Is Porn Harmless?

[Captain_Poncho]

Porn as "Addictive as Heroin" (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,139062,00.html)

WASHINGTON — Comparing pornography to heroin, researchers on Thursday called on Congress to finance studies on "porn addiction" and launch a public health campaign about the dangers.


"We're so afraid to talk about sex in our society that we really give carte blanche to the people who are producing this kind of material," said James B. Weaver, a Virginia Tech professor who studies the impact of pornography.


Internet pornography is corrupting children and hooking adults into an addiction that threatens their jobs and families, a panel of anti-porn advocates told the hearing organized by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., chairman of the Commerce subcommittee on science.

Brownback, a father of five, said when he was a boy, the typical kid's exposure was limited to occasional peeks at dirty magazines illicitly obtained by a buddy.

Now, he said, pornography seems pervasive. Children run across it while researching homework on the Internet. Vulgar ads arrive unexpectedly by e-mail. Some of his middle-age male friends limit their time alone in hotel rooms to avoid the temptation of graphic pay-per-view movies, Brownback said.

Mary Anne Layden, co-director of a sexual trauma program at the University of Pennsylvania, said pornography's effect on the brain mirrors addiction to heroin or crack cocaine. She told of one patient, a business executive, who arrived at his office at 9 a.m. each day, logged onto Internet porn sites, and didn't log off until 5 p.m.

Layden called for billboards and bus ads warning people to avoid pornography, strip clubs and prostitutes.

The panel discussion ranged from hardcore, violent pornography to audience complaints about a sexually suggestive promo that aired prior to this week's "Monday Night Football" game.

Brownback, an outspoken Christian conservative who has championed efforts to curb indecency on television and the Internet, said the public is beginning to realize "they don't just have to take it."

But he acknowledged the First Amendment right to free speech has limited congressional efforts.

In June, the Supreme Court blocked a law designed to shield Web-surfing children from pornography, ruling that requiring adults to register or use access codes before viewing objectionable material would infringe on their rights.

Brownback said scientific data is needed to help his cause.

Weaver acknowledged that research "directly assessing the impact of pornography addiction on families and communities is rather limited."

But he pointed to studies that show prolonged use of pornography leads to "sexual callousness, the erosion of family values and diminished sexual satisfaction."

Judith Reisman, a vocal critic of the Kinsey Institute and the field of sexology, suggested Congress require police officers to gather evidence of pornography at crime scenes to further research.

[Pezman]

Gee... imagine that, Brownback and his bible-thumpers preaching to the masses again... At this point, Mr. Kansas senator could be preaching about how water is blue and I could care less. Frankly his fellowship scares me with their moral rhetoric.

[Spider]

I used to think Porn was cool , untill I had a daughter , now Porn isnt so attrative anymore .........

[Hotrod]

I used to think Porn was cool , untill I had a daughter , now Porn isnt so attrative anymore .........


Ya I used to think Porn was cool until I tryed some of that crazy stuff and threw out my back. rofl

[Spider]

Ya I used to think Porn was cool until I tryed some of that crazy stuff and threw out my back. rofl
LOL ..........

[patteeu]

I'm really not sure, I'm going to have to do some more research.

[Hotrod]

I'm really not sure, I'm going to have to do some more research.

LOL

[Kaylore]

It is, but not to everyone. For some, it seems that there is little trouble keeping it in control, just like booze. Others have struggles with the stuff and organizations like this (http://www.sa.org/) are swelling in numbers with the internet seeing more wide spread proliferation of it.

Some theorize that the addiction is rooted in the body becoming addicted to your own endorphines released at climax. There is evidence that the culprit is psycological, as well. Whatever it is, porn is quite addictive to many people.

I suspect that people are addicted to many things, but we just don't know because they are socially acceptable or because they don't mind.

[winstoncup bronco]

If my eyesight was better, I'd better understand this thread.

[W*GS]

Judith Reisman, a vocal critic of the Kinsey Institute and the field of sexology, suggested Congress require police officers to gather evidence of pornography at crime scenes to further research.

Personally, I think porn is hard to define - as whatsisname said, "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it". There's always the occassional letter to the editor where someone complains about the department store ad for a bra sale being pornographic, but I think that belief is just silly.

Anyway, if cops are gonna collect porn at crime scenes, they ought to look for and collect Bibles, TIME magazine, and Reader's Digest too. I bet the correlation is roughly the same, but the trick is proving the causality.

I don't deny that in many ways, the American attitude towards sex and sexuality is whacked. But, attempting to restrict or get rid of what some call pornography is doomed to failure. Yes, I don't want my kids to see it until they're old enough, but, if I want to rent "Vixen Stewardesses Unchained" and make Mr. Happy, well, happy, in the privacy of my own home, it's no-one's business but mine own (and my Kleenex).

[patteeu]

Personally, I think porn is hard to define - as whatsisname said, "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it". There's always the occassional letter to the editor where someone complains about the department store ad for a bra sale being pornographic, but I think that belief is just silly.

Anyway, if cops are gonna collect porn at crime scenes, they ought to look for and collect Bibles, TIME magazine, and Reader's Digest too. I bet the correlation is roughly the same, but the trick is proving the causality.

I don't deny that in many ways, the American attitude towards sex and sexuality is whacked. But, attempting to restrict or get rid of what some call pornography is doomed to failure. Yes, I don't want my kids to see it until they're old enough, but, if I want to rent "Vixen Stewardesses Unchained" and make Mr. Happy, well, happy, in the privacy of my own home, it's no-one's business but mine own (and my Kleenex).

I don't want to hear about the exploits of Mr. Happy in the future, thank you. Your post, while making a sensible point, ended with a complete buzzkill. tsk tsk ;D

[W*GS]

I don't want to hear about the exploits of Mr. Happy in the future, thank you. Your post, while making a sensible point, ended with a complete buzzkill. tsk tsk ;D

Sorry.

Anyway, for some people, porn is harmful, I suppose. Just like gambling is for some folks, and alcohol, or shopping...

But for people who can handle porn/shopping/alcohol/gambling without problems, what's the big deal? I can go to a casino, get $20 in nickels, and have a jolly good time playing the nickel slots, for hours, and leave it at that. Others can't walk away and lose everything. Does gambling get banned because of just those folks?

[TexanBob]

The problem with laws about internet porn is that it is *international* and therefore, much of it is outside the legal jurisdiction of the federal government, much like offshore gambling casinos. Credit card companies are fighting back against some of it, denying credit charges to business like offshore casinos and porn purveyors.

I'd wish that, rather than censorship, porn businesses would see the wisdom in voluntarily allowing their URLs to be changed from ".com" to ".xxx" That way, it would be easier for software to block porn sites from children and others who don't want them (or shouldn't see them) while protecting the free speech rights of others who want porn in their homes.

Now, as to the sociological effect, I'll defer to others but it seems to me that the alcohol analogy is appropriate. Some can handle it with no problem and others just can't.

[Captain_Poncho]

WAGS and Bob both make excellent points. I personally think porn is a very addictive thing, given my personal observations and the like. I also suspect there are folks who can "handle" it in much the same way one can handle liquor or gambling without necessarily getting hooked. I have a very big problem with porn being sprung much like a trap by its purveyors (mostly via the web) which seems to me to suggest the industry knows it's addictive.

WAGS' porn definition is also a sticky subject. Is a bra model in the Post porno? Not by my definition, but do those women pique sexual interest? Some people's definition of porn is nudity, for others it's graphic nookie...

Bob's point about it not being foisted upon what amounts to unsuspecting passers-by is what I find most disturbing about the whole thing. My boys are far too young to even approach this subject, but I sure as hell don't want then to see anything of the sort - ever if I could have my way. I don't need some 40 year old with a penchant for Interrogating the Prisoner to try to share his "hobby" with my little kids.

And in looking at the caliber of people who produce such stuff, you can see that they're not the most high-minded members of society. It's indicative to me of what they create.

[RaiderH8r]

Is Porn harmless?

My thoughts tend towards no but my chafed foreskin indicates yes. Hmmm.

[Crushaholic]

Porn is only harmful if you get caught looking... thwack

I don't really agree with my senator on this....just like I didn't agree with his witchhunt over "smutty TV". It's a matter of knowing the difference between fantasy and reality.

[winstoncup bronco]

hmm...is this considered porn?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/christian691/dscf00861.jpg

[winstoncup bronco]

or these?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/christian691/dscf008511.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/christian691/dscf00881.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/christian691/dscf00871.jpg

[Mile High Shack]

LOL

holy cow

WOW

[RaiderH8r]

hmm...is this considered porn?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/christian691/dscf00861.jpg
The difference between porn and art is a government grant.-Peter Griffin

The question is, did the photographer receive a government grant. Additionally, I guarantee there's somebody out there, probably wearing a raiders uniform, that finds this pic arousing.

[RaiderH8r]

That's a bad phonics monkey!-Eric Cartman

[errand]

I used to think Porn was cool , untill I had a daughter , now Porn isnt so attrative anymore .........

...exactly, that'd be the one thing a father would hate to see. downloading porn and you notice that blonde looks an awful lot like your daughter. Coincidence?

Not to mention the one thing that all FBI interviewed serial killers (save for Aileen Wournos) had in common was a desire for pornography. Now before some idiot thinks this means all who check out porn are serial killers or bound to be serial killers, the point is that porn can desensitize some fruitcake who already has a screw loose to begin with....and has led them to view women, children, and men (basically their victims) as objects and not humans.

[Spider]

...exactly, that'd be the one thing a father would hate to see. downloading porn and you notice that blonde looks an awful lot like your daughter. Coincidence?
Mark this day down ....... Me and Errand Agree ;D

Not to mention the one thing that all FBI interviewed serial killers (save for Aileen Wournos) had in common was a desire for pornography. Now before some idiot thinks this means all who check out porn are serial killers or bound to be serial killers, the point is that porn can desensitize some fruitcake who already has a screw loose to begin with....and has led them to view women, children, and men (basically their victims) as objects and not humans.
I saw the same thing , but I didnt have a link so I wasnt going to post it , but since you did , I agree also ,not everyone looks at Porn is a killer , But I forget the % of Serial Killers that do like porn , but I know it is high ....... good point Posting this errand

[orangeatheist]

Personally, I think porn is hard to define - as whatsisname said, "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it". There's always the occassional letter to the editor where someone complains about the department store ad for a bra sale being pornographic, but I think that belief is just silly.

Anyway, if cops are gonna collect porn at crime scenes, they ought to look for and collect Bibles, TIME magazine, and Reader's Digest too. I bet the correlation is roughly the same, but the trick is proving the causality.

I don't deny that in many ways, the American attitude towards sex and sexuality is whacked. But, attempting to restrict or get rid of what some call pornography is doomed to failure. Yes, I don't want my kids to see it until they're old enough, but, if I want to rent "Vixen Stewardesses Unchained" and make Mr. Happy, well, happy, in the privacy of my own home, it's no-one's business but mine own (and my Kleenex).

If only "rep" was as easy to give out as finding porn on the 'net.....

[orangeatheist]

I used to think Porn was cool , untill I had a daughter , now Porn isnt so attrative anymore .........

I'm with ya there, Spide. I'm such a hypocrite. I wish porn wasn't so easy for the kids to stumble on while on the 'net, but damn it, I still want easy access to the thumbnail "free gallery" sites!

Oh to live the life of a torn man!!!!

[Rohirrim]

There's a difference between liberty and license. I also believe in the Golden Mean. You don't have to be religious to make moral and ethical decisions. If a human being is hoping to live life with a certain amount of consciousness, they learn soon enough that over-indulgence in anything can lead to self-destruction. What applies to the individual, applies to society. I just think the way out of this over-sexed, over-materialistic, over-fed, over-drugged (etc.) society, is to raise consciousness. Get beyond it, or, in the ancient Japanese concept, take the warrior's path. Decide for yourself where the true value in life can be found. That's an individual decision that we need to encourage, as a society, in any way we can. When the buyers stop buying, the product (porno, drugs, etc.) disappears from the market. A whole new raft of repressive laws will create the opposite effect, as Prohibition, and the Drug War, have already proven.

[Spider]

I'm with ya there, Spide. I'm such a hypocrite. I wish porn wasn't so easy for the kids to stumble on while on the 'net, but damn it, I still want easy access to the thumbnail "free gallery" sites!

Oh to live the life of a torn man!!!!
LOL Bro ....... I saw a Porn site here alittle while back and all I could think of was these womens fathers .........

[Roffe]

America's ever-increasing preoccupation with sex is murdering the moral values of this country in which we live. O how far we have fallen since the innocence of a leave it to Beaver 1950s to the today's anything goes xxx anarchy. And you can thank the multimillion dollar pornography industry for the vomit moms and dads and kids around this globe are drowning in. There are over 4 million pornographic web sites. It's sad that it's taken this long to notice the widespread, casual recreational sex, often with multiple partners, middle and high school children are experimenting with. It's happening in the stalls at school and even in the back of the school bus folks. And we are just now starting to notice? God help this nation. Homosexual sex a generation ago was considered immoral and insane. Today it is enshrined as a constitutional right. Schools nationwide are teaching homosexuality is normal. And disagree with that viewpoint and you will find yourself branded as a hater of everything good. Women and children are being trafficked every year into United States by the thousands as sexual slaves. Even child sexual abuse, or "adult-child sex" slowly but surely gaining respectability. Child porn generates about 3 billion in revenues every year. But ye have set at nought all my council, and would none of my reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity: I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer, they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would none of my council: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso shall harken unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from the fear of evil.

[patteeu]

I forget the % of Serial Killers that do like porn , but I know it is high

Link?

;D

[Spider]

Link?

;D
;D I typed this into google Percentage of Serial Killers that are addicted to porn and got this ;D
http://www.obscenitycrimes.org/raypierce.cfm
http://www.cybercollege.com/sexrsh.htm
that bottom one is very interesting ..........

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Is Porn Harmless?

Not even.

Just the other night, my girlfriend hit her head on the nightstand while we were watching "College Girls Gone Crazy."

http://www.evolvefish.com/fish/media/S-ThereAre2KindsOfBush.jpg

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

It's sad that it's taken this long to notice the widespread, casual recreational sex, often with multiple partners, middle and high school children are experimenting with. It's happening in the stalls at school and even in the back of the school bus folks.

Damn! And to think that getting to third base with a cheerleader was the pinnacle of sexual conquest when I was their age.

Boy, do I feel cheated!

BTW, "Roffe" = Rob?

[azbronco]

This thread is worthless without Pics.

[Roffe]

Damn! And to think that getting to third base with a cheerleader was the pinnacle of sexual conquest when I was their age.

Boy, do I feel cheated!

BTW, "Roffe" = Rob?


Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

Am I?

Thou sayest it.

[Rohirrim]

Hey, Robb is back. :wave:

[errand]

Anyway, if cops are gonna collect porn at crime scenes, they ought to look for and collect Bibles, TIME magazine, and Reader's Digest too. I bet the correlation is roughly the same, but the trick is proving the causality.



I don't know of anyone who masturbates to Reader's Digest or Time magazine, let alone the Bible....now there was this friend of mine who saw naked pygmies in National Geographic once. ;D

I

[Roffe]

When Hefner was in high school, he wrote an essay bemoaning the lack of explicit discussion of sex in 1950s "Ozzie and Harriet" America. A few years later, he read Kinsey's "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" and praised it in his college newspaper. Fortified, liberated and turbo-charged by Kinsey's newly discovered "scientific truth" about human sexuality, Hefner didn't wait long before creating Playboy magazine, the clubs, and most of all, the "Playboy philosophy" that has so profoundly influenced the American psyche. Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. By the blast of God they perish, by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.
Satan has always used Sex as a biological weapon in the war zone of the mind. Sexual purity - living within certain behavioral confines deemed wholesome and moral, even if it means denying or delaying gratification of one's own powerful drives - has always been a major dividing line between those attempting to obey God's laws and those rebelling against them (or denying they exist).
This chasm between Judeo-Christian sexual morality and, basically, the rest of the world becomes stunningly clear in Dennis Prager's award-winning essay, "Why Judaism rejected homosexuality"
Kinsey epitomized the latter. Like the socialists, progressives, Darwinists, atheists, humanists and assorted other God-deniers that paved the way for him, Kinsey regarded man as an animal - and only an animal.
Remember, Kinsey was a zoologist. He liked to film the mating habits of animals. When he moved on to studying human beings, he regarded this new sex research as just a continuation of his previous work.
Think about it. If humans are just animals, without soul, spirit or afterlife, without accountability to God and His laws, without an obligation to wrestle with our own lower, fallen nature so our noble, higher, godly nature can bloom - if none of this is real, then there's just not much problem with Kinsey and his data. In that case, we are just animals - and whatever comes "naturally" to animals, whatever impulses and drives they experience, even if they seem bizarre, cruel or predatory, are right for that animal.
But in reality, human beings are born with what amounts to a dual nature - a lower, prideful, selfish, hell-bent animal nature we inherit (rooted in what Christianity calls "original sin"), but also a higher, nobler, conscience-driven, Heaven-oriented nature. And these two parallel worlds "war" for ascendancy over the mind and body of each and every one of us. Thus, when it comes to sex, despite the unruly sexual urges we discover within, they need to be restrained, according to the Judeo-Christian spiritual worldview that has shaped Western society. Namely, Jesus Christ. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Specifically, Satan wants to make us slaves by addiction of any kind. To be free from his devices we must turn to the Lord. Now the Lord is that spirit: and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. If you have been baptized in Jesus name and filled with the Holy Ghost, your sexual life will be confined to an honorable, committed, life-long heterosexual marriage that will last the test of time. We are trouble and every side, yet not distress; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed!

[Rohirrim]

"...What you call 'salvation' belongs to the time before death.

If you don't break your ropes while you're alive, do you think ghosts will do it after?

The idea that the soul will join with the ecstatic just because the body is rotten - this is all fantasy.

What is found now is found then.

If you find nothing now, you will simply end up with an apartment in the City of Death.

If you make love with the Divine now, in the next life you will have the face of satisfied desire..."

Kabir

[watermock]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/christian691/dscf00861.jpg

Isn't that Ron Jeremy and Rosanne?

[watermock]

Someone did post a good idea, that Porn Sites should have to have a xxx instead of .com. I'm not a computer expert, but it seems like it would be easier to block most sites with a Parental Control, much to the chagrin of adolecent males.

[enjolras]

And in looking at the caliber of people who produce such stuff, you can see that they're not the most high-minded members of society. It's indicative to me of what they create.

Or of the society that renders what they do as immoral?

For example, look at Casinos. In the past casinos where associated with some of the most violent and corrupt people on the planet. As casinos and gambling have become more and more 'mainstream' the face of those running those casinos has changed immensely. It's now clean shaven Harvard MBA's, who are running a business and not a crime ring.

I suspect the same can be said of porn. As long as porn continues to be something pushed into the fringes of society, those who make it will continue to be.. well.. on the fringes of society.