“Porn” is a Four-Letter Word: Stop
PLEASE NOTE: In an effort to keep it real, let's just say that this Wednesday entry may include graphic descriptions of sexual acts and links to material that some might find objectionable. Much of the content below offends the heart and mind, and we've included it to do just that. Please proceed with appropriate caution. In other words, you might not want to read this at work (particularly if your boss is a “snooper– ) or at home with your wee ones in the room or at all if you don't want to face the ugly truths about pornography.
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Stop:
Because we're social libertarians (we believe we have a right, as odd as it might be, to harm ourselves but not others), we can't quite bring ourselves to think that “pornography” should be completely banned (because some consider erotica pornographic, and, well, we don’t). There are valid arguments that porn increases rates of rape, pedophilia, general misogyny and misandry, distorted sexual expectations, and addiction, amongst other problems. But the issue remains too pervasive and complex, too gray around some of its edges. We've at least come to believe that greater governmental oversight is required. If pornography should be shut down, and there is a great deal of research to suggest that the societal damage it creates would permit the government to enact such a ban without being too paternalistic, we really can’t rely on the government to do it.
We are going to recommend, however, that you take one simple action: stop.
Odds are, given the fact you're an Internet user and likely a citizen of a country that spends 10-15 billion dollars each year on pornography, that you have or do watch pornography.[1] But stopping can seriously improve your life and the lives of others.
Why? As the author Pamela Paul argues, “the all-pornography, all-the-time mentality is everywhere in today's pornified culture.– She's painfully right. We live in a culture where stores hock Hello Kitty thongs, a piece of clothing which is “literally a byproduct of the sex industry.– [2] A culture where between 1992 and 2004, “breast augmentation procedures in this country went from 32,607 a year to 264, 041 a year.– [3] A culture where Paris Hilton is celebrated by teens because “she is our mascot.– [4] A culture where a porn star's book tops the best-seller list (a porn star, we should add, that according to her own book, “was beaten unconscious with a rock, gang-raped, and left for dead– ¦her sophomore year of high school– [5]). A culture where, according to a 2004 study, porno websites get three times the traffic as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN Search combined.[6]
But this isn't “a– culture. This is our culture, and not for the sexually better, but for the worse.
In her 2005 book, Female Chauvinist Pigs, Ariel Levy describes the problem of pornography this way: “porn stars are selling something more than a skill — they are giving up the most private part of their being for public consumption.– Some might respond by saying, “Well, they're choosing to do it.– This, of course, doesn't mean we have to participate in it by viewing and purchasing the material. According to Dr. Melissa Farley, a psychologist and researcher at the
We think that what we've written in our opening salvo (and the Read, Protect, and Watch sections of this Wednesday topic) do a good job of supporting the simple argument we're making now: stop, people, stop.
Picture clicked this fine-eyed photographer.
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[1] We're not going to be holier-than-thou: we've watched pornography; we've owned pornography.
[2] Levy, Ariel. Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture. 1st.
[3] Ibid. p. 20.
[4] Ibid. p. 28.
[5] Ibid. p. 182.
[6] Baertlein, Lisa . “Study: Web porn entices far more surfers than search.” USA Today 03 June 2004 12 Feb 2007 <http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2004-06-03-popular-porn_x.htm>.
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