Why Is Pornography So Pervasive

 

Why Is Pornography So Pervasive

 

 

For millennia, erotic material has been created to sexually arouse individuals. However, for many centuries, producing such material was challenging, making it primarily accessible to the wealthy and powerful. 

With the advent of printing machines, photography, and cinema, the landscape changed entirely. Pornography became accessible to the less affluent, both in terms of cost and availability.

This phenomenon intensified even more with the spread of VCRs. Unlike film reels and old photographs, videocassettes were easy to store, duplicate, and distribute. Moreover, they could be viewed in the privacy of one's home.

In recent times, the proliferation of pay-TV and the internet has made pornographic material even more accessible. The consumer who does not want to be seen by neighbors in the adult section of a video rental store can now "stay at home and place an order by pressing a button on the cable TV or satellite receiver remote control," explains mass communication expert Dennis McAlpine. 

The ease of accessing this material, according to McAlpine, has contributed to making it "much more acceptable."

 

Pornography Becomes an Accepted Phenomenon

Many people have an ambivalent attitude towards pornography because it has now become a socially accepted phenomenon. "It's already a cultural phenomenon much larger than opera, ballet, theater, music, and fine arts combined," says writer Germaine Greer.

One can gauge how pornography is perceived today in part by the fact that many celebrities follow trends alluding to the look of prostitutes, music videos increasingly saturated with erotic images, and the advertising world adopting a "porno-aesthetic." McAlpine arrives at the following conclusion: "Society accepts what it is fed. . . . This contributes to the impression that all of this is positive." The consequence is that "people do not seem capable of being scandalized," laments writer Andrea Dworkin. "They remain indifferent."

 

Justifying Pornography

In the same vein as Dworkin, retired FBI agent Roger Young notes that many "fail to understand the dimensions of the obscenity problem and the problems it causes." Some are swayed by pornography advocates who claim there is no evidence that pornographic images have a negative impact on people. 

"After all, pornography is pure fantasy," says writer Ferrel M. Christensen, "a fact that its detractors seem to have difficulty remembering." But if fantasy does not influence people, then what is the basis for the advertising industry? Why do companies spend millions of dollars on advertising messages, commercials, and print ads if these things do not have a lasting influence?

 

 

The fact is that, like any effective advertising, pornography aims to create desires in those who did not have them before. "Pornography is a way to make money, plain and simple," write researchers Steven Hill and Nina Silver. "In this frenzied market, everything can be commodified and sold, especially the female body and sexual relations." 

Greer likens pornography to fast food that is addictive and not nutritious but loaded with chemical additives to enhance the taste. "Commercial sex," she says, "is not genuine. . . Food advertisements sell food that does not exist in reality, and sex advertising sells sex that does not exist in reality."

According to some doctors, pornography can create an addiction that is much more challenging to overcome than drug addiction. When treating a drug addict, detoxification is typically the first step to eliminate the substance from the body. However, addiction to pornography, explains Dr. Mary Anne Layden of the University of Pennsylvania, "produces mental images that are indelibly fixed in the mind and become integrated into the brain's chemistry." 

This is why vivid pornographic images viewed years ago can come back to the mind. She then concludes, "This is the first substance addiction that you can't detox from." Does this mean it is impossible to break free from the influence of pornography? And what are the exact damages that pornography causes?

 

Some Internet Pornography Statistics

Approximately 75 percent of the pornography circulating on the internet comes from the United States. Nearly 15 percent comes from Europe.

It is estimated that pornographic websites are visited by about 70 million people every week. About 20 million of these users are in Canada or the United States.

From a recent study, it emerged that, in a one-month period, the European country with the highest number of online pornography users was Germany, followed by the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain.

In Germany, those who watch pornography on the internet spend an average of 70 minutes per month visiting adult websites.

Among European online pornography users, those aged over 50 are the ones who dedicate the most time to browsing erotic sites.

According to one source, 70 percent of internet traffic related to pornography occurs during the day.

 

 

According to an estimate, there are 100,000 websites that contain child pornography.

About 80 percent of commercial child pornography on the internet comes from Japan.

Pornographic material has become more accessible, and despite what its supporters say, pornography has a highly negative impact on how people view sex. Some researchers at an institute studying family issues (National Foundation for Family Research and Education) have concluded that "those who watch pornographic material are at a greater risk of developing deviant sexual tendencies."

In their report, they wrote that "among males who regularly watch pornographic material, there is a widespread distorted concept of rape (the idea that women entice men to rape them and derive pleasure from it, and that rapists are normal people)."

According to some researchers, frequent exposure to pornographic material can make it challenging for individuals to engage pleasurably in normal marital intimacies. Dr. Victor Cline, a specialist in sex addiction treatment, has identified a recurring trend among pornography viewers. 

If not addressed, what initially began as occasional glimpses can transform into a search for increasingly explicit and aberrant material. Dr. Cline argues that this can lead to deviant sexual behaviors. 

Behavioral scientists share the same view. Dr. Cline reports that "this way, one can acquire any type of sexual deviation," and once acquired, this deviation "cannot even be removed with tremendous guilt." Ultimately, individuals may attempt to reenact the immoral fantasies cultivated through pornography in reality, often with devastating results.

Dr. Cline states that this problem can develop gradually and imperceptibly. He says, "Like a tumor, it continues to grow and spread. It rarely regresses, and it is also very difficult to treat and cure. 

In all likelihood, the man who is enslaved by it will deny it and refuse to face the problem, which almost invariably leads to marital or relationship problems, sometimes to divorce, and sometimes to the rupture of other close bonds."

 

Statistics show that the primary consumers of pornography are boys between the ages of 12 and 17. In fact, for many of them, pornography is the primary source of sexual education. This has very concerning consequences. 

"In pornography, no teenager becomes pregnant, and there are no sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS," notes an article, "which fosters the mistaken belief that the behaviors depicted have no negative consequences."

According to some researchers, exposure to pornography material can also compromise the normal development of a child's brain. Dr. Judith Reisman, president of the Institute for Media Education, reaches this conclusion: "Medical-neurological observations regarding the instinctive way the brain reacts to erotic images and sounds indicate that watching pornographic material is a biologically significant event that bypasses informed consent and is harmful to children's malleable

understanding of reality, affecting their psychophysical health, well-being, and pursuit of happiness."

 

Pornography Alters Attitudes and Behaviors

The messages conveyed by pornography are enticing, primarily because they are imaginary and thus presented as more exciting than reality. (See the sidebar "What Message Will You Accept?") It has been said that "those who feed on pornography develop unrealistic expectations that will ruin their relationships with others."

Pornography can destroy trust and honesty, essential qualities in marriage. Typically, it is consumed in secret, often requiring deception and lies. The spouse of someone who watches pornography feels betrayed. 

The wife wonders why her husband no longer finds her desirable (or vice versa).

Watching pornography has severe spiritual consequences. It can become a significant stumbling block for someone seeking a relationship with God. The Bible associates sexual desire with lust and idolatry. (Colossians 3:5) 

One who lusts after something desires it to the point that it becomes the most important thing in their life, eclipsing everything else. Essentially, someone enslaved by pornography places sexual desire above God. They make it an idol. Jehovah God, on the other hand, commands, "You must not have any other gods against my face." — Exodus 20:3.

Pornography destroys love-based relationships. The apostle Peter, who was married, encouraged Christian husbands to assign honor to their wives. A husband who falls short of this obligation may find that his prayers to God are hindered. (1 Peter 3:7) Can someone who secretly views indecent images of other women claim to honor his wife? How would the wife feel if she found out?

 

 

And what does the God who "will bring every sort of work into the judgment" and "keeps accounts of the spirits" think? (Ecclesiastes 12:14; Proverbs 16:2) If one watches pornography, how can they expect God to hear their prayers?

A fundamental element of pornography is the selfish pursuit of one's pleasure at any cost. Therefore, watching pornography is not loving. It undermines a Christian's efforts to remain chaste and morally pure in God's eyes. 

"This is what God wills," wrote the apostle Paul, "that you abstain from fornication; that each one of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in covetous sexual appetite . . . ; that no one go to the point of harming and encroach upon the rights of his brother." — 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7.

Pornography primarily exploits women and children. It humiliates them and robs them of their dignity and rights. Those who watch pornography take part in and support this exploitation. "However good a man may think himself," explain researchers Steven Hill and Nina Silver, "the fact that he tacitly approves of pornography makes him at the very least insensitive to the person he claims to love, if not outright misogynistic."

Could it be that sharing a nice porn video with your partner can only benefit the relationship?"