Research Argument about Pornography
Introduction
Pornography refers to the demonstration of sexual activities with objective of providing sexual arousal on the people that will see it. Over the course of time, the channels of pornography have become more diverse, as people who have become addicted to pornography have been able to access this either through print media, video tapes and now so many Internet websites that promote pornography have emerged. This allows people to have easier access to pornography at any time they like.
The author is aware of the many devastating effects of pornography on the people that become addicted to it. It is just unfortunate that society has learned to become liberal in its stance on pornography. There are some countries that have softened its stance towards the eradication of pornography because their governments realized that they could earn significant revenues once they legalize pornography. What is worse is that there are many innocent people including children that are forced to shed their clothes and pose naked in front of the camera to address their financial needs in exchange for damaged integrity. Oftentimes, countries that support pornography also support prostitution and as a result, they also deal with the many societal problems that go along with it.
Thus, the author’s claim is that pornography should be completely abolished because of its many negative impacts on society and thus save innocent people from humiliation and loss of integrity and self-respect. The author believes that pornography is unethical and unacceptable in a society that believes in morality and Christian values.
Arguments supporting the Abolition of Pornography
1. Pornography is connected to most sexual crimes.
It has been proven by studies that pornography is frequently connected to sexual crimes, and these crimes typically include rape and even murder of innocent women. Experts believe that people who have become addicted to pornography become so heavily influenced by what they see and read in the pornographic materials that they think that it is just acceptable if they ask other women that they like to engage in sexual activities with them at any time that they like (Bourke 185). Because what they see and read in the pornographic materials seem to suggest that sexual intercourse can always consensual, people are led to believe that this is also the same case
in real life.
However, they realize that what happens in the pornographic material is not the same case in real life. They get rejected by women whom they approach to ask to engage consensual sex with them. Thus, the intense feeling of rejection overwhelms them as they are not able to get the satisfaction that they need. However, what is worse is that instead of walking away after getting rejected, they are not able to control the intense sexual urge that is brought about by their prolonged exposure to pornographic materials.
Thus, the result is that they force the women that they like to have sexual intercourse with them, in the same manner as what they saw and read in the pornographic materials that they liked. They forget about the human rights of the woman and instead just keep on doing what would fulfill their sexual urges.
The crime of rape as a result of the tremendous influence of pornography to an individual obviously has significant negative impacts on both the victim and the perpetrator. On the part of the rapist, once he successfully rapes the woman, he is most likely to threaten that person not to say anything to the police or to family members. This is the way of the rapist to make sure that the forced sexual intercourse is going to happen again in the long run. This proves that the pleasure seeking behaviors of rapists do not really stop after one event.
On the part of the victims, these acts surely traumatize them to the highest degree. These women feel violated of their rights because they were treated like animals. They were forced to engage in sexual intercourse against their will. Thus, after getting raped, they could become so depressed and fearful of other men, especially if they think that there is a strong possibility that they could be raped again. These women hesitate to seek the help of police officers due to threats to their safety and their family as well.
These women who were raped are actually lucky to have survived because there are some women who were not only raped but also murdered by their rapists. The rapists think that these women would eventually tell the police what happened to them as well as the identity of the rapist so instead of letting them live, they choose not to take the risk and just kill the woman to save themselves from getting caught. The rapists remain roaming around the society, waiting for their next victims. Such is the huge negative influence of pornography that it contributes to the proliferation of criminals that threaten the safety of the people.
2. Pornography is immorality in the aspect of religion.
There is no religion in the world that actively supports pornography. All religions are united in their stand that pornography is tantamount to immorality and violation of human rights. All religions teach values and behaviors that all guide the people towards living better lives. These values include teaching the people how they should think of sex. Sex is being taught by most religions as something valuable and important towards the maintenance of excellent relationships among couples that are legally married.
Catholicism is one religion that is very much opposed to pornography. It views pornography as something that is a product of the evil minds of people. This is a manifestation of the supremacy of the devil on the life of the person that has become so addicted to it that pornography has already controlled his life. This is supported by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states that:
Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials;… (Section 2354)
Christianity is another religion that is against pornography. This is emphasized in the Bible in the book of Matthew, which states that,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28)
In this Bible verse, pornography is being related to adultery. This is because during the time of Jesus Christ, the concept of pornography has yet to emerge, which was why it was adultery that became the main subject of teaching concerning matters related to inappropriate sexual desires and actions. The Bible verse preaches that even the act of thinking of inappropriate sexual acts is considered a sin and unacceptable to God. Therefore, Christianity preaches that because the objective of people that watch or read pornographic materials is to fulfill their sexual urges, it is considered as a serious transgression in the eyes of God and of the society.
Islam and Judaism also hold the same beliefs as with Christianity in opposing pornography. They condemn people that are not able to control their sexual desires and allow these desires to overwhelm their minds and spirits. Both of these religions believe that people must learn how to clear their minds and discipline themselves from thinking of such lustful thoughts. People are being taught of staying away from common temptations that could lead them to think of such lustful thoughts.
- Pornography is a violation of the rights of women.
Feminist groups are very vocal about their opposition of pornography, and they equate it as something that is abusive of the rights of women. These are supported by the testimonies of the women that at one point in time participated in the making of pornographic videos. These women claim that they were misled by the producers that they were to shoot movies, but not sexual activities. They were forced to do what they were told to do because they were threatened by the producers of breach of contract if they opted to back out.
The women who eventually quit in participating in the production of pornographic materials claimed that they experienced feeling depressed and worthless, especially once their family members and loved ones knew what they were doing. Some of them mentioned that they were even rejected by their own families once they learned that they were working as pornographic actresses and models (Strossen 32). Thus, even though they were getting paid significant amounts of money, these women were also subjected to emotional trauma and suffering as the price that they had to pay for being involved in pornography.
Even the public treated them with disrespect, believing that they were women that people could just pay to have sexual intercourse with. Thus, the public did not see these porn actresses and models not as human being anymore, but merely as toys for fun. It became clear to them that the public perceived them as lowly and hopeless people who did not have integrity or selfrespect. Thus, they did not have the courage to face the society and chose to live quiet lives away from the eyes of the public.
- Pornography can be addictive and destroy the life of the individual.
Just like drugs and alcohol, people that become addicted to pornography can suffer from many of its many negative impacts. In any type of addiction, the key component is always the satisfaction that is being obtained by the individual. In the case of pornography, it is the sexual desire and arousal that is being addressed, as most people are not that very open in publicly discussing their sexual thoughts and fantasies with other people. Thus, they use the pornographic materials to satisfy these fantasies and make themselves feel better.
However, all types of addiction have their own negative impacts. On the part of pornography, its impacts are more on psychological and behavioral. Psychologically, the people that have become so hooked up with pornography are able to develop a mentality that women are sexual objects. They begin to imagine how it feels like to be like those men in the pornographic videos that they are watching, and thus they become more eager to also try those activities, only this time with them as the main characters. Slowly but surely, they become empowered to personify their favorite porn stars and determined to try what they do in real life.
In terms of the behavioral impacts, the people addicted to pornography are those that become rapists or people that engage in relationships with the sole purpose of engaging sexual activities with their partners. Thus, they are always at risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases because they practice promiscuity or changing sexual partners every now and then. Since every different partner provides different feelings of pleasure, it is simply hard for the people involved in these sexual relationships to stop themselves from engaging in these behaviors.
Arguments against the Abolition of Pornography
- Pornographic materials help educate people about sex.
Supporters of pornography believe that there is no point to abolish pornography because it actually helps people particularly couples to improve their knowledge about sex. They believe that sexual intimacy is an integral part of the relationship of couples, so it is their responsibility to educate themselves in this part. Couples who have been able to manage strong relationships credit healthy sexual activities as important factors to their successful and stable relationships over the years because they continue to keep the fire burning and enjoy each other company even more.
Thus, most couples view pornographic materials as the best sources of information and education regarding matters involving sexual intimacy. They really appreciate the fact that they could purchase the pornographic materials that they prefer and either watch those videos or read the materials together (Spector 44). These couples believe that these pornographic materials significantly help improve their knowledge about sexual matters and also be able to practice what they learned in their relationships. For them, pornography is much better than simply hearing the advices or recommendations of their friends or peers.
It is hard to make these couples oppose pornography because they know and personally experienced its benefits. It is not easy for them to simply turn their backs on something that helped to rekindle the fire in their relationships, which is why they continue to use pornographic materials as their guides towards continuously improving their sexual knowledge and understanding, while at the same time building a stronger bond with their respective partners that seemed impossible to achieve before.
- Pornography strengthens marriage of couples.
Infidelity among couples has always been connected to the absence of sexual intimacy. They have lost the passion and excitement of enjoying each other’s company in the sexual standpoint. Thus, either the male or the female gets tempted to engage in relationships with other people because they are craving for a renewed feeling of excitement that they just could not find anymore with their current partners.
This is where pornography often helps couples in terms of addressing the problems of their marriage especially when it comes to sexual matters. Pornographic materials provide the opportunity for the couples to fix their sexual problems that are causing their relationships to become boring and disinteresting. This is the option that they choose instead of simply losing hope, giving up and being unfaithful to their partners. They are able to discover the things that they are doing wrong and are able to correct them through the guidance being provided by the pornographic materials.
Thus, the pornographic materials can even help to save the breakup of marriage because the couples are able to regain their trust and confidence with one another that their relationships and intimacy can be restored. They are able to become honest with one another regarding their wrongdoings and become more open to suggestions as to how they can improve and recover the fire and passion of their sexual activities. Once the excitement of their sexual activities gets restored, then the other aspects of their relationships become easier to handle and everything goes back to normal.
- Pornography is a form of self-satisfaction.
Nobody wants to live a boring and miserable life. With that being said, every person has unique ways to find satisfaction. Some people find happiness in acquiring material things and indulging in various vices, while for some, they find satisfaction in pornography. Even psychologists agree that for as long as the indulgence of people in pornography is moderated, then there is nothing to worry about.
All people have different levels of sex drives depending on their ages. One thing for sure is that it is very difficult to always control these urges or restrict them. Thus, it is hard to blame people who are able to find pleasure in watching or reading pornographic materials because they see these as the perfect venues to be able to satisfy their sex drives and curiosity in knowing more about sex. Experts believe that this is much better than doing something illegal under the laws.
The most important part is that the person who indulges in pornographic materials knows how to control himself. People have to know their limitations and realize that pornography should not be abused. It has to be treated as something that can help improve the understanding of people about sexual matters. Problems usually emerge once the people lose control of the reality and their sexual desires because they have nothing else in their lives to get pleasure and satisfaction except pornography. However, if the people remain in control and have a balanced approach in life, the exposure to pornography is not likely to bring negative impacts on their character and personality.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that pornography has become widespread all over the world. It has become seemingly accepted as a common type of entertainment and has been able to diversify into different types and forms. The availability of pornography over the Internet has undoubtedly paved the way for its quick progression that has made many people so addicted to it over the last couple of years.
In spite of these recent developments in the field of pornography, the author is firm in the perspective that pornography needs to be eradicated from society. There are many negative impacts that pornography provides people than what other people claim as positive benefits. The pornographic materials not only pollute the minds of the people that become addicted to them, but they also motivate them to do criminal activities that they would later regret in the end. Unfortunately, once the people realize the wrongdoings that they have done, it is already too late as the damage has already been done. It is not surprising to see in the news how many women get raped and even murdered by people who used to be sane but got heavily influenced by pornography.
The author also believes that since religions also demonstrate their overwhelming opposition of pornography, then it is only right for people to really have a mindset that is also firm in rejecting pornography as an acceptable form of entertainment. If pornography is completely abolished in the face of society, then people especially women can be safe from unnecessary crimes and the integrity and values of the people can be restored.
WORKS CITED
Bible Gateway Website. Matthew 5:27-28. Retrieved December 4, 2010 at http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A27-28&version=NIV
Bourke, Michael. “The ‘Butner Study’ Redux: A Report of the Incidence of Hands-on Child Victimization by Child Pornography Offenders.” Journal of Family Violence, Volume 24, Number 3, 2009, pp. 183-191
Spector, Jessica Prostitution and Pornography: Philosophical Debate about the Sex Industry. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006
Strossen, Nadine. Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women’s Rights. New York, NY: NYU Press, 2000
Vatican Official Website. Catechism of the Catholic Church. Retrieved December 4, 2010 at http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P85.HTM