Is Pornagraphy Perversion?

Aug 16 2005

Question:

What exactly is wrong with pornography?  I have a friend at work who’s into pornography fairly deeply, and when I challenged him about it he told me he didn’t see anything wrong with it.  I’m afraid I couldn’t think of a good answer.

Billy Graham’s answer:

Let me reverse your question and ask it this way: What exactly is right with pornography?  The answer is simply: absolutely nothing.  It is a total perversion of one of God’s greatest gifts to us – the gift of sexual intimacy between a husband and wife.  I could answer you question in many ways, of course, but in this limited space let me point out two reasons why pornography is wrong.  First, it’s wrong because of what it does to us.  It appeals only to our self-centered, sinful, pleasure –seeking nature, and the more we get involved with it, the more we feed that nature and become captives to it.  Pornography is also wrong because of what it does to others.  It treats others not as people but as objects, as plaything for our own selfish gratification.

Jen’s response:

The problem with pornography is that it is a form of fantasy.  It isn’t real.  People aren’t actually able to have sex for 4 straight hours, not without chemical assistance anyway.  Further, some things depicted, especially in the erotic literature aren’t even physically possible.  When you get into the effects of violent pornography, the issues are even more alarming.

While some fantasy is healthy, when it distorts or replaces an individual’s sense of reality, it is a problem. And pornography is no exception.  All humans, when it comes to interpersonal relationships really are looking for guidance on how to be with others, what the norms are and what they can expect in their relationships.  When you get this information from pornography, the tendency is to expect from yourself and your partners what you see in the fantasy world, and since that often isn’t possible or practical, this can lead to feelings of inadequacy, depression, hurt feelings, discord in the relationship, etc.  In short, it isn’t likely to make you happy.

Another problem with pornography is that it can be addictive.  And again, if it takes you away from dealing productively with the world as it is, and not as you fantasize it to be, it will cause problems.  Some people with addictive personalities just get lost in the fantasy and never re-emerge.  That is bad, and doesn’t lead to happiness.

Finally, on the subject of violent porn, when you put together the issue of addiction and some people’s inability to discern between the fantasy and reality, with violent forms of pornography, you can cause some serious problems of violence in society.  This has probably always been a problem, but, with the ready availability of cheap or free porn, including the really violent sort that is now available on the internet, porn transforms from a harmless – lets look at the latest issue of playboy behind the bleachers – into a catalyst for some really violent bizarre crimes perpetrated by sick individuals who want to act out what they are fantasizing.  And, since what they are fantasizing about has grown increasingly bizarre as their access to a wide range of really sick pornography has grown, I worry that it is causing some previously unthinkable crimes to occur.  I believe this is why that guy in Germany was able to recruit a volunteer victim so easily.  I think it is why the number of child molesters that are kidnapping young children in broad daylight or killing their families to get access to them seems to be increasing.  I could be wrong, but I do worry about this.