Myths About Pornography

[DisRuptive1]

Porn, and the people who make it, are far from perfect, but there’s a lot of mud thrown about by people who spend their time trying to re-run Roe vs. Wade, The Scopes Trial and other fights lost years ago.

Thanks to Fox News, The Washington Post and talk radio, being involved in pornography means having to defend yourself against the rabid accusations of self-righteous blowhards.

Here are nine answers to nine common accusations it's not worth losing one of your nine lives over.

1. Porn harms children

This argument takes two forms. Firstly, that children exposed to sexual material are harmed by it. This is doubtful.

Are children harmed by seeing images that distress them? Of course. Are images of sexual pleasure distressing? No. Should any child be seeing images they can’t comprehend and might upset them? Probably not.

When I was six I thought women got pregnant when men hugged their wife in a special way (it made sense at the time). If I’d have seen an image of what really happened, I might have asked questions, but the image wouldn’t have distressed me. Why should it? A kid sees stuff like that when he goes to the bathroom, it's not much different.

Of course there’s porn that contains images of degredation and torture that are entirely unsuitable for young kids, but that’s got nothing to do with the sex in the images. Nudity in a picture of torture and/or degredation are probably the least harmful things in the photo.

The other argument is that child pornography is connected to pornography and therefore all pornography somehow promotes the abuse of children. This is fatuous.

Child pornography is a record of child abuse. That most children who suffer abuse aren’t photographed doesn’t make their abuse any more acceptable. Child abuse satisfies the urges of pedophiles, and a pedophile with a camera is no more a pornographer, than a murderer with a camera is a film director.

The idea that pornographers don’t mind seeing children being abused is a myth. The idea that people who film child abuse are the same people who make and sell mainstream porn is a lie.

2. Porn breaks up families

This argument is always supported with anecdotal evidence and anecdotes aren’t worth the paper their written on. They usually concern some ‘good’ father who someone ‘gets sucked in’ to watching porn and then is ‘lost’ until (and here’s the predictable kicker) he finds the ‘strength’ to resist through God.

People who tell stories that end with God saving the day are recruiting.

Pastors, do-gooders and nuts make these stories up and put them on the internet. Twenty embellished re-tellings later and they’re fact. They have them for drugs, homosexuality, porn and anything else they’ve decided is ‘evil’. Most ‘anti’ websites are long collections of partisan ‘research’ and anecdotal ‘evidence’.

The idea they being spread is that ‘the family’ is ‘under attack’ from outside forces and that unless we ‘fight back’ the end is nigh. It scares people and that’s its purpose. Organizations that seek to control people know that scared people follow anyone who can show them a way out of the fear they’ve been sold. The National Socialists are the classic example, they argued that Jews are bad, we’ll handle the Jews, now do as you're told or the Jews are going to get you.

Never believe anyone who’s using psychology that Adolf Hitler was fond of.

3. Porn is immoral

Immoral means ‘failing to adhere to moral standards’ and moral standards are a matter of opinion.

Amoral means ‘without, or not concerned with moral standards’ and most porn is amoral because moral standards are impossible to define.

What is moral depends on your viewpoint. To Vegans, eating meat is immoral. To some Christians not going to church on Sunday is immoral.

To know what prevailing moral standards are you have to look at what people do, not what they pretend they do. If you do you’ll see that most people’s morals are infinitely flexible.

They’ll tell you that observing speed limits near schools, not over-eating and helping people in need are moral, but only behave that way when it’s convenient for them.

Porn is worth $10 billion a year in the US alone. If the moral standards of our society say porn is wrong where’s the money coming from?

4. Porn is addictive

Anything can be addictive in the wrong hands, which is the clearest proof that many addictions are a choice as much as a need.

Even if you accept that porn is addictive, a porn addiction is benign. You don’t have to break any laws to get porn and you can consume it without any impact on the people around you.

The only way to make a porn addiction seem scary, is to tie it to other behavior which is wholly unacceptable under any circumstance, and has nothing to do with enjoying sexually explicit material.

The people who cite porn as dangerously addictive are more concerned with stopping porn production than helping addicts. Porn addiction is used as an argument to support prohibition by people who are really just upset porn exists at all.

Alcoholics are rightly told not to drink, not to try and stop perfectly healthy people like me from having whiskey for breakfast. Campaigning for prohibition using addiction as an excuse has little to do with helping people with a problem, and everything to do with imposing a particular conservative moral agenda.

5. Porn is the start of a slippery slope

Anti-porn activists try to connect anything with a sexual element, including crimes, to sexual material. If they can do this, they can fantasize a cause and effect connection which justifies their prejudice.

Sexual crimes are particularly horrifying and never to be ignored but paedophilia, which has always been, and continues to be abhorrent, is not on the rise. The high profile arrests of paedophiles using the Internet are notable for almost never involving the commercial sex industry. It’s always Feds arresting men who respond to entrapment operations. They’re not even subtle. The cops email pictures from accounts with attractive names and send messages to people containing sexually appealing lines.

People love to see paedophiles busted of course. Parents are being told that the internet is full of sexual predators and it’s easy for journalists to link the use of porn to perversion. The truth is there is no child-porn industry in America. Aside from being utterly revolting it would be impossible to run and there’s not a demand for it which makes the risk worthwhile to those who’d try. The child pornography that is produced is made by and for perverts who’ll use any technology they think will allow them to remain anonymous.

The other crime which porn gets blamed for is rape. This falls down with the understanding that porn doesn’t create desire, it reflects it. If porn could turn people into rapists it could also turn straight men gay and gay men straight. It doesn’t.

Links between rape and pornography are tenuous. The majority of people enjoy porn at some point in their life. Saying that most rapists have used pornography is like saying that most of them have worn jeans and then charging Levi Strauss with crimes against women.

Linking porn to rape is based on the idea that viewing porn leads to sexual thoughts and sexual thoughts lead to rape. You have to be criminally unstable to make that leap. The idea that ‘normal’ people view porn, get sexually frustrated and then rape goes against everything we know about human nature and the mentality of rapists. Rape is believed to be a crime rooted in anger, hate and power.

Studies like ‘Pornography, Rape and Sex Crimes in Japan’ show that a rise in the availability of porn coincides with a decrease in the rate of sex crimes.

6. Porn is for perverts

With 800 million videos being sold and rented in North America each year either porn is loved by everyone, or everyone’s a pervert.

Paul Fishbein (founder of AVN magazine) said that anti-porn protestors want us to believe that the porn industry serves 800 guys who each rent a million movies a year. He’s right.

People want to enjoy sexual material in every city and state, they spend more on porn in hotels than they do on drinks from the mini-bar. Whatever your thoughts about it, porn’s not a niche interest.

7. Porn can be easily defined

If you assume porn is bad, and has to be eliminated, you need to be able to reliably identify it in order to know what to ban.

A lot of people claim they ‘know it when they see it’ but this isn’t really true. Everyone knows what they consider to be pornographic, and can guess at what other people do. Coming to a concise agreement between people has proved to be impossible in human history. Unfortunately for detractors, if you can’t define porn, you can’t legislate against it.

So can we define it?

The word pornography is derived from Greek, who defined it as ‘writing about prostitutes’. That’s obviously too narrow.

More modern definitions are can be boiled down into two camps.

The American English Dictionary says porn is “printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings.”

That’s the kind of definition that anti-porn people favor. It separates erotic feelings from emotional ones, puritanically suggesting orgasm is an erotic feeling but has nothing to do with emotion. It also mandates that porn is explicit, which allows for some clearly sexual art to slip under the wire, and guarantees that almost anything explicit can be defined as pornography.

Conversely, according to the ‘Encyclopedia of Ethics’ porn is “the sexually explicit depiction of persons, in words or images, created with the primary, proximate aim, and reasonable hope, of eliciting significant sexual arousal on the part of the consumer of such materials.”

To quote the great Bill Hicks – “Sounds like every ad on TV to me.”

That’s why defining pornography is a fools errand and we’ll never agree on what it is. Accepting that makes porn a concept based on perspective, which shifts from time to time and culture to culture. To see how quickly things change, compare today’s Maxim magazine to the launch issue of Playboy.

8. Porn spreads STD’s

The rate of STD’s in the porn industry is well documented and below that found in the general population. More impressive given the large number of high-risk unprotected sex acts a portion of performers are involved in.

A lot of porn is shot without condoms, and some people argue that emulating that behavior puts the public at risk.

Porn fans who favor condom-free material normally say that condoms get in the way of the fantasy, which suggests they know it’s not real, and are no more likely to copy what they see on screen, than they are to kick someone in the face because they saw it in an action movie.

Anyway, if you had a sex life like the kind portrayed in porn movies, without the protections of the porn industry, you’d be a tired fool. Adult performers are less disease ridden than the general population (even though Chlamydia is referred to as ‘porn flu’ by people in the movie trade). The idea that they’re infecting the public with cooties is unfounded.

9. Porn undermines society

The argument favored by people with nothing left to say, is that porn, and the business’ that deal in it, turn people and places ‘bad’.

These arguments are really about zoning laws.

In areas where video stores that carry adult titles are pushed into deserted areas by angry citizens, or in places where the residents are too poor to be bothered about campaigning against a new business opening, crime rates are predictably high.

Depressed, poor and deserted parts of town are where the desperate and criminal congregate. If you want to get mugged anywhere on the planet find out where the poor people live and hang out somewhere industrial nearby late at night. If there’s a reason to be there, like a lonely strip club, even better.

When sexually oriented businesses are allowed to open in decent locations, like the Hustler store on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles, or the majority of the clubs in Vegas, no rise in crime or criminality in adjacent areas is noted.

More importantly porn companies, unlike churches which also take in billions of dollars a year, pay taxes.

[Outshined]

I've never seen anyone work so hard to rationalize garbage. I recall the AMA making a statement that children having sex with adults is "not really harmful" to the children. It's just people trying to make excuses for their moral shortcomings.

It sounds like the pothead college kids trying to think of "good" ways to use hemp, when all they want is to get high...

Some reading: http://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00h/pornog.htm

http://www.cdt.org/speech/cda/950724jepsen.html

http://www.nationalcoalition.org/culture/a...s/ca050207.html

http://www.protectkids.com/effects/harms.htm

http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/porno.html

http://www.nationalcoalition.org/resources...s/pornharm.html

[DisRuptive1]

It would help if you quoted specific tidbits from those articles. I think I went over most of the reasons why pornography ISN'T harmful, so it would be beneficial to the thread to present original ideas that I haven't covered.

[Snow]

Let me present your argument by summarizing your answers to the questions:

1. Porn harms children

Nuh-uh,

2. Porn breaks up families

That’s made-up.

3. Porn is immoral

That’s relative - besides, porn makes lots of money.

4. Porn is addictive

So’s other stuff.

5. Porn is the start of a slippery slope

That’s a prejudiced opinion - pedophiles are caught by entrapment - porn makes the world safer.

6. Porn is for perverts

Porn makes lots of money.

7. Porn can be easily defined

No it can’t.

8. Porn spreads STD’s

Porn performers are healthier than non-performers.

9. Porn undermines society

Poor people, not porn, undermine society - besides, porn makes lots of money.

It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway - your post is idiotic.

[DisRuptive1]

Of course it is. But who was responsible for taking down the first one I wrote?

[Snow]

Don't be obtuse DisR,

It's not the lack of inappropriateness that renders your post worthless, it the actual arguments you are using to justify watching other people engaging in paid sex acts that are so dimwitted.

Three times you stressed that there's money to be made by performing sex acts for sale; obviously you think that your strongest point. I needn't even point out why that is so wooden-headed. It's self-evident.

[Lindy]

Originally posted by DisRuptive1@Jul 29 2005, 11:28 PM

Porn, and the people who make it, are far from perfect, but there’s a lot of mud thrown about by people who spend their time trying to re-run Roe vs. Wade, The Scopes Trial and other fights lost years ago.

Thanks to Fox News, The Washington Post and talk radio, being involved in pornography means having to defend yourself against the rabid accusations of self-righteous blowhards.

Dis~ Thanks to Fox News, The Washington Post and talk radio !!

Ill stick to being part of the "self-righteous blowhards" society thank you very much

[Guest daniel50]

Then why does the Bible teach that it's wrong. Like when David is on his roof and see's the naked girl, all he had to do was quick look away, but instead his eyes stayed on her and he watched. The book said he sinned. And most of us here believe in the bible, so therefor it's a sin. Don't argue with God, you'll lose.

[Jason]

Yeah, but the Bible also teaches about authorized prostitution in the Temple.

But I guess as long as God gets the money, it's all ok!

[Cal]

THIS IS A QUOTE FROM YOUR POSTING:

Linking porn to rape is based on the idea that viewing porn leads to sexual thoughts and sexual thoughts lead to rape. You have to be criminally unstable to make that leap. The idea that ‘normal’ people view porn, get sexually frustrated and then rape goes against everything we know about human nature and the mentality of rapists. Rape is a crime rooted in anger, hate and power. Most rapes are not a sex crime, just a crime in which sex is committed.

Studies like ‘Pornography, Rape and Sex Crimes in Japan’ show that a rise in the availability of porn coincides with a decrease in the rate of sex crimes.

Dis--you made an error in logic here---notice that in the first part of this section you make the argument that there is no link between rape and pornography, then you site the Japanese as showing a decrease in rape with an increase in pornography, thereby proving that there IS a link--albeit a negative one--thereby logically contradiction yourself. You can't have it both ways, either there is a link or there isn't. Perhaps you chose only to emphasize the negative link, but then your credibility is on thin ice, because your original hypothesis is that there is NO link.

Other than that, much of what you have said has some merit ---- though I find porn taudry and in bad taste, it probably isn't as harmful as the avid opponents would have us think.

[Franken]

Dis- You can not honestly believe all that crap can you?

[DisRuptive1]

Sure I can.

Franken: I don't see why you're reading this though. From your other posts you seem like a virgin who's never lusted after a girl. But help me out and tell me what you don't agree with in my post and WHY.

Cal, let's argue symantics. I didn't write the study, I just read it. I gave a conclusion about the article only talking about the sex crimes part, not rape. You're confusing my conclusion with the name of the study which contains rape and talks about it. It doesn't conclude what you said though. I believe I also said before that rape in most cases is not a sex crime but a crime in which sex is committed. I said it was rooted in hate, anger and power. What I didn't describe are the victims of most rape. Date rape aside, victims are usually older elderly women (I know, eww) or women walking out alone at night, both being people that might have difficulty defending themselves. The rapist uses sex as a way to humiliate the victim and show power over them by showing them that he can have what they value most. And as he sees it, it also helps his self esteem.

[ThunderFire]

3. Porn is immoral

I think we can all find enough scriptures that teach how activities like producing, participating in, and finding joy in "pornagraphy" is a grevious sin. For that matter, how are those participating in making these things doing anything less than prostitution and by watching it we promote it? But then mankind has a unique knack for justifying all kinds of things.

In Christ I Serve,

Thunderfire

[DisRuptive1]

Hahahaha.

Isn't that strange? That pornography is just prostitution with a camera? Yet it will never be made illegal. But maybe something else will...