Woman meets good-looking man by random chance. Woman hates man at first. Woman slowly grows to like man. Woman falls in love with man. Woman and man have giant misunderstanding. Woman and man break up. Woman and man figure out that it was a huge misunderstanding, fall in love, get married and live happily ever after.
Does the above scenario sound familiar to you? Anyone who has grown up watching Hollywood romantic comedies has likely witnessed countless variations of the above storyline. While these types of movies might be entertaining for those who thrive off of routine (count me out of this group), one could easily argue that they are not exactly safe escapism for everyone. To quote the comment of user MissTake1989 on a previous article of mine, "The real world damage is done by the Princess Fantasy. This is how and why romantic dramas and comedies actually do far more harm to society, families and individuals than porn." This is a fact that I could not agree with more, as I would make the strong argument that Hollywood is much more dangerous than pornography will ever be.
Pornography gets a lot of heat from many social and religious groups, and I will not interfere with the beliefs of those who find it sinful, against their religion or immoral for personal reasons. And there is no denying that many women in the business could be mistreated or involved with the industry for terrible reasons. But if we are talking purely about the long-lasting effects that pornography has on the viewer versus the negative effects of Hollywood movies, I would argue that romantic comedies are much more dangerous than pornography.
For starters, most people are intelligent enough to understand that pornography is a completely fictitious universe. No logical man expects that the police officer who arrests him for running a red light is going to take off her glasses, let down her ponytail and rip open her shirt to reveal two very big (and hopefully real?) reasons why he should have slowed down. Nor do women expect that the pizza delivery boy will be packing a large surprise underneath that large pizza, even if the order does just so happen to be a meat lover's pizza.
In addition, it can be argued that pornography ironically helps to prevent infidelity. Many women would argue that it encourages men to want to sleep with women who aren't their wives. On the contrary, it can also serve as an outlet for men to live out the fantasies that they can't realistically have, without suffering the repercussions of an affair. Some argue that men are hunters by nature, wired to sleep with as many women as possible. Instead of actually going out and cheating, porn provides the necessary release. In addition, some pornography may even improve the sex lives of monogamous relationships, inspiring a couple to try new things. The bottom line is this: Pornography is escapism, and just about everyone alive understands that.
Hollywood romantic comedies, on the other hand, sometimes blur the line between reality and escapism. Not all women view these movies as pure escapism, whether they are conscious of it or not. For women who fall into this category, its not entirely their fault. From the time they are young, women are bombarded with stories that they are going to be swept off their feet by Prince Charming one day and live happily ever after. These women hold onto the fact that if they just keep waiting for their prince charming, eventually, he will come. After all, everyone lives happily ever after in the movies and marries Matthew McConaughey. In turn, countless women become unrealistically picky and dismiss men who are great matches because they don't fit into how they always dreamed of meeting their partners.
At the end of the day, the odds of a Matthew McConaughey clone spilling coffee on you at a bus stop so that you could have your fateful encounter isn't likely. And if a guy as charming and good looking as this really were to walk into a woman's life, odds are even bigger that it would end with him being a jerk, not calling when he says he's going to call and sleeping around with other woman. Because let's face, in real life, men who look and act like these characters are often not good looking guys with hearts of gold.
So forget pornography as being dangerous to society. Hollywood is the real danger. Let's be real; Mr. Right is much more likely to be the guy who your best friend insists on setting you up with or the man you meet online than any of these fictitious dream guys seen in the movies.
Joshua Pompey is an online dating and relationship expert. For some free profile writing tips on how to meet women online, click GetREALDates online dating advice now.