Stoya Pens Op-Ed for NY Times on Societal Duty of Porn

NEW YORK—In an opinion piece titled "Can There Be Good Porn?" published Sunday by The New York Times, adult performer/director Stoya ponders the responsibility of X-rated material to compensate for what she terms "this country's nonfunctional sex education system," as well as its ability to do so. Pointing out that the question is a pertinent one right now in light of efforts by multiple states' lawmakers to label porn a "public health hazard" (calling particular attention to Florida's recent such move while concurrently tabling any discussion of gun law reform), Stoya writes, "Pornography, we're told, is warping the way young people, especially young men, think about sex, in ways that could be dangerous." Asserting, "I'm invested in the creation and spread of good pornography, even though I can't say for certain what that looks like yet," she nevertheless frets that any context within which porn is couched toward that aim "is usually stripped out when a work is pirated and uploaded to one of the many 'free tube' sites that offer material without charge." She continues, "These sites are where the majority of pornography is being viewed online, and by definition don't require a credit card—making it easier for minors to see porn. And so the problems that come with porn are inseparable from the way it's distributed." Those problems notwithstanding, Stoya stresses, "We in the industry can add context to our work, but I don't know that it's possible, at the end of the day, for what is meant to be an entertainment medium to ... teach empathy, the ability to read body language, or how to discuss sexual boudaries—especially when we're talking about young people who have never had sex. Porn will never be a replacement for sex education." Read Stoya's full op-ed here.  This is not the first time Stoya has been published in the Times; she wrote a piece for the paper in 2014 on the usefulness of stage names for adult performers. For more on that, click here.