One of the current Internet threats is aggressive
pornography. Violence in pornography Chris Hedges in Empire of Illusion: The
End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle says " the
violence,cruelty,and degradation of porn are expression of society that has
lost the capacity for empathy."
People's expectations of porn have became very high and diversed. I feel confident saying that in the world of an online pornography,a person can get an illusion of satisfying the most eccentric fantasies and needs. In the era where people turn back to each other and terrorism is a treat to every nation; violence in porn industry is a common thing. Both women and men are viewed as objects, not humans or spirits. Alarming is the fact that no one finds it shocking anymore.
Former porn actress Jennie Ketcham blogged for the New York Times
earlier this month that being a porn star was traumatic, and she experienced
symptoms similar to those of post-traumatic stress disorder after leaving the
industry. Post-traumatic stress disorder is commonly known mental disturbance
experienced by war veterans and people who survived traumatic accidents. Other
group that is negatively affected are viewers who often have unrealistic
expectations of sex and intimacy. They become frustrated when their fantasies
and images they have watched in porn, don't match real life human interactions.
People's expectations of porn have became very high and diversed. I feel confident saying that in the world of an online pornography,a person can get an illusion of satisfying the most eccentric fantasies and needs. In the era where people turn back to each other and terrorism is a treat to every nation; violence in porn industry is a common thing. Both women and men are viewed as objects, not humans or spirits. Alarming is the fact that no one finds it shocking anymore.
According to studies, watching pornographic, erotic moovies, which include acts of violence, increases the aggressiveness of the recipient. What's more, watching pornography (any kind of pornography, not necessarily aggressive) may also result in treating women and sex like objects (Kirwil, 2011).What is more, sex is a signal that stimulates aggression - activation of sex in the case of men leads to an increase in their aggression, while in the case of women increases the tendency to interpret the behavior of men as aggressive (Wojciszke, 2011).
Pornography affects more lives in negative way than in a positive way. We should keep in mind that as long as there is a need, porn will bring more harm than good.
Questions:
What position would you assume: for or against production of pornography, which includes acts of violence? Or maybe you are not against production, but only against easy access in Internet to such contents? Argue your statement.
Asking about “position” when writing about porn….? Interesting…. But to be serious - I don’t see problem with porn, until it’s not hurting children or innocent ones. I’m not a specialist in this matter, so I don’t know what to expect when we talk about “violent porn” (I don’t think it’s like Clown Porn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTexZKj1FgE), but porn-stars know the script and possibly are aware of what to expect. I don’t think that average man/woman would became aggressive fanatic just because he/she saw a pornographic movie, the same goes with video games. You won’t go out and kill people in the street, just because you’ve played Grand Theft Auto (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyMOjLj6NNw).
ReplyDeleteTo summarize this topic, I really recommend to watch South Park episode called “Informative Murder Porn” (clip from it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCYktE3D8Ko), which basically covers this topic. Here’s the link:
http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s17e02-informative-murder-porn
LOL, first sentence just killed me :)))
DeleteBut to the point - I totally agree with you. I don't care about the porn and its content until nobody hurts - not only children but e.g. women forced to play in such movie or when movie is a private one, published by accident or without the permission of someone.
I also think that everything is for people and in reasonable dose won't hurt - of course, it can be dangerous e.g. when someone is addicted but everything can be dangerous when used in excess.
Porn (again - if filmed without causing harm to anyone) is exactly the same movie type as any others. If you're not a fan of horrors, then you don't have to watch them.
the beginning of your comment really made me laugh, Jakub :)
Delete"I don’t think that average man/woman would became aggressive fanatic just because he/she saw a pornographic movie, the same goes with video games. " - you must misunderstood me. I'm not saying, that saddenly people who watch it, will take guns and kill everyone around, no. But it is a scientific truth, that watching aggression (not only in porn, but in life, or any videos) increase aggressive thoughts and behaviour. It is noticable especially with kids - in their case, the effects of viewing violence are long-term (in case of adults, short-term). I recommend to read about the theory of "modeling" (it has been prooved) - in other words - social learning. It was prooved in "bobo doll experiment" of Bandura:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zerCK0lRjp8
@Volkan
DeleteDon't use word "proven" for theories that are not widely accepted in science world.
@Jakub M
Good reply that was, Yoda said.
It's not the first and not the last time someone says that we should be aware of pornography. Pornography in many forms has been with us for thousands of years. And it will be if society won't change dramatically. I don't have time for looking for sources, but I've read many times about social behavior in some tribes, where there's no clothing used. Sex urge was there at minimal level. It's “proven” to be society that creates sex stress and violent pornography – not pornography creating society and bad things about it.
And empathy – that's a crap. Level of emapthy has been rising for thousands years as well and is rising now as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AWnfFRc7g
There's hunger and wars in our world. People live in nightmare in some parts of the world, and we are traumatized by pornography being too violent. Jeez. Just don't watch it. Rapes are problem in RPA, not in Europe....
I am basically sharing opinions of Jakub and Aga. As far as people involved into porn production is adult, aware of what gonna happen and do it on a free will basis - its ok.
ReplyDeleteFor a much as something is forbidden or limited - it becomes more desirable. That's basics of human nature.
With regards to, in this case "violent porn" and it harm to viewers, I once read completely opposite study, which basically was claiming that by watching some extreme pornography a person lowering down their desire for such experience or natural curiosity. So it even could bring positive effects in real life.
All-in-all, my opinion on that topic and similar is that if person's interests do not bring disturbance or harm people living close to this person or society as a whole - a person should be allowed to be interested in whatever he\she wants.
I don't believe in studies I read.. not anymore, so I stopped reading them :) Especially if it starts with "American researchers have found (...)". You can put everything instead of (...).
DeleteRegarding such studies I think it depends who paid for the research. And it is very often like that so the best example are people around us. I think in real life everything depends on the specific person - some people are more susceptible to specific to influence, images or patterns, others less. We shouldn't generalize as far as we speak about adults. As you said - as long as we do not harm anyone, we should be able to be interested in what we want.
violent porn and positive effects? ok, now you got my attention, it's really surprising and VERY hard to believe. do you have link or sth? i would really like to read those studies, that you are talking about, you interested me :)
DeleteAgnieszka, I am surprised about your comment too. I was curious about women reaction to this article and I was expecting sth like "of course I'm against violent porn" :) but going to your last sentence - it is already harming people. If porn stars who, as Jakub said before "know what to expect" suffer from symptoms similar to PTSD, because of violent porn, than sth has to be not right...
DeleteI'm against showing violence in general - not only in porn but also in "normal" movies, that children have access to in cinemas and TV's. But after reading previous comments I'm getting really curious - is violence in media making people more violet or just the opposite, more reluctant to show this kind of behavior. It might be that actually violent porn is not hurting anyone (aside from actors) and only fills up natural curiosity people have. In that case the only problem that we're left with is a problem of actors who actually get hurt - is it ok to allow that? I'm not sure. Although they're consenting adults who are paid to act in such scenes, so everything seems fine.
ReplyDeleteThe discussion on banning violent porn movies reminds me of ever-returning debate about video games being the root of all evil when a murder happens and the killer happened to play some video games. The same goes with the killing at a cinema in the US on Batman movie premiere. As stated before, human behaviors depend on many factors. I just cannot accept the argument that a person's violent side develops when watching porn.
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ReplyDeleteThere are many factors making our world worse. One of them probably is pornography (any kind). We are not able to prohibit it and this is not the way in fact. We should make as much as we can to educate people that this bad and this is not real, this is only fiction, because it can cause personal disorders as you mentioned. It is similar situation to alcohol, drugs. More education and for sure access to porn websites only for an adults. It should be much more difficult than currently.
ReplyDeleteLike Jakub I Agnieszka- I believe that as long as it doesn’t cause adverse effects no problem.
ReplyDeleteAs noted by Agnieszka - all in excess can be dangerous. Literally everything even 'healthy eating' is beneficial until exaggeration of its quality. The second issue is the fact - not everyone has to watch this contents. Without any doubt I’m against easy acces in Internet to such contents for children.
In my opinion any violence will be born violence. It's hard to believe that the studies demonstrated the opposite effect –I really want to read the source of these information.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI actually read recently about a study showing that pornography may actually be beneficial to people with sexual desires that can't or shouldn't be realized in real life. Pornography gives them a safe outlet, and aids them in releasing tensions that builds up inside. Even if for most folks their pornography is revolting, I think its better for people who need it to be able to use it, so they can control their desires better, and not do anything actually harmful. Of course this only applies to situation when nobody was harmed while making the pornographic content.
ReplyDelete