According to BBC News, in 2022, there’s been an increase in watching porn in public places – places that should otherwise be private. Just imagine going outside for a nice walk and seeing someone masturbate instead. Yuck! It’s also illegal, but clearly, that doesn’t stop the “new pandemic.”
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Anyway, Bronwen Reed, who told her story to BBC, sat in the library, expecting to study like all the other students. To her surprise, she was greeted by the sight of a man watching porn on a library computer. “I was surprised and shocked. I did not know what to do about it,” she tells the BBC. The 21-year-old from Manchester, England, thought it was an “isolated incident”, like a one-time thing, a one-time creep, so to speak. But a few weeks later, she experienced the same thing in the same library with the same man. Guess those studies are going to have to wait. Let’s just hope she doesn’t fail her exams because of that creep.
Like Bronwen, other people have confided that they have witnessed incidents of men viewing porn in public on city buses and trams. Recently, a Conservative MP in the UK resigned after admitting to viewing porn on his cellphone in the House of Commons. Ok, a little break here – what the hell? Geez! Let’s continue. However, he told the BBC that the incident happened by mistake – that he was actually searching for a website for tractors and not because he was interested in porn. Oh, yeah, definitely – I’m sure that’s what they all say. “I didn’t mean to click on PornHub – my finger did it on its own; I don’t control my hands; are you crazy? Nobody can do that!” According to a report by media watchdog Ofcom, half of British adults watch pornography. BBC interviewed Dr Paula Hall, a psychotherapist, to find out in more detail – why people do it in public instead of in private. She specializes in working with sex and pornography addiction at the Laurel Center.
“It is not at all appropriate to view pornography in a public library. Especially where families and children can be,” says Dr Hall. She explains that the “want and need to watch pornography is greater than what is necessary to say, ‘No, I will watch it later when I get home.’ When someone becomes addicted, the thinking part of the brain often shuts down. Whether it’s alcohol, gambling, or video game addiction, impulse control simply goes down tremendously,” she concludes. And apparently, men turn to “cavemen”.
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Self-awareness and the Mainstream
For Callum Singleton, it happened during a bus journey home in Glasgow when he saw “a passenger scrolling through pornography”. The 19-year-old’s initial reaction was “disgust and confusion” because he didn’t understand why anyone would do that in public. “It seems to have become a prevalent thing… it’s just part of their everyday life. And obviously it shouldn’t be,” Callum says. Dr Hall believes that people who view porn in public may “lack self-awareness.” “One minute they’re scrolling through eBay or Facebook, the next they’re following a link and end up on pornography. People watch pornography in public because of a shameful lack of self-awareness,” says Dr Hall. She adds that people may also be affected by the “normalization” of porn in mainstream culture. “Pornography is widespread today, unlike in earlier times. So the lines between what does and does not fall into that category have become blurred. When some people look at pornography, they might think that everyone around them is doing it too. It’s become more normalized.” Dr Hall says that for a small percentage of men, viewing pornography in public is actually “a power issue”. “There’s something misogynistic about the “I have a right to watch that,” she says. She adds that they may think it’s not their problem if “it makes someone else uncomfortable.”
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Force of Habit
If people are being exposed to pornography from an early age, this could also have some sort of effect, says Dr Hall. “With virtually all kinds of behaviour, the age at which we start doing something is highly significant in terms of how automatic it becomes for us. And it’s much harder to unlearn it if you don’t even recognize it as a habit. If people are used to watching pornography from an early age, that action will be almost automatic. Earlier mentioned student, Bronwen, calls it “very disturbing because public spaces should be for everyone.”
“The most important thing is that everyone should feel comfortable and safe on public transport and in public places, and that doesn’t happen all the time. It can also act as a trigger for some people, and it can make them very uncomfortable.” Dr Hall adds: “Lack of self-awareness is a crucial contributing factor to this as well as perhaps not realizing how offended or even psychologically damaged other people can be by witnessing that act. They may even forget altogether that for other people, something can be hurtful.”
So, we’re not really going to ask your opinion on this matter. Because, obviously, if you’re not a creeper, you’re against this type of behaviour. However, what do you think about what Dr Hall said? Or do you have another theory? Either way, just be normal, okay? And watch porn in your room with locked doors like the rest of us.
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