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Pornography
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
On this 50th anniversary of Playboy Magazine, perhaps a discussion of pornography is appropriate. Pornography is defined as
sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal. Those who promote it believe they are exercising their right from the first amendment of the United States Constitution:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
The delicate question before us goes beyond the legal justification for allowing anyone to speak or write about anything they choose to. It speaks to the moral and ethical ramifications of such an enterprise. Our society today is inundated with references to sexuality in any medium we experience. The often quoted justification is that "sex sells" and therefore if marketing outlets can somehow equate a material purchase with sexual gratification, then some hidden unmet need will be satisfied. This is Freudianomics at its worst. Sex is promoted today as a means to an end and not the expression of love between consenting adults. Pornography portrays sex as some lustful hedonism with little regard for the potential outcome of such an experience. Still, millions of people purchase it for their own sexual stimulation. They believe that since those being filmed are consenting adults there is no harm to anyone. Assuming there is mutual consent among the actors, what is the difference between paying them to have sex with each other and paying a prostitute to have sex with you? Whether you favor or oppose pornography, it is this country's obsession with sex that is the root of the problem and the unfortunate consequences it produces. Until we as a nation can collectively mature out of this sexual pre-occupation we will be trapped in our own national adolescence.
sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal. Those who promote it believe they are exercising their right from the first amendment of the United States Constitution:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
The delicate question before us goes beyond the legal justification for allowing anyone to speak or write about anything they choose to. It speaks to the moral and ethical ramifications of such an enterprise. Our society today is inundated with references to sexuality in any medium we experience. The often quoted justification is that "sex sells" and therefore if marketing outlets can somehow equate a material purchase with sexual gratification, then some hidden unmet need will be satisfied. This is Freudianomics at its worst. Sex is promoted today as a means to an end and not the expression of love between consenting adults. Pornography portrays sex as some lustful hedonism with little regard for the potential outcome of such an experience. Still, millions of people purchase it for their own sexual stimulation. They believe that since those being filmed are consenting adults there is no harm to anyone. Assuming there is mutual consent among the actors, what is the difference between paying them to have sex with each other and paying a prostitute to have sex with you? Whether you favor or oppose pornography, it is this country's obsession with sex that is the root of the problem and the unfortunate consequences it produces. Until we as a nation can collectively mature out of this sexual pre-occupation we will be trapped in our own national adolescence.
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Comments
You can get married at 16 but you can't drive yourself to the wedding or have a drink at your reception.
disgusting.
There is a saying that all nations begin stoic and end epicurean in all things including sex. We’ve seen this occur in some of the greatest cultures ever to appear on earth; Egyptian, Greek, Chinese and Roman.
Pornography isn’t new, but with modern devices—such as the Internet—pornographic materials have overwhelmed our youth. I did a survey for an article once (1998) asking adolescents from what source they learned about sex. 96% stated from pornography; 1% stated from their parents.
Pornography has a crude way of teaching children the mechanics of sexual acts, but it fails totally in teaching children the real “glue” that binds two people together; love, commitment, loyalty and trust.
Sex without love is like tea without water.
As for pornography teaching kids about sex is a faliure of the education and parents not the fault of porn itself.
Ooh can you tell me more about the survey you did? E.g. the area, how many people, the age range etc, I'm quite interested to know as next year I'm going to be teaching sex education. The teens will be about 14 and I'm interested to know exactly what they know already, and where they got their infomation from.
Did anyone see that programme on Channel 4 as part of the 'Adult at 14' series, I think it was called kids and porn or something like that.
Bongbudda - love the sig!
You could feasibly (though not "legally") have a child before that too... your point being?
Politics affects us all, regardless of age. If your only concern is about the "age of consent" perhaps we should raise everything to 18... would that be acceptable?
Personally I'd be happy to see the driving and smoking age go up to 18, but thats slightly off topic.
Pornography doesn’t teach kids bad things and can’t do it.
Love, empathy, care can’t be “taught”. They are given us by our Creator before we were born to the world. Pornography maybe teaches some sex technics and gives some fun but I can’t see anything bad in this.
If you really love somebody that just helps you to make her/him happier. Isn’t sex just the best way to say “I love you!” ?
For those unhappy guys who think love and copulation are the same…ban, don’t ban, what the hell can this change?