Pornography is Harmful

[Jaaaman]

Pornography directly leads to the objectification and dehumanization
of women. Pornography presents women as objects, sexualized means to
gratification. Pornography is not about "sexuality", it has nothing
to do with "sex" at all. Pornography is blatant and utter
exploitation, plain and simple.

Men who view pornography do not limit the objectification to the
woman on the screen/magazine, as though that wasn't bad enough. They
take the image and apply it to all women: your sister, mother, wife,
girlfriend, etc. Soon, the object becomes a woman at the office, a
co-worker, friend, or neighbor. The object becomes you or someone
you love.

Pornography's influence is not limited to where it is presented.
Those who use it are changed by it. It becomes acceptable in their
minds for them to treat all women in the way they see the women in
the pornography. It becomes "okay" for them to view women as sexual
objects. When men treat women as sexual objects, they do not relate
to them on a human to human level. They begin to think it is all
right for them to say things to them they would never say to a
fellow human being. The respect, the camaraderie is lost.

It is not "okay" for men to view women as sexual objects.
Pornography is not "okay". It has proliferated our media, our
magazines, our internet, our television. And what about our
children? They are seeing this too. Do we really want our children
growing up in a world like this? How do you think the children would
feel to know how men are viewing their mothers? Their teachers?
Their friends? Is this really how we want our world, people?

[Drea]

I wish more people would understand how harmful this is to everyone.

Just like I looove ::)how strippers think they are doing a "service" to lonely guys by taking their money and "making them feel good".

People dont get it...We teach one another how we want to be treated.

[midcan5]

How about when woman treat men as objects? Clark Gable or Brad Pitt for example. I am never sure that pornography has any impact at all. It reminds me of discussions on violence in the movies or on TV. When I grew up we played cowboys and Indians and yet the image today most have of Indians was not impacted by the game playing. Most pornography is very boring it is hard to watch the same things over and over again and yet sex is a very strong emotion in young men and seeing pornography for a person who was brought up in a healthy family environment probably has little or no impact. Actually it may have a positive impact as it can be educational and sex is great fun.

[MO]

Don't you believe it! It destroys.

Pornography: Poison of the Mind and Heart

www.cwfa.org/articledisplay.asp?id=1999&department=CWA&categoryid=pornography

[groucho]

Hmmmmm, let's see........
Michael Jackson grabs his crotch on national TV, and where was the "moral outrage?"

Madonna parades around in suggestive lingerie-worn-as-outerwear, bumps and grinds, then grabs her crotch on national TV, and where was the "moral outrage?"

Both of these events happened 22 years ago, and both were instantly labelled "pornographic" by various moralists - labels which obviously fell on deaf ears.

And thus today we have "porn as the norm." The very real danger with it being so widespread is not only the objectification of both women and men, but the fact that people will eventually be de-sensitized to the issue entirely, thanks to 24-7 bombardment on TV, the 'Net, movies, etc.

Larry Flynt has had his revenge, alright - and society is suffering for it......

For the record, I saw both Wacko Jacko's and Madge's "performances" as a lad, and my knee-jerk reaction was the same to both - "What a f*cking pervert!!" Time has proven me right concerning The Gloved One; Madge apparently has learned a modicum of discretion......

[midcan5]

Grabbing one's crouch is vulgar and stupid and should be criticized the same way picking one's nose in public is criticized and if it were it would cease quickly - but it is not Porn.

I have never seen a serious study that links porn to rape. And because a rapist may have looked at porn doesn't mean there is a causal connection. They would have had all sorts of experiences. I do not understand the person who can commit these acts as they are so alien to civilized society that they need to be locked up probably for good.

When our boys grew up my wife and I would occasionally find their porn videos borrowed or taped from cable. My own mother's reaction would have been shear horror as she found my own books and magazines a few times. We let the videos go and said nothing. They are both raised, educated, have good jobs and are happily married. I gotta disagree.

I think what bothers some about pornography is the nature of it. It is or should be an act of intimacy and love and seeing it so graphically displayed and often touching on taboos and bizarre acts is a bit jarring. It should be controlled and regulated but trying to stop it is like the war on drugs - useless.

www.hawaii.edu/PCSS/online_artcls/pornography/prngrphy_rape_jp.html

"Within Japan itself, the dramatic increase in available pornography and sexually explicit materials is apparent to even a casual observer. This is concomitant with a general liberalization of restrictions on other sexual outlets as well. Also readily apparent from the information presented is that, over this period of change, sex crimes in every category, from rape to public indecency, sexual offenses from both ends of the criminal spectrum, significantly decreased in incidence."

"Most significantly, despite the wide increase in availability of pornography to children, not only was there a decrease in sex crimes with juveniles as victims but the number of juvenile offenders also decreased significantly."

[MO]

Sorry, I see what you're selling but we're not buying b.s. today.

I wonder how much "sex crime" statistics would go down if we federally lowered the age of consent to 14, like the ACLU is pushing for us to do. Not to mention NAMBLA.

It's really easy to make "sex crimes" go down when you just leagalize it, or turn a blind eye!

Crimes highlight Japan's ugly side
July 19 2003


It's a slow process, but Japan's relative tolerance towards sex crimes against children is diminishing, writes Mark Magnier in Tokyo.


Three sixth-grade girls discovered locked up in a Tokyo condominium with a corpse are the latest in a string of high-profile crimes involving children to rock Japan.

When police arrived at the apartment, just a few blocks from the Prime Minister's residence, on Thursday they found the girls handcuffed in different bedrooms and the body of one of the suspected abductors in the living room, an apparent suicide.

The children were reported missing on Sunday by their parents.

The discovery came on the heels of two other major crimes involving children this month. In Nagasaki, a four-year-old boy was abducted, stripped and killed by a 12-year-old boy, who threw the younger boy off a seven-storey parking garage. And in Okinawa, three junior high school students beat a classmate to death, leaving the body in a nearby graveyard.

But unlike the two earlier cases, experts say, the latest one has sexual overtones and threatens to shine a spotlight on an ugly side of Japan: the nation's relative tolerance of child prostitution and sexual exploitation.
www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/18/1058035200488.html?oneclick=true


Crimes linked to internet dating services in Japan have more than doubled in the first six months of this year, the National Police Agency has said.
Almost 800 crimes in which victims were contacted through online dating sites have been reported since January, more than 70% of which involved sex with teenage girls.

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia-pacific/2209084.stm