The Reasons Why Pornography is Harmful and Should Be Banned

The paper ‘Pornography, Normalization, and Empowerment’ (Weinberg, Williams, Kleiner, Irizarry, 2010), states that “pornography is an important source through which individuals can acquire or reinforce sexual scripts” and that it is “a bigger business than professional football, basketball and baseball put together”. In this essay, I will be discussing the benefits that are equipped with consuming/ watching pornographic content, such as aiding to help normalise certain desires, along side of the risks of these actions including mental issues, addiction and objectification of women, while arguing these two points of views against each other.

46% of young men and 16% of young women between the ages of 18 and 39 intentionally view pornography in a given week ('The Brain’s of Porn Addicts', 2020)The big division between young women and men viewing pornography may be explained that “women are sexual objects and men are sexual subjects” (Gwynne, 2013). This stereotype has been around for many, many years, as ancient Greeks celebrated the male’s body, while the women we treated as property. This led to encouragement of violence against women, endorsement of sexist and misogynist views (Gwynne, 2013). When insulting a woman, they are usually compared to one of three things being; food, an animal or a sex worker (class notes, session 1). These statements reduce women to non-human, sexual beings and that “women are less than fully human” (Gwynne, 2013), when involved in pornographic documents. Porn can create unrealistic expectation in male’s performance standards and female body expectations. A 16-year-old male was quoted in Clare Bale’s Raunch or Romance? saying that his first experience “came as a bit of a shock” and was “completely different” than what he had seen in pornographic content. Women are always exposed to the social pressures of how their bodies should/need to look. In 2017, 500,000 people (mainly females) undertook cosmetic surgeries to gain that better body that is so heavily influenced by medias, so that they can more sexually attractive (class notes, session 4) and that many “women feel that their worth is measured by the size of their breasts” (Bishop, 2012). A female, aged 17, stated that she felt her worth was associated with her sexual experience and that “every time you sleep with another person that goes on your clock like you’re a car with a speedometer.” (Bale, Raunch or romance?, 2011) These bodily expectations can start from a young age when little girls are strutting their stuff before they even have stuff (The Rise Of RAUNCH) and carry on through a young women’s life, feeling the “pressure to be sexy” (Bale, Raunch or romance?) to those around them. There are many mental effects that can arise from overusing porn, addiction being one of these conditions. The Reward Foundation educates us that even three hours of porn per week can affect behaviour and mood, with addiction significantly interfering with individual’s life and their life goals. Watching porn can often be used as a coping mechanism for stress in a person’s life, however participating in binge-watching or overindulgence can lead to negative emotions and typically, even more stress. Negative feelings may arise when this habit is missed. These feeling can include; depression or feeling flat, loneliness, anxiety and anger (The Reward Foundation, 2016). The Reward Foundation also informs us on that constant overexposure to pornography may also produce changes within the brain without the individual being conscious of these. Lack of commitment to one’s romantic partner correlates with the intake of pornography. This can lead to the thought that there may be someone better around the corner, therefore stopping people from investing further developing that real-life relationship. University-aged male students are finding difficulty with social functioning as the level of porn being watched increased. A study of Korean men aged in their 20’s showed that they have a preference of using pornography to achieve and maintain sexual excitement over having sex with a partner (The Reward Foundation). This can then lead to further mental issues for the partner, such as feeling rejected and feeling unworthy of the partners time in the regard of their sexual relationship. Despite these risks that can be involved in exposure to pornography, there are several benefits that can be seen by being involved or consuming porn.

Exploring pornography is a creative way for men and women in relationships or those sexually active to learn and explore new things and test them out to spice things up and allows for them to work out what works for them as an individual. Anna Pulley’s 2017 article, 9 surprising reasons why you should be watching porn, declares that “porn is one of the ways we educate ourselves about ourselves, our desires, our hard-nos, our hard-ons, what delights us and what disgusts us”. Pornography can be educational to people and allows for individuals to explore and feel comfortable in searching for new forms of sex safely, especially women whose sexual expression during history has been consistently discouraged. Pornography can give someone the “confidence to experiment with sexual behaviours that s/he has never tried previously” (Weinberg, Williams, Kleiner, Irizarry, 2010). By having such a wide variety of pornography so easily accessed also allows for those who feel as though they are the only ones with certain desires, to normalize these aspirations and have them celebrated. By having these fantasies advertised and accessible, it shows those with these needs that “desires are legitimate” and that even though some are not as popular as others “they are out there” (Pulley, 2017). For so long, women had been labelled as nymphomaniac is they expressed themselves in a sexual way, however the as the porn industry has grown, a generational change has given a third wave feminism, in which “female sexuality is re-interpreted as a means of self-definition and expression”. This change had introduced a “method of empowerment for women” and that “women are free to express their sexuality” (Weinberg, Williams, Kleiner, Irizarry, 2010). With women being more free to express their sexuality, Bale voices that during a interviewers she held with high school students, “none of the young women raised the issue of feeling pressured to be sexy” (Bale, Raunch or Romance?, 2011). This can show us that by feeling comfortable in their sexuality and sexual behaviours, that young women are increasingly becoming more confident in their bodies and decreasing the feeling to be sexy and to be meeting the social standards of beauty. Pornography can be used as an educational aid to those who are curious and want to learn more or also adolescents that attend schools that do not necessarily have a successful sex education program or it is not covering all of the content that these young people should be learning. Bale’s article tells us that young people are accessing this material to increase their knowledge, skills and confidence in relation to sexual practices and their sexual experiences. The sex education in schools can often be referred to as non-comprehensive programs. This means that the programs often try and limit the content to only covering a few topics, sometimes only one topic. With the teenagers and young people that are receiving this education, it can often leave them still feeling unsure and “did not equip them with the confidence to be able to made decisions when encountering their first sexual activity” (Bale, Raunch or Romance?, 2011). Pornography is so easily accessible that these students who are still curious can safely search what they are looking for, without the anxiety and pressure they may receive from their peers, who most likely, will be curious about the same things.

I do not necessarily agree with the statement that pornography is harmful and should be banned. I do agree that it in some ways it can be harmful, mentally to people with an addiction, objectifying and dehumanising women, but I do not believe that it should be banned completely as there are multiple advantages with this media also. Pornography can be used as an educational tool to young adolescents and other people who are curious in exploring sexual behaviours and what works for them. With porn being so accessible, this allows for those with specific desires/fantasies to be able to search for these and recognise that they are not the only one’s with these needs. Over time, porn has helps women feel empowered and take control of their own sexuality and use it to their advantage. There could possibly be some further restrictions on who can access it and have some websites being more age appropriate for some age groups, but I do not think it should be banned entirely.

References

1. Joel Gwynne (2013) “Andrea Dworkin was probably turning in her grave”. Pornography, (Post)Feminist Backlash and Contemporary Women’s Memoirs, Journal of Literary Studies. Retrieved from; https://doi.org/10.1080/02564718.2013.774175
2. Clare Bale (2011) “Raunch or romance? Framing and interpreting the relationship between sexualized culture and young people’s sexual health”. Retrieved from; http://www.informaworld.com
3. (n.d) “The rise of RAUNCH. Teaching about raunch culture and stereotypes in primary school”
4. Weinberg, Martin & Williams, Colin & Kleiner, Sibyl & Irizarry, Yasmiyn. (2010). Pornography, Normalization, and Empowerment. Archives of sexual behavior. 39. 1389-401. 10.1007/s10508-009-9592-5.
5. The Brain’s of Porn Addicts. (2020). Retrieved 7 March 2020, from https://www.mentalhelp.net/porn/
6. Anna Pulley (2017), 9 surprising reasons why you should be watching porn. (2020). Retrieved 7 March 2020, from https://www.salon.com/2017/09/02/9-surprising-reasons-why-you-should-be-watching-porn_partner/
7. Emily Caroline Bishop (2012) Examining the raunch culture thesis through young Australian women’s interpretations of contradictory discourses, Journal of Youth Studies. Retrieved from; https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2012.693597
8. “Love, Sex and the Internet”. The Reward Foundation. Retrieved from; https://rewardfoundation.org/health/mental-effects-of-porn/