Posted on 02/18/2002 11:57:50 PM PST by Cindy
Beg pardon, I misunderstood.
understand that we are mired in the filthy muck of perversion. Remember Rome
I do not claim that there isn't a problem but it is not as cataclysmic as you say. And historical parallels must be used with great care. Not all conditions are exactly the same as for the Roman Empire.
Your truth. As for lowering one's self....just because some of us choose to enjoy sex, and not see it as a "job" or "duty" does not mean we have no dignity.
I see I'm not going to sway either of you out of the realm of subjective utopia. The reality is that porn creates a climate conducive to sexual abuse and violence toward women--Bill Clinton is the best example and proof. I guess that concrete truth doesn't fit in with the moral laissaz faire relatavism that dictates your worldview. Who cares about factual evidence and logical arguments?!
Claiming that porn causes these problems lets the perverts off the hook. If only it didn't exist, you say, there wouldn't be these problems. I disagree. I hold perverts responsible and don't let them use "the devil made me do it" as an excuse.
I'm afraid you are the one living in Utopia. You think to change the opinions and habits and morality of some 300 million souls. Good luck.
BTW tell me who Meese raped because I know he looked at a lot of porn. Part of his "duty" of course (ha ha).
Bill Clinton is an example of how women are treated when thought of as sexual objects. When women are treated like dogs, they're thought of as dogs. If you like I can post you some statistics and links
Name one positive benefit from pornography for women. Name one thing it does to benefit society. Is sure as hell isn't dignity or self-worth.
In one case, a man who said he had participated in over a hundred pornographic movies testified at the Commission hearings in Los Angeles as follows: "I, myself, have been on a couple of sets where the young ladies have been forced to do even anal sex scenes with a guy which [sic] is rather large and I have seen them crying in pain" (1986, p. 773).
Another witness testified at the Los Angeles hearings as follows:
"Women and young girls were tortured and suffered permanent physical injuries to answer publisher demands for photographs depicting sadomasochistic abuse. When the torturer/photographer inquired of the publisher as to the types of depictions that would sell, the torturer/photographer was instructed to get similar existing publications and use the depictions therein for instruction. The torturer/photographer followed the publisher's instructions, tortured women and girls accordingly, and then sold the photographs to the publisher. The photographs were included in magazines sold nationally in pornographic outlets" (1986, pp. 787-788).
Peter Bogdanovich writes of Playboy "Playmate of the Year" Dorothy Stratten's response to her participation in a pornographic movie: "A key sequence in Galaxina called for Dorothy to be spread-eagled against a cold water tower. The producers insisted she remain bound there for several hours, day and night. In one shot of the completed film, the tears she cries are real" (1984, p. 59). Although this movie was not made for the so-called adult movie houses, I consider it pornography because of its sexist and degrading combination of sexuality and bondage.
A letter was sent to the United States Attorney General's Commission on Pornography reporting that: "A mother and father in South Oklahoma City forced their four daughters, ages ten to seventeen, to engage in family sex while pornographic pictures were being filmed" (1986, p. 780).
It should not be assumed that violence occurs only in the making of violent pornography. For example, although many people would classify the movie Deep Throat as non-violent pornography because it does not portray rape or other violence, we now know from Linda (Lovelace) Marchiano's two books (Ordeal, 1980, and Out of Bondage, 1986), as well as from her public testimony (for example, Public Hearings, 1983), that this film is in fact a documentary of her rape from beginning to end.
Excellent music, theater, movies and fine books improve the quality of our thinking and can positively influence our relationships and respect for others. Accordingly, it is not incomprehensible to realize that negative images can persuade us to think and behave in a negative manner. The advertising industry knows well that images and displays influence our thinking process. For example, during Super Bowl 29 and 30, companies paid $1.2 million dollars for a 30 second advertisement, and 58 spots were sold. If businesses are willing to risk large sums of money for just a 30 second spot displaying their product, just think what the potential effect could be if a person continually views images that eroticize messages of hate and the dehumanization of women and children.
Boys 12-17 years of age are amongst the largest consumers of pornography. Pornography, for many youth, is their sex education. Learning is about memory, and pornography creates encoded messages that stay in a child's memory throughout their adulthood. Our culture calls pornography adult entertainment, or adult material. We know that young minds want so desperately to be grown up, to be an adult. Pornography vividly communicates to its reader that this is how adult men act towards adult women. Pornography falsely represents intimacy and informs the mind of a child that it is acceptable to dehumanize both male and female participants. Many men whose lives have been destroyed by consuming pornography share one thing in common: They were exposed to pornography at a very early age.
"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to the do nothing." --Edmund Burke
Among 932 sex addicts, 90% of the men and 77% of the women reported pornography as significant to their addictions. The study also revealed that two common elements in the early etiology of sexually addictive behavior are childhood sexual abuse and frequent pornography accompanied by masturbation. Patrick Carnes, Don't Call it Love: Recovery from Sexual Addictions, (1991).
Research gathered over the past few decades demonstrates that pornography contributes to sexual assault, including rape and the molestation of children. See S. Rep. No. 102-372, 102nd Cong., 2nd Sess. 23 (Aug. 12, 1992) (Pornography Victims Compensation Act of 1992, Senate Comm. on the Judiciary).
Child molesters often use pornography to seduce their prey, to lower the inhibitions of the victim, and to serve as an instruction manual. W.L. Marshall, Ph.D., Pornography and Sexual Offenders, in PORNOGRAPHY: RESEARCH ADVANCES AND POLICY CONSIDERATIONS 189 (D. Zillmann & J. Bryant eds., 1989)
One in three American girls and one in seven boys will be sexually molested by age 18. July 1993 article by David Finkelhor, Answers to Important Questions About the Scope & Nature of Child Sexual Abuse, pg. 8
Of 36 serial sex murderers interviewed by the FBI in 1985,81% admitted using pornography. Victor Cline, Ph.D. in Pornography Effects: Empirical & Clinical Evidence. pg. 19.
87% of girl child molesters and 77% of boy child molesters studied admitted to regular use of hard-core pornography. 1983 A Report on the Use of Pornography by Sexual Offenders by Dr. William Marshall, Ottawa, Canada for the Federal Department of Justice.
Attitudes
Studies show pornography is progressive and addictive for many. It often leads to the user acting out his fantasy - often on children. Victor Cline, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Utah 1988. Pornography Effects: Empirical and Cli nical Evidence, pg. 24
A primary pornography consumer group is boys between ages 12 - 17. Attorney General's Final Report on Pornography, 1986, pg. 25S
Pornography distorts the natural development of personality. If the early stimulus is pornographic photographs, the adolescent can be conditioned to become aroused through photographs. Once this pairing is rewarded a number of times, it is likely to become permanent. The result to the individual is that it becomes difficult for the person to seek out relations with appropriate persons. Jerry Bergman, Ph.D., The Influence of Pornography on Sexual Development: Three Case Histories, TX Family Therapy 3, 1982, at 265-
When pornography is readily accessed, this "simple" way to gratify sexual desires can lead to a deviation from healthy development in which "pictures replace people." Because pornography encourages neither tenderness nor caring (and typically quite the opposite). it can negatively influence a child's understanding of his own sexuality and the sexuality of those around him. See John 0. Mason, Ph.D., Dr. P.R., Assistant Secretary for Health, Address to the Religions Alliance Against Pornography, The Harm of Pornography. at 2 (Oct. 26, 1996).
To children, pornography "educates" by presenting new information. That information about human sexuality is not only highly inaccurate, but also misleading. Photographs, videos, magazines, and virtual games that depict rape and the dehumanization of females in sexual scenes constitute powerful but deforming tools of sex education, In addition, pornography portrays unhealthy or antisocial kinds of sexual activity, such as sadomasochism, abuse, and humiliation of females, involvement of children, incest, group sex, voyeurism, sexual degradation, bestiality, torture, objectification, and sanction of "the rape myth." VECTOR CHINE, PORNOGRAPHY'S EFFECTS ON ADULTS & CHILDREN 13(1994); see also, Neil M. Malamuth & Joseph Ceniti, Repeated Exposure to Violent and Non Violent Pornography: Likelihood of Raping Ratings and Laboratory Aggression Against Women, 12 Aggressive Behavior 129-37. U.C.L.A. (1985).
Pornography degrades and exploits the women and children who appear in it,
Does it degrade the men who are in the pornos too?
I suppose you think that the women in strip clubs are exploited too. I got news for you.....the ones who are truly exploited are the men who drop several hundred dollars in the strip clubs...all to leave with nothing but a hard-on and go home to their frigid wives who grudgingly agree to sex once a month.
I posted some statistics in regard to the negative effects of porn and sexual exploitation, and I stand by them. I have a moral obligation to stand up and fight against behavior that is conducive to violence against women and children. I'll continue to do just that.
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