The Pornography Industry Boom - Essay Example

Pornography Introduction to Pornography The chose to work on the of pornography. Pornography also referred to as porn or porno informally, is the depiction of explicit contents on a sexual subject matter. The aim is sexual arousal. Pornography is shown on numerous media such as books, magazines, photographs, postcards, sculptures, drawings, animations, painting, video, sound recording and games. The pornography industry is a worldwide business worth more than 100 billion dollars. The industry employs thousands of performers and supports production staff. Despite its huge and growing size, the business has been under attack on the basis of obscenity. The advent of video and the internet has made the porn business boom and generate billions of dollars in revenue (Boyle 8). The writer chose this particular subject to find out if the criticisms against pornography are valid. In addition, he wanted to discover if there are positive effects of watching pornography. The writer reviewed various scholarly peer-reviewed articles on pornography and its results to understand why the business has grown to such a size despite serious criticisms against it. Another objective was to increase the writers knowledge on the subject of pornography. This would enable him to make a personal, unbiased conclusion on the subject; whether the benefits outweigh the costs and vice versa. The pornography industry churns out over 13000 videos and generates revenue in the range of 10 billion and 14 billion dollars. The Free Speech Coalition is credited for the increased presence of pornography. Adult content has entered the society to such an extent that it has become unavoidable (Mikkola 316-320). It is a fact that pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry, just like weapons businesses and drug trafficking. Despite its huge profitability, most of the actresses are girls and women captured in war, kidnapped, sold by their parents, driven by poverty, violence and incest. They landed into the control of pimps, landlords, advertisers and law enforcers. These actresses are not well paid and the profits go to their "employers." Pornography categories have increased dramatically. Consumers, therefore, have a wide array to choose from and many end up liking a particular category more than the others. The main problem in figuring this point out is that there are very few actresses and producers who come out into the open to discuss how much on average a pornstar is paid (Fraterrigo 1262). It is claimed that pornography denies men the opportunity of being intimate in their relationships. It is also claimed that women, due to pornography, end up feeling inadequate. This is because they can neither look like pornstars neither enact the scenes in the videos. Men are said to grow negative attitudes towards women as they view pornography. This means that when men watch pornography, they begin assaulting and emotionally isolating according to the claims (McKee 31-45). Another concern raised in the writers mind is whether easy access to resources such as cheap digital cameras and desktop publishing programs contribute to an increase in explicit content. The writer read the book Everyday Pornography. In the course of reading the book, he asked himself many questions. Is pornography a career or just a violent crime? Is pornography a victimless crime? Are consumers of pornography victimised? If so, why are they not complaining and could they be under coercion to watch pornography? Dont people have a right to see, read and watch whatever is of interest to them as part of their fundamental liberty? What is the average age of the pornography actress? Why does pornography arouse its viewers? Current Research Karen Boyle, the author of the book Everyday Porn proves that the lack of objectivity in research on the subject of pornography is profound. She writes, "My anti-porn politics drive what I think are the significant questions to be asked about/of pornography. These politics shape how I define pornography." A huge part of the book looks like a call-to-action by the writer. Precisely because porn has taken control over the culture to such an extent, it is getting to the point where many people have had enough." One of the contributing writers, Rebecca Whisnant, urges male porn consumers stop the habit and "reclaim their own humanity." The title of the book Everyday Pornography implies that pornography defined in the book is ordinary. However, readers of the book have no way of determining if the pornography explained in the book is a mainstream or if the author has selected the worst case scenarios to force his opinion on the readers. In the book, Gail Dines states that porn shows the men that there are no boundaries in sex, morality and compassion for ladies (pg. 23). Rebecca Whisnant notes in the book that mainstream pornography encourages hostility towards women (Boyle 132). However, other writers claim that pornography is capable of increasing access to sex education. Others claim that pornography contributes to mutually fulfilling sexual intercourse by both male and female consumers. The fact that pornography is more diverse currently than it was in the past calls for the abandonment of generalised opinions by authors on the subject. Instead, researchers should conduct a thorough analysis on the subject rather than base their conclusions on theirs. For example, in Everyday Pornography, Robert Jensen writes a topic entitled, "Pornography is What the End of the World Looks Like" says that pornography makes men leave empathy. Thus, women live in a world lacking empathy and hope for them. From the review of the articles and the book, the writer comes to a supposition that there are damages or benefits from watching pornography. The damage or benefit that the person experiences depend on many factors. One of these is the category from which the video or magazine is selected. Some videos show scenes with much violence (Boyle 47). These include torture, punching, kicking, use of weapons and mutilation. These acts may make the consumers of the videos think that women experience pleasure in torture during sex. However, if a person selects categories with videos that have mild and playful acts such pinching, biting, spanking and pulling of hairs. The latter case could increase the sexual education of the consumers. In fact, research shows that violence and aggression in pornography movies has not increased (Boyle 95). It was found that pornography has some positive effects on consumers. Since people nowadays find it increasingly difficult to discuss sex, pornography is becoming a more preferred way of learning about sex. Couples who watch pornography can learn better ways of satisfying each other in bed (Shim 148-150). However, the writer discovered that pornography is permeating culture at a high rate. It is so deep in our cultures that some people cannot differentiate pornography and sex. The presence of extreme acts in pornography teaches those who watch such videos wrong notions about sex and intimacy (Thomas Johansson 57-63). Many people claim that pornography is harmful. The harm caused by pornography is not about whether it is right or wrong. Rather, it is the effects it has on a person and his loved ones. When people view pornography, they cannot form intimate bonds with other human beings. Rather, they bond with the artificial world. The consumer of pornography starts experiencing sex without intimacy. The hunger for sex is unsatisfied and might become depressed. Depression results from the fact that they get irritated and disturbed by their unfulfilling sexual relationships and end up feeling emotional empty. Since pornography enables the viewer to get aroused very fast, these emotions are followed by those of emptiness. Low self-esteem and loneliness are common effects of watching pornography. Because pornography is artificial and not emotional like sex, the underlying need is unsatisfied. The pornography consumer craves for more and more sexual intercourse (Fraterrigo 1262). Pornography also leads to addiction. Just like alcohol and drugs, consumers of pornography are not able to stop the habit out of their own will power. Pornography consumers will need to experience the same rehabilitation. Some people use pornography to avoid feelings of low self-image. The pleasure disappears, and emotions that the user run away from, look more daunting than ever. If this cycle is repeated many times, it turns into an actual addiction (McKee 44). When people watch pornography, they only see the positive effects it has on their emotions. However, with time they become desensitised and stop feeling the emotional rush. This makes stress levels and anxiety to overwhelm the pornography consumer. Pornography watchers often try to imitate what they see. This makes sexual intercourse and imitation rather than an opportunity for a person to connect with a loved one. The time used in viewing pornography increases over time because it becomes an addiction. This increasing amount of time affects work, family life and relationships important in the pornography watchers life (Pitzulo 667). In general, the writer concluded that pornography is more harmful than the benefits it poses. The consumer must watch pornography for the right reasons. If, for instance, he/she wants to know how to improve his/her sex life, he chooses the best categories and treats the videos as instructional lessons. The best kinds of pornography such as romantic pornography improve sex lives, attitudes towards intercourse, greater sexual knowledge and higher quality of life. The writer found that claims of the high damages caused by pornography are inflated and with no basis (Shim 152-157). Summary Pornography is the visual depiction of explicit sexual material. If the watcher is not careful, he gets a misleading notion about marital relations. Pornography alters the sexual behaviours of the consumer. Moreover, it is a threat to marriage including children and individuals. By undermining the family, pornography undermines society as a whole (Pitzulo 668). Married men who are addicted to pornography feel unsatisfied by their sexual relations; hence, they become less attached emotionally to their partners. The wives of these men notice such changes and become annoyed. The use of pornography makes the watcher more likely to commit infidelity. Infidelity is a primary cause of divorce and destruction of family life. Another serious negative result is that the partner of the watcher becomes affected by the practice and at least two thirds lose interest in sex. Pornography leads to destruction of family relations and some couples view pornography watching being similar to infidelity (Boyle 67). Pornography addicts anyone who has the habit of watching it often. This addiction is serious because it desensitises the watcher. Therefore, he seeks more obstinate forms of pornography. Research shows that men who are addicted to pornography have elevated sexuality levels. Some of them have raped, committed sexual aggression and promiscuity. The other harmful effect of pornography is that it produces the view in men that women are sex objects (Fraterrigo 1263). Thus, a pornography addict is likely to engage in infidelity. This leads to unwanted pregnancies and births. These people are at an advanced risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Most child-sex molesters are pornography addicts and they are involved in its circulation (Boyle 93-94). Most adolescents who view pornography are initially ashamed. Their self-confidence is suppressed and they experience sexual ambiguity. With the addiction, these low feelings shift to pleasurable feelings. These youths are likely to be engaged in sexual related businesses. Such enterprises harm the morals of society and make the value of the property in the area to decrease (Thomas Johansson 64-70). To avoid all these vices, parents should ensure that their progenies are not exposed to pornography. Governments should ensure that all pornography content is banned. It should not only focus on child pornography and leave out all the other forms. Pornography damages society and families. It should be the objective of parents to ensure that their children are safe from the internet. Firewalls should be customized so that children are not exposed to explicit content. Therefore, there are many damages than benefits caused by pornography. It is the role of society to ban all forms of it. Many women are kidnapped or forced by circumstances to do such demeaning acts. Therefore, the entire planet should say no to pornography (Boyle 12). Works Cited Boyle, Karen. Everyday pornography. London: Routledge, 2010. Print Fraterrigo, E. (2012). CAROLYN BRONSTEIN. Battling Pornography: The American Feminist Anti-Pornography Movement, 1976-1986. The American Historical Review, 117(4), 1262-1263. McKee, Alan. "The Relationship Between Attitudes Towards Women, Consumption Of Pornography, And Other Demographic Variables In A Survey Of 1,023 Consumers Of Pornography." International Journal of Sexual Health (2007): 31-45. Mikkola, M. "Contexts and pornography." Analysis (2008): 316-320. Pitzulo, C. "Battling Pornography: The American Feminist Anti-pornography Movement, 1976-1986." Journal of American History (2012): 667-668. Shim, Jae Woong. "Motivations for Internet Pornography Search and Perception on Cybersex: Focusing on Gender and Internet Pornography Use." The Journal of the Korea Contents Association (2013): 148-157. Thomas Johansson, Nils Hammaré. "Hegemonic Masculinity And Pornography: Young Peoples Attitudes Toward And Relations To Pornography." The Journal of Mens Studies (2007): 57-70. Read More