포르노그래피의 자연사

A Natural History of Pornography: Evolutionary and Neuroscientific Approaches

Our consumption of pornography has been evolving since its invention in human history and it has become a kind of a cultural phenomenon now. How could we understand it? In this paper, I am trying to understand the consumption behavior of pornography scientifically: How did pornography evolve? Why are there sexual differences in the consumption of pornography? What happens to our brain when we are watching it? How will it evolve in the future? To answer these interesting questions, first, I explore the evolution of human mating strategies in terms of evolutionary psychology. Then I analyse how the evolution of sex differences in mating strategies are related to gender differences in the consumption of pornography. From an evolutionary point of view, pornography could be understood as the byproduct of adaptation for male’s reproductive success. So then, how do our brains activate when we are exposed to pornography? I survey neurosciences of empathy and imitation which are closely related to the addiction to pornography and wide spreading of it among males’ brains. The human mirror neuron system is a possible candidate for the core mechanism of spreading of pornography. Because of the natural history and neurological underpinnings of pornography, now it has evolved as a meme (a unit of imitation, coined by Richard Dawkins) which is a quasi-autonomous agent. These evolutionary and neuroscientific approaches open new doors to understanding pornography.