Heavy-reliance on Images to Satisfy Sexual Desire
First of all, it is manifesting to observe the heavy-reliance on images to satisfy the sexual desire by the netizens. The proliferation and bombard of the pornography shared in LIHKG provides a wide range of themes in pornographic videos, such as different roles of characters, sex positions and settings for sex, which has reflected the premise of the condition for the happenings of the phenomenon of the “Society of Spectacle” mentioned in the previous part.
Pornographic contents from the online platform have demonstrated numerous scenes and occasions of having sex in daily occasion just like having sex with your relatives or sexual harassment in public transport. This has satisfied all sort of tastes and sexual desires of the netizens as what we have found in online observation. The netizens and pornography consumers could engage themselves as the protagonists in different imaginative sex relations and relieve their sex through the erotic fantasies.
The flood of the posts sharing pornography in the online platform has also triggered their instant sexual desire which may show by the increase of the frequency on both masturbation and a higher degree on self-reliance in relieving sexual need, which is mentioned by our male interviewee.
A mode of sexual gratification that does not concern a qualified sex experience and the process has also been observed. Instead of the authentic sex experience, the virtual sex experience has transcended the advantages and pleasure that brought to the pornography users to some extent. A simplified yet quantitative visual experience of the consumption in pornography is taken place. According to one of our male interviewee, users will have the imagination of harem possession and having group sex with different females at the same time by opening up numerous photos of female on the monitor at the same time and having the porn video at the middle of the screen when he is masturbating. Such act makes him feel like he is having sex group sex and possess lots of sex partners. In real life, authentic sex relations with the real person involved lots of complex affections or compromises, but virtual sex experience could enable the users to have sex without the consent from “his partners” and he or she can feel free to pick anyone they want in relieving their sexual desire. There are no necessary to build up relations with your sex partners just like “one-night stand”, sex partners are no fixed and easily replaceable; porn consumers in this sense are enjoying a high degree of freedom and power as they are active, the one to select who they want.
Besides, LIHKG as a platform that provides diversified of pornographic content has also provided suggestions for female in consumption of porography, just like our female interviewee has treated LIHKG as a starter to engage in the consumption of pornography as she is not familiar with this topic and difficult to seek suggestions in daily life as it could be embarrassing for a female who is supposed not to expose to sex and being passive in expressing her sexuality to initiate in discuss or seeking the knowledge of sex, under the operation of the invisible panopticon in our daily life that has restricted the discussion on sex. In addition, with the inadequate sex education in Hong Kong, it is obvious for a female like our interviewee to seek or explore ways of dealing with their sexual needs and curiosity. It is therefore the platform of LIHKG and online pornography has shared a vital position in guiding the female to engage in the topic of sex.