PORNOGRAPHY: IS IT EVER HARMLESS?

Pornography is harmful. That’s a no-brainer. Something that needs to be classified and restricted, censored where possible, must have something very wrong with it.

If the parental radar goes into an all-systems red alert (as it should) when a young child stumbles inadvertently onto a pornographic website, something must be wrong with it. If sections of the community have to be ‘protected’ from it, something must be wrong with it. We know instinctively pornography is wrong and harmful… don’t we?

Well, here is a paradox for you. Sometime between the ages of 0 and 21, the young child who is protected against pornography by parents, becomes a young adult who probably about half the time, will tell you that there is nothing wrong with pornography.^1,2 By the time the young person hits 21, he is deemed ‘mature’ enough by law to go and watch pornographic movies, if he wishes. At what stage of his development did he undergo a process which magically removed the harm from content deemed too harmful for a younger person to view?

Pornography is harmful, but do you know why? If a friend or your child comes up to you and asks you “What is so bad about pornography?”, can you answer him convincingly?

In this issue, we will look at what pornography is, and isn’t; at what the concern about pornography is, and where pornography comes from. In our next issue, we will look at the effects pornography has on an individual, and dealing with the issue of pornography and our children.

PART 1

WHAT IS PORNOGRAPHY?

Before we can decide on the harm, or its lack of, in pornography, we need to be clear of its definition from a practical as well as legalistic point of view. The most widely accepted definition is that of the US Attorney General before the Commission on Pornography (1986) which states that pornography is:

“…any and all material containing words, sound or images, the objective of which is to produce sexual arousal”

The issue of what is and isn’t pornography can sometimes bind people in knots. Pornography should not be mistaken for artistic nudity which by its content, is meant to focus on the beauty and dignity of masculinity and femininity. To give a clear cut example of the latter are many of the beautiful Renaissance works of art, such as Michaelangelo’s David.

But there are other instances which may not seem as straightforward, at least to some.

Not too long ago, an Australian artist called Bill Henson held a photographic exhibition of nude 12 and 13 year old girls. Amidst public revulsion and outcry, his exhibition was withdrawn, but significant sections of the art community do not see this as child pornography and continue to quietly lobby in support of his work, asserting that to suppress images such as these is a violation of artistic freedom and expression.

As a sequela of this, very recently, news broke of an Australian Government-tax funded art magazine which, in protest to the “censorship” of Bill Henson, published, with full parental consent, photographs of a then six year old girl taken by her artist mother, displaying her in full frontal nudity and in suggestive poses, all in the name of art. The child’s photographs preceded those of women in bondage and other graphic sexual images involving women. Public outcry and government condemnation were just as vehement, but Henson, who was not the instigator of the stunt, remains unrepentant. Speaking to a large and supportive audience primarily from the arts community in Canberra shortly after, he defended his work and the furore about naked children with the words, “The greatness of art comes from the ambiguities…it redeems us from a world of moralism and opinionation and claptrap.”

The point this example makes is that we have to be clear, at least in our own minds and what we let into our homes, what is and isn’t pornography. Some situations will be very straightforward, whereas others can be confused by claims of artistic merit and work by articulate and motivated proponents.

WHAT IS THE CONCERN ABOUT PORNOGRAPHY?

Attitudes often translate to behaviour. What forms our attitudes, and therefore behaviour? The influences are multiple of course - upbringing, values taught in the home, situations an individual is exposed to…the list is long. But amongst these influences are those of images. As Victor Cline states,

“Astute businessmen do not spend billions of dollars a year on advertising if their visual and verbal messages and imagery did not motivate people to buy deodorant or diapers or automobiles…”

The imagery that comes through pornography is by its very nature, designed to cause sexual arousal.

What is the harm in that, many netizens have asked? This ambivalence towards any harm that might be attached to pornography is reflected closer to home in a recent pilot study FES conducted on the attitude of Singaporean tertiary students towards various sexuality issues with 60% of males and almost 45% of females stating it was ok to watch pornography.¹ This correlates very well to a big study done in the US of 813 university students which revealed that roughly two-thirds of young men and one half of young women view pornography as acceptable, and a staggering 87% of young men and one third of young women reported using pornography. ²

So let’s consider now - what is this imagery and why is there harm attached to it, if any?

1.Pornographic images and the brain

Judith Reisman, in her article published from the Institute of Media Education in 2000, looked at the psychopharmacology of pictorial pornography. She found that “emotionally arousing images imprint and alter the brain, triggering an instant, involuntary but lasting biochemical memory trail.”

She goes on further to say:

When a young man views pornography, that image has the capacity to be permanently implanted in the brain via a physiological response. The mind replays the image and if this is reinforced by masturbation, the hormonal and chemical changes that follow orgasm create one of the most powerful reinforcements in human experience. Over time, these changes have the potential to actually change brain structure by creating new neural pathways.³

Why is this permanent embedment of images in the mind important? Jonathan and Karen Doyle, key educators in youth sexuality from Australia, explain this well:

Most people can close their eyes and easily recall a clear image of the house they grew up in or the colour of their first car. The same holds true for pornography. Graphic sexual images often remain in the male brain for a lifetime and are able to be recalled at any time with great clarity. This presents obvious problems when men try to form a stable relationship with a woman if they have filled their mind with images of other women.⁴

2. The Modelling Effect of Pornography

Soft porn or hard porn - the images vary in their degree of graphicness. In ‘gateway’ porn, sexually explicit material of a “softer” nature is used to appeal to a younger audience, often through mainstream magazines. In an example given by the Doyles in their book, “The Problem with Pornography”, they explain its insidious nature:

“The use of gateway pornography is a clever marketing strategy. The producers of this material know that if they can get boys as young as 12 hooked on girls in bikinis or girls provocatively draped over cars, then there is a greater likelihood that those boys will eventually becomes consumers of magazines of a harder nature” ⁵

US researcher Maryanne Layden⁶ uses the term “permission giving beliefs” to describe what the imagery of heavy pornography use does in changing an individual’s beliefs about what sorts of sexual behaviour are appropriate and acceptable, irrespective of whether pornography is considered “soft” or “hard”.

Some of these permission giving beliefs from soft porn include the idea of sex with anyone, under any circumstances, anyway it is desired, is beneficial and does not have negative consequences; or that women are a constant source of sex on tap; or that women who dress a particular way want men to have sex with them; or that women have one value – to meet the sexual demands of men. The list goes on.

Some of the permission giving beliefs from hard porn include the idea that women like sex mixed with violence; or that sex with children or group sex is normal; or that rape is acceptable if the girl is promiscuous; or equally troubling, that women want to be raped and fantasize about sexual violence.

In one study at the University of Utah, 600 secondary students were interviewed. 91% of the boys had been exposed to pornography, 82% of the girls. Two thirds of the boys and 40% of the women expressed a desire to try one of the sexual behaviours they had observed, while 25% of the boys and 15% of the girls admitted to having replicated some of the behaviours a few days after seeing them in pornographic material. The same study showed that prolonged exposure (more than 6 weeks) changed attitudes and feelings, and it was more likely that they would not practise appropriate sexual behaviour, that they would think that sexual transgressions were not wrong, that they would believe that victims of such transgressions would not suffer much.

These images that come through pornography – they can be so subtle and clever and easily over-looked with the softest of pornography; or dramatically graphic, violent and unsettling with the hardest. So the question we should be asking ourselves is, as Victor Cline put so succinctly, “not whether but what kind of an effect does pornography have?”

WHO IS MOST AT RISK?

The answer in one word is boys. Recent research shows that 60% of 16-17 year old Australian boys as opposed to just 2% of similar aged girls deliberately look at pornography⁷. This gender difference is reflected in many studies.

Despite what feminists would like to have us think, gender is both social conditioning and very much, biological differences. Men are biologically wired differently from women, and when it comes to defining gender, these differences also extend to the brain structure and hormones.⁸ These differences are what place men, and boys, particularly susceptible to the effect pornography has on the male brain.

Women, at a sexual level, are aroused more by affection, attention and intimate conversation with their partners.

Men are more visually stimulated. Visual stimulation and testosterone have potent effects on the male sexual drive, although this is not to deny that men, too, like their female counterparts, also are motivated by personal, intimate aspects of their relationship.

WHERE DOES PORNOGRAPHY COME FROM?

1. Internet

This is the number one distribution channel in the world today.

Pornography and cybersex through the Internet give the unique “advantages” of Accessibility, Anonymity, and Affordability. The “triple-A engine” described by Cooper and colleagues⁹ provides an opportunity for many who would not otherwise engage in consumption of pornography a chance to explore their curiosity without a high risk of being discovered. Unfortunately, too many of these same individuals get caught in the trap of pornography addiction.

Through cyberspace, you have pedophilic websites, bestialism, sado-masoschism thrown in with your common garden variety pornography, all at a touch of a button. There are 40 000 porn sites involving images of children that are pro-pedophilia and 25% of these sites use popular names like Disney and Barbie so that they can come up on innocent online searches. It is not surprising that 1 out of 4 children has access to a porn site and only 25% will tell their parents.¹⁰

2. TV programmes

Between 1998 and 2005, the number of sex scenes on free-to-air TV has doubled. It is not surprising with shows such as Sex in the City and Nip and Tuck which sell promiscuity as acceptable and unremarkable normal behaviour that attitudes regarding sexual behaviour have and are changing in our media-saturated global world today. On cable, in many countries, there are dedicated pornographic channels.

3. Movies

There are movies which are rated pornographic, and those which get past the classification by camouflaging pornography in its artistic or narrative content.
The rationale of movie ratings is based on the presumption that with the X or R rated movies, its consuming audience, purely because of chronological age, has the capacity to discern that material they are watching which is deemed inappropriate for a younger audience, is acceptable for an older one because they have the freedom to choose and presumably the maturity to filter out harmful, disturbing content and be able to distinguish fantasy from reality.

There is a presumption of widespread critical or media literacy (the ability to stand back and critically evaluate the messages from varied media forms of their content and intent), yet little of this is taught to teens before they become eligible to legally watch such movies.

4. Music videos

Music videos started off as music which was made more ‘visual’ when a video clip was played to it. This spawned a whole industry which has evolved with the years. It is easy to be lulled into underestimating the sexual content that goes into some of these videos. At one estimate, these music videos can have up to 93 sexual situations per hour, including 11 of explicit sex.

In the same way, song lyrics can carry graphic literary images often of violent sex and contempt for women.

5. Magazines

The historical source of mainstream pornography was the magazine, beginning with Playboy. The success of Playboy was that it changed people’s attitudes towards sexual intercourse and marriage by portraying promiscuity and bachelorhood as desirable and wives as obstacles to true sexual freedom. Today, these magazines proliferate and many other mainstream magazines turn to sex and eroticism to sell, without being openly pornographic.

6. Comics

Surprising but true, pornography is here in its comic form, next to Batman and Superman in some comic stands.

7. Hotlines
At a fee, pornography comes to you over the telephone. Most pornographic magazines and many internet sites offer links to these materials.

8. Computer games

Pornography is a phenomenon that is not new. Before there was Playboy in the 1950s, Sigmund Freud with his theories was already opening the doors to encouraging people to avoid guilt by doing whatever they pleased and by calling previously unacceptable behaviour, acceptable, so that there would be no reason to feel guilty.

What is new is the ready accessibility of pornography to all segments of society who have access to the Internet a phone, a few dollars to buy a magazine or comic. What is troubling is the increasingly unquestioning social climate that allows the media through popular TV shows, movies, magazines, the Internet, to re-define moral norms; the preoccupation with celebrities who despite having disastrous personal lives, are held up to be role-models for young people. Jumping ship when things get too tough, sexual experimentation for the ‘right’ partner, indulging one’s self without thought to the consequences – this is what our young people are being taught. And pornography fits right in! No wonder, it proliferates today.

There are many pornographic games out there which in essence, play out the same theme of pornographic fantasies. Panty rider is one example of a game which demands players take clothes off a supermodel; Dream Machine encourages players to go through many doors where they are exposed to several sexual fantasies.

Fidelity, commitment, generosity, respect in relationships – these are the realities of a relationship between a man and woman which is sound and which will withstand the stresses of life. In the clamour of our media-saturated society though, who will pass on this message to our children?

Audrey is the editor of Family Tone.