this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2024
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 minutes ago

Like, I get what you mean, I do.

But it's simply not accurate. Great as a shower thought! Just not accurate regarding the motives of all prostitutes and porn actors.

It isn't about poverty, though that is there. It isn't about addiction, though that's definitely a big factor in both. But it has never been that simple.

I think what would be more accurate is that in a post scarcity environment, prostitution and pornography would cease to be about necessity. You would see way less of either, with pornography possibly becoming only self produced.

Prostitution would probably cease to be an exchange of goods or currency, which does mean it would be eliminated on a semantic level. After all, if it isn't an exchange of goods/currency for a service, is it still prostitution, or is it just two consenting adults having sex? At that point, it's no different than hooking up with someone you met via something like grindr.

But that doesn't mean the basic idea of someone having sex with strangers for some kind of exchange would die entirely. It could end up as a more direct exchange of services. "Hey man, if I give you head, could you help me move this fridge?" "Sure dude, sounds like a fair trade to me." You might even still have street level hooking, where people are just looking for some kind of exchange of sex, even if only for the rush, but it isn't about money. Wouldn't be much, most people aren't into that. But there are people into that.

The internet put a huge dent in the porn industry. It didn't kill it, and I don't think it can. But people making their own porn for fun and sharing it changed the industry. Enough that I'm certain it will never go away entirely, though the exact shape of it may be so different as to not really count. But porn, at its core, is not about the porn industry. The industry could well die within years of scarcity disappearing, maybe even less time. But you'll still have people making movies of themselves that they allow other people to enjoy. You'll likely even have hobbyists that have skill with the film making that get asked to do the filming (I know a guy that does exactly that).

But, yeah, good shower thought!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 hour ago

Wow I would have thought if everyone had food and shelter then we would have more pornography, not less. And I'd also wager we would have better quality porn too. Along with better quality of a lot of other things really

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 hours ago

"I want a sandwich but i can't afford one. I guess I'll go watch porn and hire a prostitute."

I don't understand that.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 10 hours ago

Have you ever met a real human? 🙄

[–] [email protected] 39 points 11 hours ago

I'd say get back in the shower.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

That is making the assumption that pornography and prostitution only exist because people need food and shelter.

The rich porn stars (they do exist) would be a contradiction to this theory.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 hours ago

I agree. For some people, I think pornography and prostitution are their preferred jobs.in your scenario, they would be more empowered to speak up for themselves. Right now, with food and shelter being a concern, people may not always feel comfortable turning jobs down.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 hours ago

Nah, if I had guaranteed food and shelter I’d be filming pornography all day every day.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 hours ago

You are nieve. Some sex workers enjoy their jobs.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

You forget about furry porn. Furries draw porn because we like it, not because we make money at it (but money allows those of us who do it to actually potentially live off it).

Edit: or to put it another way, someone drew furry porn and discovered they could make money doing it, not the other way around.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 hours ago

Not admitting to any sort of experience here, but if any aspiring artists come across this:

Get yourself a manager. Even if you're not that popular yet, just have a friend handle the communication, commission slot scheduling and payment processing for you. Because no matter how much passion you go into the job with, eventually you will fall into playing online therapist for a guy with a name like "VirusDog24" whose wife is pretty unhappy with the amount of money he keeps spending on commissions and who keeps asking for way too many alt versions. But you kinda have to keep him happy because he does pay so well and comes back all the time due to some weird parasocial attachment.

No matter how good the pay is, stuff like that can really pull the fun out of a hobby, hypothetically.