The price of porno

Pedophilia. Rape tapes. Voyeurism. Bestiality. What may come off at first as a list of serious crimes is actually nothing more than types of pornography available. However, the true detriments of porn lie less within its abundance in variation and more within its devastating affects on the human psyche and continuously growing accessibility. The idea that a person can expose themselves to graphic and intensely explicit sexual images without psychological consequence is absolutely naive. If a well-made film in a movie theatre can stick in a person's mind for days, who's to say that occasional to frequent gratuitous pornography viewing will not have similar ramifications? People who expose themselves to anything on a semi-regular basis can let it seep into their everyday lives without even realizing it. If you listen to tons of classic rock, you may find yourself talking about it with friends. If you're favorite show is Lost, you may find yourself wondering about a recent episode or one that's coming up. But repeated viewings of pornography can lead to significantly more catastrophic modes of thought. Those who view porn could to become more likely to view others with increasingly sexual-orientated thoughts-whether they notice it or not. Director of the Masters and Johnson Clinic in St. Louis, Mark Schwartz, said that pornography causes men to objectify women and only feeds their dependency on visual imagery for arousal. "Men become like computers, unable to be stimulated by the human beings beside them. The image of a lonely, isolated man masturbating to his computer is the Willy Loman metaphor of our decade." He said in an article for Time magazine. It seems that porn viewers' perspectives become subconsciously skewed and perverted because of images stamped within the brain that become permeated with the aid of hormones released when one is sexually aroused and satisfied. This type of thinking can even begin to manifest itself into criminal behavior. Notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy, once said that "without exception", every sexually violent man he had encountered in prison was deeply involved" with pornography. Porn could increase one's tendency to judge possible spouses on appearance and sexual prowess, which takes away from the focus given on the traditional elements of a successful relationship. Sexual energy devoted to pornography takes away from the level usually attributed to one's significant other. This can cause intense personal problems with a couple. During the 2003 congregation of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, out of the 350 divorce lawyers present, 66% admitted that the Internet was a substantial factor in the divorces of last year, with an addiction to online pornography playing a part in more than half of these cases. Some people may argue that if an adult wants to endanger his or her health, they should have that right, a la cigarettes. Perhaps that argument could be made if the accessibility of pornography hadn't reached a point in which it was officially impossible to completely monitor. The convenience of pornography has reached an apex in that any and every citizen can now surf onto at least a few porn sites with ease-whether they ever intended to or not. According to a 2001 poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, seven out of every ten children aged 15 to 17 had at some point accessed online pornography unintentionally. Through increasingly clever popup and spam advertising, unaware parents, and a genuine curiosity for things they've never seen, children are at the highest risk in American history of being sexually traumatized, corrupted, or confused. A study from the University of Amsterdam of 471 Dutch teens, ages 13-18, concluded that the more often younger people sought online pornography, the more likely they were to have a more relaxed attitude towards sex - particularly the view that sex was a strictly physical function like eating or drinking not necessarily requiring an emotional attachment. Pornography has grown from something that mature, responsible adults actively search for when feeling amorous, to a multi-billion dollar industry that is, at some point in nearly every American's lifetime, thrust upon them for no cost in the attempt to get them hooked, at any age.

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