[Mrs. Don-o]

I don't go to these porn/anti-porn threads much, but when I do, I am always dismayed that nobody ever attempts (or even links to) a thorough and incisive social and moral criticism of pornography.

If they've done it, I haven't seen it. And please reference me to it, somebody, because I'd like to read a good critique.

The legality of porn, the regulation or restriction of porn, etc, are important issues --- but they're not the only issues. Even if we all agreed that porn should be restricted (or even if we all agreed that it shouldn't) we would still need to discuss what effect porn has on people's souls, on their hearts and minds, on their relationships, their marriages, their children, and on society at large.

But even if we were ALL the sort of libertarian that insists, on principle, that no form of communication should be regulated by the government, I think it would be humanly useful to understand, on a social and psychological level, what porn does to people. And to think of what we can do--- not as advocates of government action, but as advocates of OUR OWN action --- to curb the destructive effects of porn.

Anyone?

[conservonator]

Porn, like any form of hyper materialism kills souls. People who "worship" material freedoms worship a pagan god.

[dsc]

Thorough and incisive are beyond me, I'm afraid, but in short, porn rots you from the inside out.

I don't like the way the concept of addiction is bandied about these days, but a person who habitually indulges in porn is living in the Earl of Hell's watchpocket.

Now, Lord, please open my eyes to my own sins.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

And to think of what we can do--- not as advocates of government action, but as advocates of OUR OWN action --- to curb the destructive effects of porn.

Is porn always destructive?

[Frank Sheed]

Mrs. Don-o,

Searched using "pornography, psychiatry and Catholic" yielded this:


http://www.moralityinmedia.org/index.htm?pornsEffects.htm

Dr. Judith Reisman is a leading expert on Kinsey and wrote eloquently on his methods and pseudoscience (a series of major works in the Wanderer; she has her own website, I think). I'd start here for a reasoned discussion on the issues you wish to see broached. A search of her work is a treasure trove of the ill effects of porn and the false premises used to make it seem innocent.

Frank

[little jeremiah]

I agree with what the other posters have said

Sex desire is like a fire - and just as fire can cook food or heat the house, or burn the house down and destroy whole city blocks, sex can bond married couples, and create children, or destroy peoples' lives.

Pornography turns people - mostly women, but often children and then there's "gay" porn - into orifices. Habitual porn users degrade themselves, and their relationships with others are harmed, and anyone who wants to pretend it's not so - well, one wonders why they support something so patently wrong.

[Tailgunner Joe]

Prohibiting Pornography -- A Moral Imperative

The Pornography Plague

Warning: Enter these threads at your own risk.