Porn
Posted on April 21st, 2003I know that you are all sick of me ranting and raving about the events of my life. So in a radical departure from all of that, I’ve decided to reflect on a recent conversation that I had with one of my.. um… associates (this individual is far too superficial for my liking). The topic, as you may have already guessed, was indeed pornography. Now, please understand that I will be making plenty of generalizations here, and I am aware of most, if not all, of them. So bear with me as I pick this apart. I’m going to try and be as blunt as I can.
Porn has been around for… ages, it seems. I’m sure guys and girls have enjoyed watching people having sex for thousands of years. But it’s with the advent of the media — magazines, videos, and the Internet — that porn has really become extremely noticeable. Now, 99% of guys’ mentality 99% of the time is this: sex. For some reason, the male population is infatuated with it. Yeah, I know that society has become very secular, morals have been lost, and women have been objectified. One of the media’s strongest advertising weapons is sex appeal, and both men and women have bought it. The men are usually the target audience, and the women have accepted that looking good, looking “hot”, is the way to go; both parties are just as guilty for the disaster that is taking place in our society today. But, as a guy, I welcome blame on males. There’s an expression that goes “A guy only has enough blood for one head.” Yeah it’s kinda gross, but in the majority of the cases, it’s true. Sad, but true.
The whole issue of pornography raises a number of fundamental questions from me. In no particular order, here they are:
Don’t people get sick of it? Honestly, it’s the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over. Whether it’s a picture or a movie or whatever, the same actions ad nauseam. You’d figure that once someone sees it once, he can move on to something a little bit more profound. But, nope. Guys (and girls) are perpetually drawn to it. Sure there are different varieties, but it doesn’t make it any better. For example, there’s beastiality (I think that’s how it’s spelled). That’s just… that’s beyond wrong. Ugh. Anyone who gets turned on by that sick stuff is… in dire need of help.
What does God think of this? Granted, as a Christian, this comes to mind. For those who are not religiously inclined, I guess this is a non-issue. Since I am Christian, however, the answer for me is that it’s wrong. The Bible is pretty clear about it: adultery is wrong, and he who looks at a woman lustily is guilty of adultery. Yeah it sounds pretty tight, but I think that even if this were relaxed a little, the message would stay exactly the same.
Why degrade yourself to this level? It seems that people have become nothing more than slobbering pigs. Sex shouldn’t be getting the attention that it does. It is certainly very important, but all at the right time and place (i.e. in marriage). There’s definitely much more to life than it. But it’s been blown way out of proportion and people can’t stop thinking about it. Everyone’s to blame: society for marketing it and society for listening to it.
I guess the most basic of these questions is this last one. What do you care about more: the incomes of some immoral, disgusting actors and actresses, or for your own dignity? The answer should be unanimous, but the porn industry is a multi-billion dollar one. For a lot of people, a similar question can be posed. Who do you care about more: immoral, disgusting actors and actresses or someone in your life (such as a significant other)? Again, the answer should be very obvious. Yet people, such as the poor soul with whom I had this discussion, still watch porn avidly despite having significant others in their lives. How pitiful. This, however, isn’t an invitation to go have sex with those significant others to their hearts’ desires; again, there is a time and a place for all of that.
It’s always disheartening to overhear guys talk about girls. The same adjectives are used time and time again, and the same intentions are there. Even those quiet, reserved guys do it. You wouldn’t think so, but yet they do. I was shocked when I heard some of the people in my class (i.e. nerds) talk that way. I’ve concluded that addiction to pornography is a disease; it plagues the majority of the population. It serves no useful purpose except to waste people’s time and money, to reduce people’s dignities, and to send society into a downward spiral to universal disrespect and idolatry.
Now I’ve pointed a lot of fingers, and I haven’t talked about me a whole lot. Personally, there is not a shred of pornography in my possession, and I have no intentions on changing that. While I do appreciate physical beauty, that’s not the first thing I look for in a girl. Furthermore, I would not contort that appreciation into infatuation; I love, not lust. I applaud those that do not conform to the stereotypes and generalizations I have mentioned in this post; kudos to you for having self-respect and respect for others. This world is in desperate need of more people like you.
April 22nd, 2003 at 6:50 am
It’s very sad and pitiful to see people become slaves to it. I’d be lying if I said that I’ve never seen any — one doesn’t go to an all-guy school, have a lot of male friends, and avoid exposure to it — but I’m not going to obsess over it like they do. Instead, I try and avoid it because I know that no good will come out of it; no good ever does. But it seems that people with this sort of mentality are few and far between in the male population… sigh… Oh what a sad time to be a guy…
April 22nd, 2003 at 9:20 am
have you seen how girls dress these days? and they blame guys for being lustful?! ugh! it makes me sick.
if any girl in her super low-riders (had to shave to wear them), with her thong proudly showing and a little halter top with midriff bearing, bra showing, and heels high enough to reach the moon on has a problem with how guys look at and talk about girls, well, she is the problem.
girls play the parts in porn, they play the j-lo’s in the music videos, they play the sexy vulnerables in the movies, and they play the come and get me i am easy’s in the magazines. they are bad too.
thank God for the few who realise that they can help prevent the degradation by modest dress and a heart to please the Lord, and not mankind.
*kat
April 22nd, 2003 at 12:45 pm
the whole thing is just so sad. this is a tool of the devil without a doubt. that is the only answer that i can come up with as to why people become addicted to this and any other thing that isn’t good for their mind or their spirt. he has a strong hold on these people. it makes me sick…
April 23rd, 2003 at 12:00 pm
Yep, I wholeheartedly agree. I wrote “One of the media’s strongest advertising weapons is sex appeal, and both men and women have bought it. The men are usually the target audience, and the women have accepted that looking good, looking “hot”, is the way to go; both parties are just as guilty for the disaster that is taking place in our society today.” I just spent a lot more time criticizing males because, well, I’m a guy. But, yes, almost everyday there are women that I see that seem to invite guys to lust after them. A lot of them do it for attention, but there are those unfortunate few who dress like that with the intention of landing a guy in bed.
So both sides are definitely at fault. Even if the women were making themselves readily available to lust, if guys smartened up and ignored them — if they didn’t buy porn, or go to strip clubs, or rent whores — then girls would have to change, too. Similarly, if girls all dressed and acted with dignity, guys would have less to look at and they’d have to do something else. Without a doubt, there will be guys that become more desperate in their pursuit of sexual conquest (and it’s another huge post about how guys view it as a conquest whereas girls see it as slutiness), and will go to more extreme means to attain it. But on the whole, the world would not be such a disgusting place to live.
Thanks for your thoughts 🙂 I hope all is going well at home!
JC