Pornography And Its Effect On Society

The pornification (or alternatively pornographication) of the social world has created lasting effects in the lives of people that they must deal with every day (Dines 1998, p. 164). Pornification is the process by which the social and cultural world is sexualised. This occurs through the expansion of media technology and the pornography industry, as well as changes in media regulations and restrictions which allow pornographic imagery to intrude into public spaces (Tyler 2011, p. 79). This essay will offer explanations for why the pornification of the social world is occurring, how the phenomenon differs from a freedom of expression issue and is instead considered a sociological issue, what consequences and harm arise from these explanations, and will offer social measures that can be adopted in order to deal with the issue. Pornification has occurred in almost every realm of the social world, including in its unaltered form on the Internet, social media, marketing, advertising, music, fashion, sport, and art. However, this expansion of easily accessible pornified content is a stark and confronting challenge for our social world.

When discussing the detrimental effects of pornography use, I want to make it clear that I am focusing specifically on the harmful effects pornography has on the individual(s) watching it. Pornography is harmful to many groups and people. And the harm it brings is so widespread that I can’t even discuss all three groups. I could spend a lot of time and effort talking about why it’s harmful to those who create it (those who are exploited in the creating of it), and I could also talk about the third category of harm, which is the objectification of women, or people. However, my argument is going to zoom in solely on its harmful effects on the people viewing it.

A lot has changed since the R v Butler case that was decided back in 1992, when Donald Victor Butler was charged with various counts of selling obscene material, possessing obscene material for the purpose of distribution or sale, and exposing obscene material to public view, contrary to Section 163 of the Criminal Code, which states that "any publication a dominant characteristic of which is the undue exploitation of sex, or of sex and any one or more of . . . crime, horror, cruelty and violence, shall be deemed to be obscene" (R v Butler Edited 2). With the introduction and growth of the internet, society has drastically shifted, as it has revolutionized the way humans live. One issue that has come along with it is, with the internet being so vast in size and so endless in content, it is difficult to regulate all the content on the internet with its borderless nature. Because of this, is it much easier to gain access to pornography, which is what Butler was initially charged for back in 1987. With such a shift in time from 1992 to now, I believe that the internet and other developments have changed community standards and expectations, but not necessarily enough so that the criminal restrictions on obscenity are no longer justified in our free and democratic society.

Humanity has struggled with determining the best option to solve their ethical dilemmas that they run into in their life. Analyzing and determining the best option to take can leave an individual lost in faith and building a relationship with God. Building a God foundation in your life will help you in every ethical dilemma that you face. The only way to solve an ethical dilemma with viewing pornography is to view the dilemma according to a Christian worldview and compare different options to solve the ethical dilemma.

While many will argue that pornography is not harmful and a “victimless crime”, are not of the real effects that pornography can have on a family, or a society as a whole. First of all pornography is detrimental, because it treats humans as objects. Pornography depicts people, especially women, in demeaning and degrading ways. Even if the only ones involved were adults who freely chose to be involved in the production of pornography and even if they were compensated well enough to feel good about what they are doing, pornography does not build the integrity of persons who are made in the image of God. Another effect of pornography is that it is linked to different forms of violence. Pornography can be linked to rape, abuse, murder, and other felonies. Pornography is also harmful to society in that the outlets for obscene material are often outlets for other material such as prostitution, pandering, drug dealing etc. Finally, pornography harms the family. Like other sins, pornography is addictive and progressive.

dominated, or should be treated as if they did’, that it is comparable to speech

Before the 21th century, people’s speech was limited, their speech was censored and controlled by laws and restrictions from the government. Moreover, as we entered the 21st century, public speaking, and free speech is encouraged and emphasized. People are encouraged to deliver whatever content they believe in. In addition, people are given more freedom in expressing their opinions and ideologies. However, a world with unlimited free speech could be disastrous. For instance, should an employer ask freely for an interviewee’s sexual preference or religion, and choose whether to hire that person based on their personal affiliations? Or should a professor conduct a hate speech about homosexuality at a university? In addition, a society with total uncensored free speech could result in the exclusion and the attack of certain minority groups. Although free speech should be tolerated and encouraged, there should be rules and administrations made concerning the content of the speech. Free speech should be regulated if the content involves harming others’ personal affiliations such as sexuality, race and religion.

When it comes to the topic of pornography people usually take one of two sides. One side contains the many people who believe there are no negative effects to watching pornography while the opposite side includes the many others who are completely against pornography. Most people believe that the only reason the latter side exists is due to religious beliefs which, upon doing any research, that idea can quickly be discovered to be false. There are actually two reasons why people are against pornography, one is based on religious beliefs. Another reason many people are against pornography is because of the negative effects that watching it has on an individual’s brain. These negative effects are the rewiring of the brain, the addictiveness of it, as well as the emotional effects pornography has on the person watching it.

Just like how it took decades for society to understand that smoking was harmful, we are learning and understanding more and more that pornography is dangerous. Pornography has the power to twist and rewire how your brain operates. Your brain’s functions will be less connected, less active, and even smaller in some areas. The brain is constantly rewiring itself and laying down new nerve connections. The neural pathways that are being made because of porn are only reinforced and become stronger every time there is usage. This is why pornography can be seen as an addictive process. Pornography also has the ability to be extremely addictive to some and is also just as bad, if not worse than drug use.

As a teenager, I attended an all-girls school and had minimal contact with boys. For this reason, pornography became an educational resource for learning about men and sex, to compensate for what I perceived as a disadvantage of lacking experience. As everyone knows, porn can be found online within minutes, and while the porn I watched as an adolescent was vulgar and unreliable, it was intriguing. Still, I couldn't understand how any self-respecting woman could allow herself to be used and abused, like a sex object, for male pleasure. It was one thing to enjoy sex, but this was a performance. Besides the money, what did they really gain from it? This was the beginning of my struggle accepting pornography. In theory, porn seems to have the potential to be incredibly powerful and lucrative, but my troubles with porn come from the realities of porn as a practice; issues such as unfair compensation, demeaning acts, and immense stigma plague the mainstream pornography industry. Still, I've never considered myself anti-porn or pro-censorship. The reason I chose to take this class is because, while I've heard a great deal about the positives and negatives of pornography, I have no factual evidence to support any of my beliefs or opinions. I see this course as the opportunity to seek the truth so that I might develop a position that I can confidently uphold and defend. While there are several interesting aspects of pornography, in this reflection I will be discussing my opinion of pornography as it relates to two highly prevalent issues, violence against women and addiction, as these are a few topics that particularly captured my attention in my readings.

Pornography has created mixed feelings between groups of people. It is seen as an art, immoral, and an expression of self. Many different genres or categories of porn including; hard and soft core, lesbian/ gay, role playing, and racial just to name a few. Not only has the industry grown incredibly over the last decade, the controversy has also grown. I wish to cover both side of the issue in order to allow both sides an opportunity to shine.

For many years there has been a lot of arguments about the ethical and morality of pornography. pornography is defined as the depiction of erotic behavior intended to cause sexual excitement. When it coms down to pornography, people have different opinions about it. Some people might find it moral because it gives them pleasure and it satisfies them physically. some individuals see it as a form of art that describes the figure of a human body in an artistic form. Others see it as immoral because it harms and degrades an individual. Personally I believe that it all depends how pornography is conducted and how we respond to it. It can be morally healthy that we like it because it makes us happy, such as it helps with your marriage relationship in intimacy, and it can be immoral when it is used in an unhealthy that we do not like it because hurts an innocent person.

Many people have argued that pornography is a form of artistic expression, protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution, others feel there is a distinct line between art and “porn” (Pornogrpahy). Pornography is made to provide sexual pleasure to anyone who hears, sees or reads it, it involves erotic acts. Pornography could be talking, “acting,” or anything that may sexually stimulate someone. Pornography is also, the portrayal of sexual activities and it comes in the form of magazines, movies, videos, and more. Pornography is often seen to overstep the bounds of the First Amendment and misrepresent what is means by freedom of speech. Pornography isn’t something that everyone can agree on. For example, feminist are one group of people have a variety of feelings and beliefs towards pornography. While feminist usually share the same way of thinking this is one topic that causes a major division between them. Disagreeing to agree is a common compromise that people face in life, but in the case of pornography feminist can not seem to do so.

Pornography is used to stimulate erotic feelings through explicit videos. The sexual content in the films rarely demonstrates the importance of contraceptive or STD preventive behaviors. “Video pornography found that only 1% of scenes mentioned contraception” (Wright & Randall, 2012). Most times teenagers will engage in watching pornography for the experience, the know-how and to stimulate erotic feelings. In those videos, contraception is not promoted. Without this promotion, this can lead young students to unknown risks of unprotected sex. The universal acceptance of pornography has changed the past views on sex. In past views on sex, you were supposed to wait until marriage, use protection and not to engage in countless sexual behaviors. In today's society, it is becoming acceptable at a young age to have sex. Pornography affects the behavior of young people by manipulating their understanding of sexual attitudes and behaviors that are acceptable. When engaging in sexual behaviors that are not clearly understood, there are risks that can happen such as STD, HIV or unwanted pregnancy. Unwanted pregnancies can happen when a person is not aware of the risks especially among high school students, this could result in abortion.

The seemingly main reason there is such a growth in pornography is because almost everyone and everything in the world reacts and relates to sex. People are captivated with sex and are excited to see something new or something they have not seen before. People are always looking for a version of sex that is new or more different than the norm. This is soaring the pornography industry to grow one step further in order to keep up with the demand.