Banning Pornographic Sites in the United States - Essay Example

Pornography sites should be banned throughout the United States

America should take the hard decision and ban all pornographic sites. The growth and advancement of the internet are linked with several positive gains for the general society. For instance, communication between individuals has been enhanced throughout the world. It is now possible to engage in timely and live discussions with people in different geographic locations. Another societal gain that has emerged from internet growth is access to information. The internet acts as a database that grants people with data from different parts of the globe. However, it is in the access to information that one of the significant detrimental effects of the internet arises. Access to a wide array of information exposes internet users to pornographic content. Talks about the adverse impact of the internet are not new to American society. The challenge of exposing society to pornographic content was highlighted as the first argument that had been raised against the internet's significance. The topic was, however, overshadowed by many other issues which mostly focused on the benefits it brings to society. Many years later, pornography remains a challenge to Americans. Contrary to the past days, America has realized significant growth in the number of pornographic sites, thus illustrating the massive demand for the industry’s activities. It is projected that 37 pornographic videos are made in America every day. Likewise, approximately $ 3075.64 is spent on pornographic sites every second. The high prevalence of pornography in America is also illustrated by findings showing that 40 million Americans regularly visit different porn sites with 35% of the downloads realized being linked to pornographic content “Internet Pornography by the Numbers”. The above figures elicit a lot of worries as it depicts a society that stands to suffer from the adverse effects of pornography. The research discusses the harmful effects of pornography and why America should ban the sites.

Pornography is detrimental to society as it leads to child trafficking for sexual exploitation hence should be banned. America considers human trafficking as the second-highest form of crime after the drugs business. People are trafficked for two key objectives, either to be used as a source of free or cheap labor or sexual exploitation. The weight of sexual exploitation tends to fall more on young vulnerable girls. The girls are forced to indulge in sexual activities which are then filmed and distributed as pornographic content. The pornographic industry is valued at $ 97 billion. About $ 3 billion in the industry's total is highlighted to come from child trafficking. It is for this reason that pornography involving children is projected to be rising very fast. The events portrayal state where citizens encourage the use of children for sex trafficking. Instead of condemning, people are highlighted as having trouble in children being used in sexual activities. The events thus act as a motive for production of more child pornography content.

The close relationship between child-trafficking and pornography is seen in the massive profits people stand to gain when having young people. Human traffickers consider children as more valuable than adults. About half of young children, both boys and girls, who have been rescued from the hands of human traffickers indicated that they were being used for sexual purposes. Likewise, a large number of the victims revealed that they were taught how to perform sexual activities using pornographic materials. Often, human traffickers look for children whom they easily manipulate and trick them into becoming their captives. Runaway children are also considered to be at great risk of being captured for forced sexual activities as they easily fall prey to the traffickers who offer them alternatives on enhancing their lives. About one in every six runaway children find themselves trafficked and used for child pornography. The average year of children who are trafficked for prostitution purposes ranges from 12 t0 14 years. About four out of five of such children are girls (Wolak, p 347). It is the desire to gain high profits as seen in child pornography that leads to abduction and trafficking of minors. The events can only be brought to a halt or reduced when the child traffickers lack a platform that will allow them to showcase their pornographic content. The dream will only be realized by an entire banning of pornographic sites in America. The measure will deprive child traffickers the platform to showcase their content, thereby lowering their profit hence reduction in cases of human abduction and trafficking.

Also, pornographic sites should be banned as they encourage violence and sexual abuse against women. Over the years, America has formulated several amendments that seek to empower women. For instance, policies against gender discrimination has been formulated to ensure that women attain equal treatment in society. The measures have been enacted due to the realization of past forms of oppression that were being orchestrated against women in society. One such type of abuse depicted itself in the form of sexual exploitation. Women were mostly considered as sex objects whose purpose were to satisfy men’s sexual desires, attend to house chores and raise children. Despite the several efforts taken to get rid of such thoughts, challenges seem to arise from the sexual portrayal of women in pornographic contents. Often, pornographic materials portray women as men’s objects who are controlled to attend to the desires of the men. The scenes are characterized by several acts of violence meted on women. The violent nature of sexual abuse against women characterized by pornographic contents is illustrated in work "How Pornography Impacts Violence Against Women and Child Sex Abuse." The study's analysis of the best-voted scenes for pornographic content revealed that about "90% of scenes contained physical aggression." Also, it was established that "50% contained verbal aggression, primarily in the form of name-calling." The effect of watching violent, pornographic materials is that it conditions viewers to view sex in that manner. It unconsciously conditions for people to see women as sex objects. The violent repercussions of pornography are much higher in adolescent boys whose perception of abusing women is portrayed as okay. Young girls, on the other hand, grow up tolerating various kinds of physical and emotional tortures due to familiarity with pornographic events. The fact that America is championing for women empowerment thus makes it necessary to do away with pornographic content as they encourage a contrary behavior. Banning pornographic sites is one of the solutions will reduce society's practice of orchestrating violence against women.

Similarly, pornography is considered detrimental to society as it hampers productivity. Cybersex activities are considered addictive. Like any other form of addiction, pornography deprives people of the valuable time they would have spent attending to other useful things in society. Addiction to pornography leads to sexually compulsive behaviours. One such sexual compulsive behavior is seen in the need to get rid of sex. Watching pornography and its associated effects have been illustrated as a way of getting rid of stress for addicts. The significance of sexual addiction for pornographic viewers has been affirmed by research findings which show that 90% of therapists believe that the situation leads to addiction. So strong is the addiction for pornography that its repercussions are felt at the workplace. As of 2010, about 28% of computers at America's workplaces had been used to access pornographic sites. The average monthly time spent on pornographic sites accessed via office computers was one hour and thirty-eight minutes “Internet Pornography by the Numbers”. The figures thus depict the worrying trend where sexual addiction from viewing pornographic contents extends to the workplace. In turn, employee’s productivity is reduced as they spend part of their time away from work duties by choosing to visit pornographic sites. The general effects of loss of productivity can be seen in America, losing almost $ 16.9 billion annually due to pornographic addiction that carries on to the workplace. Doing away with pornographic sites is thus the perfect way to ensure that people remain committed to their tasks in life by avoiding falling into the addiction associated with access to pornographic sites.

Consequently, pornographic sites should be banned due to their nature of subjecting people to an unrealistic world. Pornography has led to the emergence of different thoughts about what sexual life entails. It has made people develop high expectations of what sex entails. For instance, pornographic acts portray sex as a recreational activity. Likewise, the events exaggerate cases of premarital and extramarital sexual affairs. One such exaggeration is seen in acts of group sex and bestiality activities. People perceived to be sex addicts thus suffer a lot when they figure out that their expectations of sexual encounters as depicted on the pornographic sites are not the same. Prolonged exposure to pornographic contents, thus lead to social troubles. An excellent example of the social challenges that arise due to addiction to pornographic substances is seen in deteriorating marriages (Griffin, p 20). Women considered having watched porn are portrayed more likely to be divorced than those who did not. The situation was caused by high expectations which they encountered through access to pornography. Husbands were also depicted as being affected by high expectations they come across in the society. Men were portrayed as finding discomfort from their wives based on sexual interactions. Like women, men saw their wives as not being able to offer sexual performance as they expect. Banning pornographic sites in America will, therefore, come in handy in lowering instances of high sexual expectations that lead to the emergence of marital problems in society.

The desensitization effect of watching pornographic further appeals for a ban of the sites as it breaks marriages. Pornography causes boredom among individuals. Acts of habituation cause the boredom. A person used to several sexual encounters as seen in the explicit contents they encounter makes people used to such arousals. It, therefore, requires extreme acts of sexual stimulation such as violence for a person to be aroused and elicit interest in sex. However, such actions do not occur in the actual society. The effects of such acts are that it leads to people viewing their marriage partners as boring. The situation makes people consider their partners less attractive in different ways, such as appearance. It is the thoughts of becoming bored with marriage partners that make people delve outside marriage to find people whom they believe can satisfy their sexual desires. It such situations that lead to troubles in marriages resulting in separation of families (Wright, p 65). It is, therefore, necessary that the American government protect the family entity. An ideal alternative, as highlighted, is to ban pornographic sites in America. This is because pornographic sites have been considered to cause boredom between partners, making them seek sexual encounters outside marriage.

Also, pornographic sites should be banned as they lead to ill social and moral behaviors. Every society is depicted as being governed by a set of laws which people are supposed to follow. Morality is highlighted as the ability to do that which is right in the society. Likewise, people are encouraged to shun away from social ills. One such moral ill common in the general community across the world is sexual abuse and immoral indulgent. The extensive nature of pornographic contents has propagated the situation. People who watch pornography see acts perceived as sexually immoral as usual. Excessive consumption of pornographic materials has allowed them to view explicit sexual activities to be okay. The result of such actions is that it has led to a change in people's perception of immorality. The society is depicted as changing its mindset and embracing social evils. For instance, people are portrayed to justify cases of child pornography as highlighted by their liking of the pornographic contents (Wright, p 62). The act violates society's long stand against child exploitation for sexual purposes due to their innocence. Also, pornography has led to the deterioration of moral laws when it comes to the portrayal of women. People addicted to pornography see no harm in subjecting women to sexual abuse as they view it as a routine practice. The long-term repercussions of such acts are that it may lead people into developing attitudes that justify various forms of sexual immoralities, thereby encouraging many people to violate their moral principles. The need to stick to our morals, therefore, demand that we put into consideration the banning of pornographic sites in the country.

In conclusion, the existence of pornographic sites has been depicted as detrimental to American society and should be banned. The pornographic industry has been portrayed as one that is continuously growing. It is the significant growth and access to sexual materials that has elicited a lot of concern among Americans. Access to pornographic content has been proven to promote child trafficking cases. Also, pornographic content has been linked to the continuous nature of people viewing women as sexual objects, thus promoting various forms of abuse against them. Similarly, pornography has been highlighted as detrimental to the society as it leads to reduced productivity, developing the existence of unrealistic worlds, breaking marriages and leading to a rise in cases of social ills. The above information shows the clear repercussions that society struggles with when it comes to sexual inclination. Lowering the effects of the individual aspects of the challenges is not adequate. The only solution that will address the issues is banning pornographic sites as it is the root cause of the challenges.

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Women were mostly considered as sex objects whose purpose were to satisfy men’s sexual desires, attend to house chores and raise children. Despite the several efforts taken to get rid of such thoughts, challenges seem to arise from the sexual portrayal of women in pornographic contents. Often, pornographic materials portray women as men’s objects who are controlled to attend to the desires of the men. The scenes are characterized by several acts of violence meted on women. The violent nature of sexual abuse against women characterized by pornographic contents is illustrated in work "How Pornography Impacts Violence Against Women and Child Sex Abuse." The study's analysis of the best-voted scenes for pornographic content revealed that about "90% of scenes contained physical aggression." Also, it was established that "50% contained verbal aggression, primarily in the form of name-calling." The effect of watching violent, pornographic materials is that it conditions viewers to view sex in that manner. It unconsciously conditions for people to see women as sex objects. The violent repercussions of pornography are much higher in adolescent boys whose perception of abusing women is portrayed as okay. Young girls, on the other hand, grow up tolerating various kinds of physical and emotional tortures due to familiarity with pornographic events. The fact that America is championing for women empowerment thus makes it necessary to do away with pornographic content as they encourage a contrary behavior. Banning pornographic sites is one of the solutions will reduce society's practice of orchestrating violence against women.

Similarly, pornography is considered detrimental to society as it hampers productivity. Cybersex activities are considered addictive. Like any other form of addiction, pornography deprives people of the valuable time they would have spent attending to other useful things in society. Addiction to pornography leads to sexually compulsive behaviours. One such sexual compulsive behavior is seen in the need to get rid of sex. Watching pornography and its associated effects have been illustrated as a way of getting rid of stress for addicts. The significance of sexual addiction for pornographic viewers has been affirmed by research findings which show that 90% of therapists believe that the situation leads to addiction. So strong is the addiction for pornography that its repercussions are felt at the workplace. As of 2010, about 28% of computers at America's workplaces had been used to access pornographic sites. The average monthly time spent on pornographic sites accessed via office computers was one hour and thirty-eight minutes “Internet Pornography by the Numbers”. The figures thus depict the worrying trend where sexual addiction from viewing pornographic contents extends to the workplace. In turn, employee’s productivity is reduced as they spend part of their time away from work duties by choosing to visit pornographic sites. The general effects of loss of productivity can be seen in America, losing almost $ 16.9 billion annually due to pornographic addiction that carries on to the workplace. Doing away with pornographic sites is thus the perfect way to ensure that people remain committed to their tasks in life by avoiding falling into the addiction associated with access to pornographic sites.

Consequently, pornographic sites should be banned due to their nature of subjecting people to an unrealistic world. Pornography has led to the emergence of different thoughts about what sexual life entails. It has made people develop high expectations of what sex entails. For instance, pornographic acts portray sex as a recreational activity. Likewise, the events exaggerate cases of premarital and extramarital sexual affairs. One such exaggeration is seen in acts of group sex and bestiality activities. People perceived to be sex addicts thus suffer a lot when they figure out that their expectations of sexual encounters as depicted on the pornographic sites are not the same. Read More