Pornography Essay, Research Paper
Pornography
Sexual morality has declined in America today. The immoral life can be
seen all around us. We see it in drugs, alcohol, movies, magazines, gangs,
teenage pregnancy, pre-marital sex, and society as a whole. A person can walk
into almost any convenience store and purchase a magazine depicting naked women.
Videos and movies with graphic sex scenes can be rented or watched in any
movie theater. They have become more common than ever before. Almost every
movie with an “R” rating will have at least one sex scene. Even Forrest Gump, a
highly acclaimed movie, had a sexual act and nudity involved. Also public
television has been known to show nudity and sex. Allusions are made to sex
in every part of our life. Work, school, sports, and recreation are all forums
through which unhealthy sexual views are expressed.
One of the more predominant and obvious forums for the proliferation of
unhealthy sexual desires is pornography. Pornography is displaying the human
body in a perverse, sexual way. It can be found in film, magazine, television,
on CD-ROM, and even the internet, and can range from “soft-core”, depicting
natural poses and action, to “hard-core”, or depicting sex combined with
violence, that any reasonable, decent, well-adjusted human being would
recognize as horrible and disgusting. Much pornography is socially acceptable,
with few people actively speaking out against it.
Pornography can be bought at many “adult” or “adult novelty” shops. One
only has to listen to any popular local radio station after 8 P.M. to hear
strings of advertisements for local pornographic outlets. Television
advertisements are shown also, but not as often as on the radio. Pornography is
so socially acceptable in today’s society, that it is protected by the same
amendment to the constitution that allows Pro-Life groups to protest abortion,
the first amendment to the constitution. For years, the first amendment has
been quoted to support pornography, as well as everything from freedom to
protest abortion, to freedom of holding Nazi views. The first amendment was
drafted, not to protect boring, popular, or inoffensive views, however, but to
protect the right of people to hold and express controversial ideas.
There is a line, though. A television network cannot show images of
children having sex, but it can show a naked woman, if the perspective is such
that certain parts of her body are not seen. In Germany, access is blocked to
certain “chat rooms” which contain pedophile pornography. In Denmark, the
government has dropped all legal barriers against pornography for adults.
Explicit magazines cannot be sold to anyone under the age of eighteen, showing
some morality is still intact in America today, if not entirely.
The Church’s stand on pornography is clear and obvious. The Catholic
Church is adamantly against all pornography. Pornography “…offends against
chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses
to each other. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors,
vendors, the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and
illicit profit for others.” The church’s view is that “…civil authorities
should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials. God
has willed that the expression of sexual ideas be within the confines of
marriage. No man has the right to violate the will of God, and pornography is a
violation of this will. It is an unnatural act, a immoral human act.
The responsibility of the church over the matter of pornography is to be
a clear, constant teacher of the faith, especially objective moral truth. We
live in a time of permissiveness of moral violation and confusion. It is a
time that demands that the church be a clear voice of morality and its role in
society.
Pornography and wanton violence in the media can blind people to the
divine images, the very likeness of God, in the human being. We are made in
the image of God, and to portray that image in a perverse and corrupt way for
the enjoyment of others is not only immoral, but goes against our human nature
and purpose, to know, love, and serve God in this life, as well as through to
the next. To willingly disobey God and pervert one of his creatures is
sacrilegious, and a grave offense against God.
We must educate those in Catholic schools as to why pornography is wrong,
and why we must fight against it. Combined, the voices of all morally fit
individuals in society would be loud enough to cause the communications
industry to cease the senseless proliferation of immoral content into society.
Everyone must resist the temptation and not give in to the grip that pornography
has on a lot of people in this world.
As it is now, in an unscientific poll, if offered just $100,000 to pose
for a pornographic magazine, almost fifty percent of high school students would
seriously consider performing this immoral and unspeakable act.
Pornography has many obvious as well as not-so-obvious consequences
within society. Pornography has the power to ruin marriages, destroy trust,
excite a person to the point of sexual crime, or create an unhealthy view of
human sexuality and the opposite sex. If a married man purchases a
pornographic magazine and looks through it, he involuntarily loses some respect
for the opposite sex, by reducing them to an object to satisfy his sexual
desire. If the magazine is discovered by his wife, she loses faith in him,
weakening their marriage bond. If the magazine is discovered by one of his
children, male or female, that child begins to form an unhealthy view of
sexuality.
Any person allowing themselves to be used to satisfy the sexual desire
of another is sinning by causing another person to lust. There own perception
of self-worth is diminished, as well as their perception of healthy sexual
expression.
Dress is another thing that causes a person to lust. If a young woman
is dressed immodestly, it causes a man to desire her. Therefore, it is very
important that every person dress modestly and not care what others think of
their dress. When a young woman dresses immodestly, this may suggest that she
is “easy” and some people will look down on her. The restaurant chain Hooters
is a perfect example of a bad taste in dress. The restaurant features scantily-
clad women working as waitresses giving food to men who are only there to lust
after them. Over seventy-five percent of the men are married.
On society as a whole, pornography acts as a moral anesthetic, deadening
us to the effects of immoral life. Pornography is as much as a drug as alcohol
is. When you get started on it, you cannot control yourself, and is hard to
quit. The view of moral human sexuality is greatly harmed, when a person can
walk past storefronts boasting “Girls, Girls, Girls”. Society as a whole needs
to re-think its position on pornography, as well as human sexuality entirely.
Also as individuals, we need to think about how our actions in regards to human
sexuality affect those around us, as well as ourselves, our relationship with
others, and our relationship with God.
Pornography is accepted in the world today. Any movie theatre won’t
hesitate to show a movie with pornography depicted in it if it will sell. The
same goes for any bookstore which sells magazines. You can go into any major
bookstore chain and see a Playboy magazine on the rack next to Sports
Illustrated. Now what does this suggest? It suggests that Playboy is as widely
read as Sports Illustrated.
The movie industry has glorified pornography in many movies. Movies are
the main source of pornography, along with magazines. Any person can see
pornography when watching one of the pay channels on the television late at
night. This provides the oppurtunity for anyone with access to these channels
to see pornography. Many children have access to this. Also anyone with a
computer and access to the internet has the oppurtunity to pick up some
pornography. Some restrictions should be made on these things but people say
that it violates their First Amendment right.
Pornography is something that shouldn’t be around. Women shouldn’t be
portrayed as sexual objects, but as an individual. Pornography is a very bad
thing that severes your relationship with God and is a big sin.
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