Adultery and Pornography: Oxymoron or Strange Bedfellows?

Interesting article by Ross Douthat at the Atlantic. You can check it out here (hat tip to Douthat's colleague Andrew Sullivan).

Personally, as someone who write a blog called "Pornucopia", I find it laughable to consider hard core pornography as a form of adultery - in any circumstance.

I follow Douthat's line of thinking to a point, especially as he talks about the influence that the internet has had and the increase in amateur web girls and proliferation of amateur and pro-am porn sites.

But to say that watching an amateur film or a pro-am film is comparable to having an affair is a specious argument.

Yes, watching someone act in a pro-am or selling a home movie they made with a lover or spouse on clips4sale.com is a lot different than watching something like The Devil in Mrs. Jones or Debbie Does Dallas.

Or is it? Isn't it still just as simple watching people on film (or video tape or dvd or on the web) fuck?

Ross, a couple of questions for you: In order to make the premise work (and maybe I'm taking this to an extreme), would masturbating to porn that you shot with your wife and posted on the web be considered adultery?

Or is the act of masturbating itself (whether or not porn is involved) adultery as well?

Update: It appears that others think that this column is foolish, too.