I'm not super into porn and don't really consume it. However, I am interested in fighting censorship. They will not stop at porn. They're already labeling anything LGBTQ as porn so they can ban it. Sex education is already on the chopping block most places.

A content creator I follow who spoke on the subject explained it very well: Erotic content is the canary in the coal mine.

Conservative far-right groups attack it first in order to have an excuse to label those who condemn these abuses as “degenerates” and perverts; and it is extremely easy to associate queerness with eroticism, and thus re-criminalize homosexuality and other non-conformist identities.

This is only the first step, and they will not stop until they have destroyed everything.

It's obviously a basic human desire. Porn's been around since the Stone Age. Might as well ask why do people like games.

Your second sentence suggests that pictures and video cannot possibly have any artistic value, and I think common sense suggests that you're wrong, even when the people are naked and doing various things.

As for your general question, I think the people who are trying to censor us have the burden of explaining why they deserve that power. There are certain areas where censorship is definitely a good thing, but very often we find people trying to take control of societal communication for selfish reasons, generally money or power, and those people can go fuck themselves.

Wanting sex is a normal and human desire, and NSFW content is just an expression of that, but without any of the effort or risk of rejection needed to get a sexual partner in real life. Some people like to imagine themselves or their ideal partners in the scenes they view. Some have specific kinks or preferences that are harder to find, thus the need to pay for it. Some have parasocial relationships with the creators.

As for the “nothing new” part, well, you’ve probably eaten your favorite foods hundreds of times in your lifetime without getting tired of them :)

Are you asking why a sexually reproducing species is horny?

First they came for paid porn.
I did not speak up, because I did not pay for porn.....

Above all, it is about the individual freedom.

Go back in history and you'll see a pattern of regressive politics paired with heavy censorship, starting with anything sex or sexuality related and, by extension, anything potentially disturbing.

It is always sparked by a "well intentioned" desire to protect:the public from harmful creation which then pushes further and further into thought control. There have been attempts to ban and criminalize cursing.

Imagine being arrested for shouting an expletive out of hurting yourself or frustration.

I don't consume porn. I think it is so banalized it has become uninteresting. But to have people persecuted because they want to make it is not something I want to see. And this feeling goes further when we enter the realm of personal affirmation, linked with LGBTQ+ issues and other individuals fighting for their rights.

And this is highly debateable but artistic creation must no be censored. The best censorship for artists and their work is indifference. It's the best way to state that something is irrelevant.

Meanwhile, with all the persecution towards mature content (try replacing NSFW and porn with that expression), we get violence nearly glorified in almost all media and so called reality tv and other highly exploitative entertainment is normalized.

Leave the mature content creators be.

I want to know what draws people to it and why keep consuming

Like mentioned by others, for most people sex is a basic need porn being a substitute to the real thing which can be a lot more difficult to achieve than, say, wanking in front of a screen.

and making it?

Why do people make porn? Money. Porn is big money.

I don't like the framing of this question.

I don't understand how anyone past puberty can't understand it. Can't really speak for women but stuff that gives me a boner is great. Its like food that cause you salivate. You want to eat that food and you want to fuck that person. The main difference is if your from a modern country that does well then you have access to almost any kind of food you might want. I could totally see if in a situation where you have limited food options having pictures of a really decked out burger or burrito as big as your head or stuffed pizza or cheesy beef or hotdog dragged through the garden. Sorry I could go on but I uh. Really need to do something so gotta run.

Mostly because boobs are pretty great.

No one wants to watch the same tired clip over and over forever while having the daily wank.

I have Aphantasia lol, it's lame fapping in the void to my own inner monologue! Maidenless rn too. Gotta shake things up.

I'm more about written works when I'm on my own however, visual aids or not. Usually not, because the quality of VN/WEG is piss poor with a few exceptions. Books are way better.

As to why, it's because I'm a human animal and it's a need. You can tell because once satisfied you lose all interest in whatever it was for awhile.

Boards of Canada set it to music very well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-FI6D8ZXpc

Now that the show is over
And we have jointly exercised our constitutional rights
We would like to leave you with one very important thought

Sometime in the future, you may have the opportunity
To serve as a juror in a censorship case or a so-called obscenity case
It would be wise to remember that the same people
Who'd stop you from listening to Boards Of Canada
May be back next year to complain about a book, or even a TV program

If you could be told of what you can see or read
Then it follows that you can be told what to say or think
Defend your constitutionally protected rights
No one else will do it for you, thank you

It really isn’t obvious to you why people consumer it?

I like to watch women have sex.

Why do you like chocolate?

I've got a fairly large body of art that straddles the line between NSFW and SFW.

Overall, my content is photography of women and my audience trends mostly female. I view this as a version of success - I'm a straight male person and I feel like if my audience was more male-trending, they'd just be appreciating the boobies instead of the human form, often times nude or scantily clad, artistically presented.

The nude in art is something we've had for a long long time, we've never really gotten tired of it. I haven't run out of new and interesting things to do with it. Photographers of nudes in days past didn't have access to the latest LED technologies, at the very least. And. likewise, genetic variation is always turning out a new face.

And, dono, I get that just because I'm fairly unbothered by nudity that some people might be uncomfortable and thusly my art is NSFW. You wouldn't want it as your desktop pattern on a work PC, right? But it's still art and people find joy in it and I've spent a lot of time developing it.

Okay, but then there's everything else! Pretty girls get away with more than chubby girls who get away with more than trans girls, so it's always been a version of policing and it thusly leads to the thin end of the wedge where more things, important things like how to understand when you are actually being groomed or that LGBTQ people have always existed or how to not get a disease, get lumped into the same category, so I'm annoyed because people want to make porn go away, then my art go away and then do a bunch of other dastardly deeds, none of which any of us really want to have happen.

Cuz freedom