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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