however, is give you a venue of experimentation to find out what you do like. Take me for example: porn didn't make me gay, it made me realise I was gay. I saw that I was far more focused on the males than the females, and in fact found little to no arousal when only females were involved, while the opposite was true when it was only males. When I first watched porn I was pretty much up for anything simply because it was all new to me, but I did eventually realise where my attraction lay.

On the subject of fetishes, I can see some sort of logic in saying that people turn to more and more 'extreme' fetishes in an attempt to increase their experience, but once again I doubt that these fetishes would spontaneously develop and therefore would have to of been there (possibly in some sort of dormant state) beforehand.


If you go long periods without sexual release (and therefore I assume not looking at porn), and your attraction towards males increases then I think it's pretty safe to say that porn isn't the cause.

 

No, porn can't make you gay. Not really much more to say about that after what the above poster said.

After reading many of your threads, it seems that you are just trying to find a scapegoat to get over being gay. That's understandable, and we've all been there. You have to know, though, that nothing is going to change the fact that you are gay. You were born that way, and you're not confused or being "turned gay" by porn or anything else. You should try and accept yourself, even though it's hard.

 

There is a degree to which people can be desensitized to things they once found sexual. For example, someone who spends a lot of time with naked people in non-sexual settings will probably find nudity less arousing than someone who only seeing people naked in the context of sex. And certainly I no longer can get off as easily on clothed guys kissing as I could when I first started looking at erotic images.

But that''s not how sexual orientation works. You get off on gay porn because you like men. You're attracted to men because you like men. No amount of analysis is going to change that. You will be much more content once you accept that liking men is simply a part of who you are.

 

^^^ agreed

Watching porn doesn't make you gay––trust me. There are certain psychological mechanisms that are "laid" down, which get activated when you're exposed to certain stimuli. Let's take arousal, for example. You might be "born" with certain arousal mechanisms that are activated once you see men. But, within this mechanism, there's specificity and variability (maybe you like certain types of men or maybe, your arousal's a bit more fluid, so you like something from men or women). Hypothetically speaking, if your mechanisms were never exposed to an arousal-inducing stimuli (if you were NEVER exposed to men or you never noticed men in that way because it was wrong to do so), then you'd never be aroused by that stimuli. My theory is that men who force themselves to never think about men in that way in the earlier part of their lives may never get erections or may never get aroused by them, which is why you see so many men having epiphanies that they're gay later in their life (maybe, they finally allow that stimuli to arouse them or something). So, yes and no, watching gay porn may have made you realize you were gay, but it didn't make you gay. You already had that underlying neural structure––it was just waiting to be activated. This is just my working theory, anyway.

 

There's an entire site dedicated to your brain and the effects porn has on the development of the brain that can be found called yourbrainonporn. This article is taken from that site and there's a lot of information there about it.

A point I'd like to make is that porn really isn't that credible source of information about anyone's orientation. People get off to different things and it doesn't indicate anything about their orientation in real life (at least in all cases). The argument that is made in this article is extensive addictive porn use coupled with an anxiety response can cause fetishes to be wired in. We are currently using a simple cause effect relationship where being aroused by gay porn indicates gay desires but I'd be willing to argue that its not that simple.

Consider a male with a really high libido who finds a lot of different kinds of porn enticing. Over time all of his fantasies in regards to straight porn feel satisfied and desensitized and one day he accidentally stumbles upon transexual or gay porn, he feels aroused due to the taboo or dominating nature of it and the anxiety coupled with this discovery makes it seem all the more dangerous. There's a lot more factors then simple cause and effect relationships here. The element of domination, power, risk and much more can make that fantasy much more stimulating.

What I'm simply arguing is that gay fantasy does not indicate gay orientation. It does in most cases, but not all. I may be wrong (as I have never found gay porn enticing) but I have heard that some straight men do find gay porn arousing. Perhaps it's the domination element, perhaps they are more so Kinsey 1s or 2s, who really knows... but no, I highly doubt porn can change your orientation. It sounds like you are gay and that's that.

 

I doubt it. I watched straight porn first because that was what I was taught from school to be acceptable. Then I slowly switched to gay porn within 3 months. I think porn is really revealing of your sexual orientation.

 

One negative thing about porn is that it creates a need for stimulation--sort of like an adrenaline junky. You continually need more and different to get you stimulated. (Check out a great TED talk about the Demise of Guys.) But porn really doesn't make you gay or straight. I never looked at porn until I was in my 20's. But I was gay waaaaaaaay before that. But if you rely strictly on porn, you'll need more and different to keep you turned on and you'll start going into other areas.

 

Hmmm... I do think its possible for a "straight identified" male to have a fetish or fantasy in which they envision themselves being "taken advantage" of by another male as a result of having a submission fantasy without necessarily having a physical attraction to men.

Of course, notice I said POSSIBLE, not likely. I think more than likely that's more of a form of an internal excuse someone could use to watch gay porn without self identifying as gay. I kind of did it. I switched from lesbian porn to gay porn when I was young and told myself if it I just liked it because it was "taboo" and actually possible for me to engage in. I would say 99.99% of the time, if someone likes gay porn, they are not exclusively heterosexual.

I feel like Freud, and I do not like it.

 

After thinking about it again, I think that you are right Chip. There are extreme cases but there are extreme cases and exceptions to anything. We can't take the case of the porn addict and apply it to everyone. I think you are right. I think the reason that these sites identify straight males with gay fantasies is that they are in fact Kinsey 1s or 2s as opposed to Kinsey 0s but because of the fact that in our society we have an obsession with binary categories they just identify as straight. Or maybe they are just in denial, who really knows.

The point that the more watching of gay porn for a straight male does not make it more arousing is a point I can relate to. As an ocd sufferer I have watched hours of gay porn trying to get an arousal reaction... and so far its been impossible. The most I might have ever felt is a twitch down there... and some psychosomatic sensations that don't really indicate arousal. A small issue I have with that site is that it creates some misinformation about ocd itself that people carry into treatment with them. In fact, to them, "gay fear" ocd is someone who has watched too much gay porn and now is afraid that they are actually gay. This seems like it would be a powerful tool of denial for someone who is actually gay and just trying to deny it.

J Snow, that's the most common case I've heard of when it comes to someone actually liking gay porn but identifying as straight. However, it is possible that they are more so Kinsey 1s or 2s as opposed to Kinsey 0s like they'd like to identify.

 

I actually suffer from "gay fear" ocd or hocd as its frequently called and the symptoms are nothing like actually being gay. I'm not aroused by men, can't get turned on by a man's touch and what not. I'm just stuck in a pseudo-reality like I have been countless of times before with my other ocd themes.

Giving it the name hocd is INCREDIBLY counterproductive to both the ocd sufferer or a person who is actually gay. It causes theme focusing in the ocd sufferer and highlights to them a focus on "What does this thought mean" which makes the ocd harder to treat. To the person whose trying to deny his sexuality he suddenly has a powerful crutch to explain away his attractions. I'm really feeling a need to write an article on why terms such as hocd and other things are incredibly counter-productive to EVERYONE involved.

The worst part about people who actually have ocd become terrified due to their pseudo-reality that they will constantly re-assure people who actually are experiencing genuine arousals to the same sex that its just ocd in order to continue live in the denial of the fact that people can use their fear as a tool for denial. Its a lose lose for both sides as long as this damned name is used.

In the end it's ocd, nothing more, nothing less. Any other name will lead to theme focusing and give another tool to someone who is in denial. It becomes quite a mess for all involved.

 

Precisely why I said 99.99% of the time they wouldn't be purely heterosexual. You can rarely be 100% certain of anything though, so I just left it open to the possibility that there could in fact be a very very small number of people who really do like it without being attracted to the actors. I don't think its impossible. I mean, my speculation is people don't like stuff like "monster" and "tentacle" porn because they are attracted to such things, but rather the emotions of helplessness, shame, and so on.

 

I must be a weirdo then, because I've been watching porn since I was 12 (yeaaaah I know) and I still get off just fine on the same stuff I've always got off on. I still perform just fine when I have an actual partner.

Anyhow, until they can prove that heterosexual porn makes gay people straight, I'll fail to believe that homosexual porn makes straight people gay.

 

Seeksanctuary, I'd imagine factors depending on how strong your libido are and such should also be considered. I know by the first time I had sex I had no feeling left in my penis due to the way I masturbated. I had hit a point where I was aroused but physically I didn't feel a whole lot. I believe the term is called retrograde or delayed ejaculation. Its pretty easily fixed mind you, but still.

 

I doubt it. I was bi a long time before I clicked on gay porn curiously, much much later in life, when I wanted to see how I'd feel about it. I was only seven when I saw a movie which made me innocently only want to dance with a guy. Some people can be in denial, then see something LGBT related that strikes a chord with them and makes them realize they're either gay or bi. But I highly doubt it could turn a 100% straight dude towards guys. It also poses the question - why even look at gay porn in the first place if you're not at least curious? Curiosity usually shows at least some form of interest already there.

I only like guys around my age too, the only exception being Ryan Phillippe lol (unsure exactly why) - with women it's all ages, it's probably due to a certain comraderie with other guys my age.

---------- Post added 18th Dec 2011 at 02:24 PM ----------

On different grounds, however, I can admit to becoming "more gay" after watching an LGBT show or film though. But, I'm already bi and like guys as well as girls. When watching a romantic film between a dude and a chick, I really want to be the dude with the chick right there beside me. LGBT - makes me want a boyfriend. But it's only cognitive. I start thinking with the gay side of my brain - I'm boy crazy until something interrupts it. I start thinking with the straight side of my brain - I'm girl crazy until something interrupts it. Not porn exactly. But that could be an explanation for a bisexual who works in a similar manner.

 

Yes, I do believe that if you star in enough gay porn, you could eventually come to appreciate the acts in which you are engaged, at least on an aesthetic level.