On Making Better Porn

Karley Sciortino, New York, 2015 Karley Sciortino, New York, 2015

text by ALAIN DE BOTTON
photography by OLIVIER ZAHM

 

The online world is flooded with every conceivable kind of sexual image. A substantial percentage of all Internet searches – perhaps as high as 25% – are for pornographic material. Even its detractors have to concede that, by the standards of sheer volume at least, the porn industry seems to be hugely successful. It appears to have tapped into a core demand of humanity, however awkward it might at times feel about admitting this.

But seen another way, porn is a major collective failure. Not because it exists, but for another reason that initially sounds very strange: the porn industry fails us because it doesn’t produce good porn. The idea of good porn can seem paradoxical. Many people worry that porn…