The Ethical Dilemma Of Pornography

“It can snatch any kid out of the home…It snatched me out of mine 20 years ago.” (Final Interview, 2:54-3:02 minutes). The addiction to pornography is often likened to that of a drug, “One should become addicted to it, and I look at this as kind of like an addiction. Like other kinds of addictions…you keep…I would keep looking for more potent, explicit, more graphic kinds of material. Like an addiction, you keep craving something that’s harder…something…which gives you a greater sense of excitement.” (Final Interview,

For the purpose of this paper I would like to introduce my friend TJ. He is a Christian father and husband. He reluctantly had to admit he watches porn when his teenage son, a member of the Canon City team, confronted him on the issue. This paper will accompany the Jenson family

To begin, pornography has addictive characteristics and because of those characteristics intimate relationships often suffer. Today, men and women tend to become addicted to watching pornography and use it to masturbate. It has been proven that “problematic pornography is characterized by a predominant urge for behavioral engagement, referred to as a craving” (Allen 67). If both parties of a relationship have this urge or craving for pornography, this could cause their relationship to suffer. The sexual act lacks love and intimacy and becomes mechanical or second natured. Pornography has been compared to addiction and people who are addicted enable each other. Therefore, there is no

A full functional analysis of Leader X’s feeling, thoughts, events and behaviors both preceding and following his use of pornography will be conducted. As well as exploring the function that pornography is playing in his life. By doing this I will be able to determine what is causing Leader X to use pornography, for example if he is using it to escape stress or using it as a way to feel better about himself or even as a way to escape from a situation. Leader X will be taught stimulus control strategies which will involve destroying and removing all pornography he has and in addition to this he will be taught how to use imagery. By teaching Leader X imagery he will he will be equipped with a way to survive his urges to use pornography as well as learn that if he resists his urges they will subside.

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.

Dr. Mark Lasser’s book “Healing the Wounds of Sexual Addiction” gives hope for those who are in the throes of sexual addiction and those who suffer with them. Laaser feels that this book is important because of the pain and desperation that he experienced from sexual addiction; he now wants to share what he has learned about the power of the Lord and healing. In this book he relates how sexual addiction has grown to epidemic proportions (Laaser, 2004, pp.17). The Internet has been the source of much of that growth, with a bevy of materials of a sexual nature being readily available to everyone with computer access. The Internet has just what they are looking for in the form of pornography for sexual

My name is Jimmy Baker and I am addicted to pornography. Some consider sex addiction to be an excuse for inappropriate behavior, which from the viewpoint of an outsider is a reasonable misconception. However, these outsiders are unable to comprehend the incessant craving for sexual activities. A sex addict has often been defined as ‘a person who is obsessed with some type of sexual behavior, and whose behavior is compulsive and is continued despite significant adverse consequences’(@).(Question 1) Day to day life as a sex addict consists of activities that are common to most middle aged men of this era like watching football on Sundays or taking my dog for a walk with the exception of sex dominating your waking thoughts.(Question 7)

From the Utilitarianism view point, pornography is seen as morally right because it provides the greatest benefit of happiness for the greatest good. The Utilitarianism suggest that there is an obvious solution that is fair, and it may be one that appeals to common sense” and that “one should choose to do that which produces a better outcome for the largest number of people.” (Mosser, K. 2013, Ch. 1.6). under Utilitarianism, pornography offers benefits in marriage because couples can revive their marriage by using pornography as a new tool to explore each others intimacy and satisfy their sexual relationship. Some

Furthermore, pornography materials are available in many ways and methods. Debates have been made of the positive benefits of pornography for both men and women.

John Woods, a child therapist, worked on a case with a 13 year old boy named Andrew who was referred to his clinic because he was abusing his five-year-old half-sister. During the therapy treatment, it was found that Andrew had been constantly viewing pornography for two years and he had “built up a complex fantasy world” and he wanted to try to involve his half-sister in what he was watching on his computer. Woods went on to explain, “Without virtual pornography, it’s my belief that Andrew would not have acquired his compulsion to abuse, let alone dreamt up the idea of involving his sister” (Woods 2012). In Andrew’s case, his addiction to pornography affected his relationship with his family, but in multiple cases, viewing pornography can bring up issues into one’s relationship with their significant other.

This article begins by discussing the varying definition and vacillating perception of the word, 'addiction'. The authors explain addiction as a disease of the brain that causes dysfunction of the brain's reward system, motivation, and memory. Consequently, it is apprised that these dysfunctions lead to problems with the characteristics of an individual's biological, psychological, spiritual, and social aspects of who they are. The article transitions by drawing parallels between the characteristics of pornography addiction and substance addiction. A noted similarity that the article refers to is that the same pathways in the brain that are triggered by drugs are also triggered by internet pornography. Furthermore, the authors found that

Paragraph 2 – Many religious standards would take a very similar ethical perspective to pornography, especially Christianity, which would specifically oppose the “use” of people that occurs in the industry. MacKinnon describes how “women exist to the end of male pleasure” (MacKinnon, 309) in pornography, and Tisdale says that “porn uses people as objects” (Tisdale, 315). In the Christian view, this usage can be seen as very utilitarian, and “the commandment formulated in the New Testament, demanding love towards persons, is implicitly opposed to the principle of utilitarianism” (Wojtyla, 174).

Pornography has many obvious as well as not-so-obvious consequences within society. Pornography has the power to ruin marriages, destroy trust, excite a person to the point of sexual crime, or create an unhealthy view of human sexuality and the opposite sex.” (WowEssays, Pornography)

Pornography is an ethical dilemma that affects men and women from all walks of life. In TJ’s case, porn is photographs or videos that depict of erotic subjects with the intension to titillate the audience (Pornography, 2017). Making an ethical decision is difficult for TJ because of his options: continue to practice his freedom rights to privately watch and giving up the pleasure he receives from watching porn. Continuing will put himself at risk but by quitting he will no longer be supporting the pornography business. If TJ is a Christian, he could look to the core beliefs to help him decide.

“Never before in history of telecommunications media in the United States has so much indecent (and obscene material been so easily accessible by so many minors in so many American homes with so few restrictions” (qtd in “Pornography and Child Sexual Abuse”). The problem addressed in the quote by the U.S. Department of Justice is pornography, a 10 billion dollar industry, has made its way from discreet taboo to something that is today considered acceptable and even common. With the internet being such a common tool, it is no surprise that there is easy access to sexually explicit material. The widespread accessibility and usage of pornography has changed people’s outlook on the normality of watching such sexually explicit material, and