Al?
Posted on 11/11/2005 7:16:29 PM PST by wagglebee
(AgapePress) - Women and children aren't the only victims of pornography. That's what one witness told a Senate hearing on Thursday (Nov. 10) that examined the impact of pornography on America and the options for dealing with it. The Senate panel also heard about the negative trends in society resulting from Internet porn.
The issue before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution was "Why the Government Should Care About Pornography." Among those testifying before the subcommittee was the author of the book Pornified and a sociologist from Utah who is an expert in the area of Internet porn.
Pamela Paul's book offers a compilation of surveys and other research as well as anecdotal evidence of the problems porn causes. Of particular concern, she points out in the book, are stories of young children and teens accessing pornography from school computers. But Paul told the Senate subcommittee that men are also victims of the scourge of pornography.
"Men told me they found themselves wasting countless hours looking at pornography on their televisions and DVDs -- and especially online," the author stated. "They looked at things they would have once considered appalling."
According to Paul, it also affected how those men viewed women in general. "They found the way they looked at women in real life warping to fit their fantasies," she said. "Their relationships soured; they had trouble relating to women as individual human beings. They worried about the way they saw their daughters and girls their daughters' age."
In addition, said the author, those men's lives were interrupted, their hobbies tossed aside, and their family lives disrupted. The result was a high price paid by families, she said. "Some men even lost jobs, wives, and children."
Ms. Paul told the subcommittee that her surveys found that 60 percent of women feel pornography dictates how men expect them to look and act in today's culture -- and that more than 11 million teens regularly view porn online. The effects, she said, are far-reaching.
"It is terrible enough that adults are suffering the consequences of a 'pornified' culture," she said, "but we must think about the kind of world we are introducing to our children. Certainly everyone -- liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans -- can agree with the statement" 'It wasn't like this when we were kids.'"
Researcher Jill Manning of Brigham Young University, who also is a fellow with the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC, outlined for the senators her research showing six negative trends taking place in the U.S. as a result of exposure to Internet porn.
"Increased marital distress and risk of separation and divorce. Decreased marital intimacy and sexual satisfaction. Infidelity. Increased appetite for more graphic types of pornography and sexual activity associated with abusive, illegal, and unsafe practices."
She continued: "Devaluation of monogamy, marriage, and child-rearing. An increasing number of people struggling with compulsive and addictive sexual behavior."
Manning said the trends are getting worse. Both she and Ms. Paul urged Congress to take action to eliminate the exposure of pornography on the worldwide web.
If you would like to refute my comments (post 96) that would be great.
"And you lack sufficient sense to understand that others probably find some of your habits just as "illegitimate".
There are moral absolutes. There is such a thing as objective reality. Some things are Right, and some things are Wrong. Using others sexually is Wrong. And when such use becomes a huge business, it's not just a personal thing anymore. Not one of you Utopian Libertarians has even tried to address the harm done to children - both by witnessing pornography, or being the victims of those who indulge in it.
People whose personal sexual gratification is a prime factor (or the prime factor) in their life don't even see others as real people. Just as tools for their orgasms. So what if other peoples' lives are wrecked? As long as I get off, that's what's important. And to pretend it's a "right" guaranteed by the Constitution, just because Larry Flynt and the ACLU said so. That's rich.
"Oh, and methinks you doth protest too much.
Your little tirade is rather reminescent of a Jimmy Swaggart sermon. Know what I mean?"
LOL! Dragging out the evil twin argument of the "gay" activists. Anyone who criticizes an activity as wrong must be attracted themselves. You couldn't be more wrong. Heheh. You are too funny.
I'm going to need the help of Jesus Christ to get out of the messes I am in.
We need Christ more than ever. To borrow a quote from the fictional character Kyle Reese, the Communists cannot be reasoned with, cannot be bargained with, and they absolutely will not stop, ever, until this country as we know it, is dead. Only Jesus Christ can change them.
Why am I not surprised that someone who condemns others the loudest is the first one off sniffing that which they find so offensive? And spreading links here as well. A most decent folk are you.
Sorry to hear that your friends and acquaintenances are irresponsible reprobates. Many of us are not and resent busybodies like you.
The Communists don't believe in any higher power than themselves. They will just have to be left to face the consequences of their actions.
My arguments are shallow and you are going to dismantle them by saying, in effect, "Well, if you can't see the difference between X and Y, I'm certainly not going to tell you." Good one. You sure got me there.
There is such a thing as right and wrong, evil and good, virtue and vice. Really.
There sure is, but you haven't a clue as to which is which. People who think as you do are the ones who burnt colonists at the stake in Massachusetts. Tell me, were those people good or evil? Were those whose lives were taken good or evil?
What should be done with those who view pornography? Would you burn them at the stake?
If not, you're not even as committed to your position as they were. They were so convinced that society needed to be protected from witches they burned their neighbors to death.
There are true problems in the world but pornography isn't one of them. Your sticking your nose into my reading matter is.
Al?
Same old Libertarian bullshit from you. This type of mindset produces monsters like Joseph Smith, currently on trial for the murder of Carly Bruscia; Joseph Edward Duncan, who kidnapped and murdered Dylan Groene and repeatedly raped his little sister, Shasta; John Evander Couey, who abducted his young neighbor, Jessica Lunsford and then buried her alive in a plastic garbage bag; and many others like Ted Bundy and Dennis Rader, all of whom were users of pornography.
Dirty white men, all, and their appetites fed by pornography.
I read about half of it. So many names!
What are the odds?
Those commercials are an automatic channel-changer for me. So if I take these pills I'll turn into a 1960s geek? No thanks. Worst commercials on television.
Do you really want Ted Kennedy deciding what is moral and decent for you and your child?
You are the best judge of that.
The problem with the escalation of these problems is the insidious erosion of the family and Judaeo-Christian morality by secularists and moral relativists like Mr. Kennedy and their associates in Congress and the Courts.
Wow, that was an idiotic post. Might as well post about the minority of alcoholics that end up committing violent acts or how many rapists breathed oxygen or masturbated.
Just because a man viewed some form of pornography (does JC Penny underwear catalog count? lol) doesn't mean anything in terms of causation.
Well I heard on Thursday on talk radio that Japanese have the lowest level on intercourse on the planet, about 50 times a year or something. Greeks are the highest at 135 per year. And there you have it.
Why should I attempt to refute your personal opinions?
There are moral absolutes.
That is debatable, but I have no issue with you believing it.
Not one of you Utopian Libertarians has even tried to address the harm done to children - both by witnessing pornography, or being the victims of those who indulge in it.
:-)
Just off hand (no pun intended), I'd say you're wrapped way to tightly to have access to the internet. If you wish to rage against the machine, feel free, your life.
People whose personal sexual gratification is a prime factor
You sound like you're doing a lot of projecting here... show me a male that says he's offended by looking at photos of an attractive woman, nude or otherwise, and he's either lying, a homosexual or is trying to make points with some chick.
Where you fit it is your business.
Anyone who criticizes an activity as wrong must be attracted themselves.
No, if you weren't such a lackwit, you'd have understood my point about there being a difference between endorsing something and the pointlessness of criminalizing something.
Infinitesimal.
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