
I've been thinking about pornography lately. And not in a sort of 'turn on the laptop and dim the lights' kind of a way but as a social practice... Pornography and the pornographication of our society makes me uncomfortable and not, I think, because I'm prudish, but because to me there is something inherently destructive in the practice of regular porn consumption. So, I've tried to look at it with my horse trainer's hat (or helmet) on to determine why it is that pornography is problematic.
They say when you have a hammer in your hand all your problems start to look like nails. When you're a horse trainer you tend to see the world in terms of instinct and behaviour. Instinct, because the horse is 500kgs of lightning fast, hard-wired instinctive reaction and behaviour, because you spend your days nurturing and training some behaviours while carefully discouraging others. It is this intersection, the balance of both nature and nurture, that is at the heart of all good training.
They say when you have a hammer in your hand all your problems start to look like nails. When you're a horse trainer you tend to see the world in terms of instinct and behaviour. Instinct, because the horse is 500kgs of lightning fast, hard-wired instinctive reaction and behaviour, because you spend your days nurturing and training some behaviours while carefully discouraging others. It is this intersection, the balance of both nature and nurture, that is at the heart of all good training.