Masha Shkuro
Alves
Honors English 10
09.01.15
Pornography Pornography influences everyone in one way or another. Though plenty of people do not view it themselves, it is impossible to escape the dreaded clickbaits and spam emails proclaiming sexy singles in your area. With the topic of pornography, many questions may arise. Is porn harmful? Does it pose a negative effect on people who indulge in it? Pornography has an unjustified negative stigma, despite contradicting evidence. This stigma came about due to a lack of education on the topic, and assumptions made as a result of that lack of knowledge. The subject of pornography is a peculiar one, seeing as it is not something the average person can typically discuss with their parents during dinner. I have always been deeply fascinated by pornography. However, my fascination lies not with the content, but with the science and logic that creates a “need” for porn. I believe that the majority of people vastly lack an education on and make general assumptions about porn. In addition, I love to learn and educate on myself on topics like evolution, of which the main goal is reproduction and the transfer of genes down to proceeding generations. This means that overall, the main goal of life is sex.
Pornography is a word that is difficult to define. In past times, it was “used broadly to refer to sexually explicit words or images. Today, the meaning of the term has been narrowed somewhat to describe sexually explicit material that is considered offensive." (Beggan). With the distribution of pornography comes an increase in fascination of situations that are considered to be taboo. A taboo is the “prohibition of an action based on the belief that such behavior is either too sacred and consecrated or too dangerous and accursed for ordinary individuals to undertake” (“Taboo”). An example of a subject many consider to be taboo is beastiality, known as sexual intercourse between a human and an animal. Incest, defined as sexual relations with a close family member, is another restricted topic. Other issues people can consider to be inappropriate in a social setting may be concerned with fornication, sexual relations outside of marriage, and adultery, which are sexual relations with another person’s spouse. Rape, defined as unlawful sexual intercourse or penetration of another person without consent of the victim, is another topic that can cause discomfort in a social situation. These taboos are commonly exploited in pornography, and as the porn industry spreads and increases, their portrayal becomes more and more common.
In addition to increasing the frequency in which taboo acts are carried out, the spread of the pornography industry brings a few issues concerning things such as the mental health of people who indulge in watching, child porn’s consequences on those starring in it, and how porn is affecting women’s rights and treatment.
The growth of taboo parts of the industry, particularly child porn, is an issue that is attracting much criticism. Child pornography is a business that is growing rapidly online, and content will only become increasingly more dangerous. Organizations such as the Internet Watch Foundation had found over 1500 individual child abuse domains by 2008 ("Enough Is Enough; Child Pornography”). By now, 7 years later, that number has most likely grown substantially due to the speed at which porn can travel, despite the fact that Internet porn has not been around for very long.
Though it may seem that websites and material relating to porn takes up a decent part of the Internet, the actual size of the industry is a mystery due to lack of official records. However, it is estimated that retail sales reach $6 billion per year (Pappas). The pornography industry is larger than the average person may suspect, and has a substantial following. This makes its spread and usage an issue worth noting. Porn usage is also substantial, seeing as in “a 2008 study of 813 American university students found that 87 percent of men and 31 percent of women reported using pornography” (Pappas).
Though Internet porn has only been around for less than 50 years, its origins stem back as far as 30,000 years ago. It is recorded that Paleolithic people used stone and wood to carve statues of large-breasted, thick-thighed pregnant women (Pappas). During the 18th century, works of art such as Goya’s The Clothed Maja and its counterpart, The Naked Maja became popular, and were often stored in private rooms, suggesting sexual intentions.
Most people have the potential to be affected by pornography. This is especially true for those who have an addictive personality, due to the great potential they possess to form a porn addiction. Gail Dines, an anti-pornography activist, claims that young men suffering from a porn addiction “neglect their schoolwork, spend huge amounts of money they don’t have, become isolated from others, and often suffer depression” (Stockman).
Children may also be affected by porn, due to the spread of child pornography. With the distribution of child pornography comes sexual abuse and mistreatment of minors. It is evident that if someone is in possession of child pornography, they are more likely to sexually abuse a minor. In a study, 40 percent of arrested child pornography possessors had also sexually victimized children (“Enough Is Enough; Child Pornography”).
The spread of pornography throughout the world is inevitable. This may be contributed to the fact that sex is global, and the desire for it is rooted into our DNA.
The main arguments against and for the usage of pornography have to do with the differing views between religion and science. A significant portion of people who possess anitpornographic views are also religious. The religious approach to pornography is one based around writings found within the Bible, in which several specific sexual acts are forbidden. Those that are forbidden include homosexuality, beasitality, incest, fornication, adultery, rape, and orgies. As stated in the Bible; if a person was found to be involved in any of these acts, the penalty was death. These taboo categories are often represented in pornography (Deem).
Another argument against the spread of pornography that followers of religion enforce concerns masturbation. According to religious fanatics, porn turns sex into masturbation, seeing as “sex becomes self-serving. It becomes about your pleasure and not the self-giving, mutually reciprocating intimacy that it was designed for” (Stockman). This approach to pornography also includes a viewpoint that “dictates that sex is meant to be wholly within a marriage, and that fantasizing about strangers will weaken the partners' sexual union or lead unmarried people into sin” (Beggan).
Scientists, however, suggest otherwise. Studies indicate that “suppressing the desire to view pornography, for example, for moral or religious reasons, might actually strengthen the urge for it and exacerbate sexual problems” (Moyer). This means that if a religious person holds off from viewing porn, they are potentially harming themselves and increasing their desire for it.
The largest argument against the use of pornography involves the spread of child porn. Child porn is known as sexual images and videos involving minors of all ages, including images generated digitally that seem to include adolescents. A common term for a follower of child pornography is Loli fan, stemming from Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov’s novel Lolita, a story revolving around a middle-aged man’s obsession with his pre-pubescent stepdaughter. With the introduction of online pornography, a “vast network of like-minded people, who believe it is acceptable to engage in sexual fantasies about children, thus lowering their inhibitions . . . and increasing the likelihood that they will actually molest children,” as stated by the FBI’s Crimes Against Children Unit’s chief towards the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security (Aviv). This means Loli fans now have a network connecting themselves to one another. A historian at Penn State, Philip Jenkins, found that chat rooms centered around child pornography have a culture based around an established fraternity-like system. This is evident through the existing hierarchy of users, featuring “newbies, lurkers, traders, and, at the top, the pornographers themselves—‘kings of the rooms’” (Aviv).
The use and distribution of child pornography causes much controversy, considering the fact that many people who possess child porn, have also committed crimes involving minors. Nearly half of all holders of child porn arrested from 2000 to 2001, had also sexually victimized minors. Of those who committed sex crimes towards children, 83 percent had images involving children between the ages 6 and 12; 39 percent possessed images of children between ages 3 and 5; and 19 percent possessed images of infants and toddlers under age 3 (“Enough is Enough; Child Pornography). The controversy lies in the difficulty that comes with having “absolutely no idea where to draw the line between fantasy and reality,” as stated by Robert Prentky, the director of Fairleigh Dickinson University’s forensic psychology program. Prentky had “evaluated hundreds of sex offenders in Massachusetts and had never seen a man civilly committed at the state level without evidence that he had touched a minor” (Aviv).
Another common argument against porn is one involving the degradation of women. Andrea Dworkin and Catherine MacKinnon, two feminist scholars, “have argued that pornography is harmful to women. They claim that presenting women as sex objects for the pleasure of men teaches men to think that women are sex objects, making them more likely to commit acts of sexual violence” (“Pornography”). This means that porn causes a demoralization of women, which may lead to an increase of sex crimes due to lack of respect and mistreatment towards all females. In addition, some people say that competition between pornographers may have led to an increase in dominance, verbal abuse, and violence directed against women in films produced for straight men (Moyer).
However, there is a huge lack of research when it comes to linking porn usage and sexual violence. Many psychologists and other scientists agree that it is not certain that porn viewage has any relation to an increased chance of sex crimes occurring. A San Francisco sexologist “points out that research has failed to draw a clear link between porn and criminal sexual behavior.” He also states that porn may be one way that people can explore their own sexual desires (Pappas). Others, like the director of the University of Hawaii’s Pacific Center for Sex and Society, Milton Diamond, say that “there’s absolutely no evidence that pornography does anything negative. It’s a moral issue, not a factual issue” (Moyer). This means that overall, there are not enough facts supporting claims that pornography harms women by encouraging sexism and raising sexual expectations.
It is a common belief that indulging in pornography leads to an increase in sexual crimes. Many people believe that porn incites sexual aggression. However, it is believed that by viewing porn, the desire to rape may be reduced, due to the belief that it may offer a safe and private outlet for unusual sexual desires (Moyer). Research done by scientists such as Richard Green, a psychiatrist at Imperial College London, found “patients requesting treatment in clinics for sex offenders commonly say that pornography helps them keep their abnormal sexuality within the confines of their imagination” (Moyer). This means that by viewing pornography, people who committed sex crimes are able to sustain from repeating any negative actions.
I strongly believe that the majority of people’s ideas about pornography and its effects come from assumption. People assume that when someone views porn, particularly videos and images that are rougher in nature, they have a higher potential to cause aggression, promote sexism, and cause relationships without having facts behind any of those claims. As stated by Christopher J. Ferguson, a psychology and criminal justice professor at Texas A&M International University, “it is important to note that these associations are just that—associations. They do not prove that pornography is the cause of the observed crime reductions. Nevertheless, the trends ‘just don’t fit with the theory that rape and sexual assault are in part influenced by pornography. At this point I think we can say the evidence just isn’t there, and it is time to retire this belief’” (Moyer). I believe that the spread of these assumptions is why porn carries such a negative stigma, and why it is seen as such a negative thing. Overall, I think that usage of pornography is not bad in the slightest, seeing as there is no evidence that shows viewing porn causes any large negative effects on the average person.
I believe that the negative stigma that pornography carries is unnecessary, and ideally, should cease to exist. The unfavorable outlook on the situation may cause a negative impact on people who indulge in porn. If more people were to embrace and accept pornography’s spread and usage, more people may endure healthier romantic and sexual lives, and even the number of sex crimes occurring can decrease.
I do not view the issue differently after researching pornography. Most opinions I possessed prior to research were supported both by other people, and by scientific evidence. I believe it is important for people to embrace a more positive outlook on pornography, especially considering it may have beneficial effects on the majority of people.
Evidence shows that porn does not affect the vast majority of people, seeing as it does not lead to an increase in infidelity, sex crimes, or mistreatment of women. Porn, however, may lead to an increase in sex crimes committed towards minors. Overall, it is evident through studies that pornography has little to no negative effects, and its undeserved negative stigma is caused by a lack of education on the subject and assumptions.
Appendix
This paper consisted of a series of steps ranging from choosing a topic, to modifying series of pages in peer editing groups. I particularly enjoyed the freedom that I endured with being able to choose my own topic, with limited restrictions. This allowed me to be exposed to a large array of various topics, whereas in previous classes, I did not have as much independence. I found the outline to be the most valuable part, seeing as it is a good way to piece together all the information in a simple way. I believe that throughout the process, I learned how convenient and logical it is to have an outline created beforehand. With this knowledge, I will make a personalized outline to follow for my next research-based paper. I will also be sure to use NoodleTools, which I found extremely convenient to use throughout the project. I least enjoyed creating digital notecards. I found these notecards to be the least valuable aspect of the project, because I believe there was an excessive amount of unnecessary information that was obtained for the sole purpose of meeting requirements. During the course of the I-Search project, I learned that while I adore reading various papers and articles concerning my topic, I am very bad at finding and obtaining the most important information from within my research. I would tell students doing the I-Search project in the future to complete the outline, and meet all requirements.

Works Cited
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“Enough Is Enough; Child Pornography.” Enough is Enough: Protecting our Children Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2014. .
Goya, Francisco. The Clothed Maja. 1797-1800. Museo Nacional del Prado, Prado. Museo Nacional del Prado. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.
Goya, Francisco. The Naked Maja. 1797-1800. Museo Nacional del Prado, Prado. Museo Nacional del Prado. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.
Moyer, Melinda Wenner. “The Sunny Side of Smut.” Scientific American. Macmillan, 23 June 2011. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.
Pappas, Stephanie. “The History of Pornography No More Prudish than the Present.” Livescience 11 Oct. 2011: n. pag. Livescience. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.
“Pornography.” Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
Stockman, BJ. “7 Negative Effects of Porn.” The Resurgence. Resurgence Publishing, n.d. Web.