Pornography

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I find pornography a very difficult philosophical and moral issue regarding whether it is wrong or not. Instinctually, it seems as if one can do nothing about it. Pornography does not create stimulate desire, it adheres to the sexual desire that is already there in the first place. No matter how Christian an individual seems to be, sexual desire is an inherent part of being human that will also express itself and if it doesn't will usually express itself in more perverse and immoral ways. The desire to watch pornography is a right i believe an individual has and should not be disallowed to watch pornography especially if he or she feels it will provide an outlet for them that may manifest itself in more violent ways. In this sense, I think it is a basic libertarian right to have access to it provided the women featuring in the films have consented.

Saying this however, pornography does seem to me to produce an unhealthy representation of sex in which young people have very easy access to sex scenes in which women are penetrated in such a way that may be considered harmful, oppressive and unenjoyable however with the illusion that they are doing so. Young people may therefore have a distorted view of what is sexually enjoyable. Saying this however, I feel the education system ought to take more responsibility for educating young people on such a distortion. For this reason I think pornography is negative however with the right form of education it could be solved. Pornography often portrays sex in which the emphasis is on the orgasm more than the appreciation of the body if that makes sense.

Also, there is a huge amount of pressure on those in the industry to perform and I feel the people in such films may suffer from emotional trauma in which sex is naturally an intimate act and because they have abandoned such a notion, it perhaps could lead to distrust of one's fellow men and women. Many men fail to get and erection and many women struggle having sex for such long periods of time required for such a job. This has apparently led to many men especially apparently committing suicide because they cannot handle such a job. One may say that in any job, mathematically a certain amount of people are going to commit suicide any way and it just so happens that a few have committed suicide in the porn industry and therefore a false correlation has been drawn between the stress of the industry and suicidal depression. However, i feel as if such a point could be worth. Also many women are abused and are serious drugs in the industry.

People may say that the women who appear in such films are doing it out of their own 'choosing' but perhaps many of the women are in such financially desperate situation and the pornography industry provides them with such a high income. Women may also be psychologically traumatized and don't really have a choice at all in the same way a woman 'chooses' to become a prostitute yet in a distorted kind of way has no other option.

In summary, I think pornography is an inevitable part of human nature and sexual desire will always choose to express itself one way or another. Even in ancient Rome, one finds pornographic images painted on pieces of pottery. Pornography is not a recent phenomenon with only a contemporary genealogy but has its roots in an antiquated past. Saying this however, I think more regulations need to be put on the industry itself which has become completely capitalized to the extent that it is based on the exploitation of the body.

Sorry this probably seems like a stupid and moronic post. I have a bit of an obsession with needing to rant about a particular moral topic so excuse me if it seemed like a nonsensical ramble with no real meaning. I am feeling a bit spaced out at the moment and stupid.

If we are to accept the notion that a woman has the right to do with her body as she wishes (in terms of abortion) does she not have the same right to make money based off that body?

I think pornography is like anything else in life, it can be addicting to some, but to others it is harmless fun.

Americans may paint themselves in increasingly bright shades of red and blue, but new research finds one thing that varies little across the nation: the liking for online pornography.

A new nationwide study (pdf) of anonymised credit-card receipts from a major online adult entertainment provider finds little variation in consumption between states.

"When it comes to adult entertainment, it seems people are more the same than different," says Benjamin Edelman at Harvard Business School.

However, there are some trends to be seen in the data. Those states that do consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious than states with lower levels of consumption, the study finds.

"Some of the people who are most outraged turn out to be consumers of the very things they claimed to be outraged by," Edelman says.


http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1 ... oVPM0BIGjI

I find the novelist Martin Amis to be insightful about pornography.
http://www.slate.com/articles/video/con ... ideo_.html
He has also compared porn stars to the gladiators of Roman times

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i17xwQAb19E[/youtube]

this is only people talking about pornography
misleading title.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEPHLPmt914[/youtube]

The term "pornography" is subjective.
A very wide range of things are lumped into one word.
Some things are very tame by most standards and pretty much only celebrate the beauty of the human body.
Many other things are quite explicit, other things are downright weird. Then there are the obvious violations of human rights.
And many of us put different things into different categories, and are "turned on" by different things.

where do you draw the line?
Many things people wear every day in public could be considered pornographic.
The how about modern advertising?

There is some research that suggests that widely available and accessible online porn along with other online dopamine stimulating activities may be in part a reason why crime has gone down overall since the early 90's...

It's hard to rob a store or make a drug deal with one hand...

And this dopamine generating activity..is an adequate substitute for some...

And there is also some research that suggests that porn overall decreases the desire for actual sexual intercourse...

So that's a win overall for overpopulation...

IT would probably be a plus..to get it widely available in middle eastern countries..as with free access to a thousand virtual virgins in an hour..there isn't nearly as much incentive to kill..to gain a prize after death of only 72 virgins...

After all porn can release some tension..overall..

But yeah..moderation is key..it is an effective tool for pleasure taken in moderate doses...

And it's never going away now..so we might as well take the best 'logical' advantage of IT...

A little off topic..but VEVO is paving the potential for some spread of sexy videos (but not too sexy) in countries that currently censor all youtube videos..in the middle east...

World Peace with SEx..It's a potentially great IDEA..i think...

After all it seems to work fairly well for our Bonobo cousins....