Pornography: Good or Bad? an Argumentative Essay
- sexblogger52
- Dec 16, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 19, 2024
Disclaimer:
The information contained in the article is mainly opinion and not based on fact. In no way am I condoning or against the viewing of pornography as I take a neutral stance. The opinions are that of the author’s of the articles.
In the world today, and especially on the internet, pornography of the adult kind runs rampant and affects people of all ages and backgrounds.
Pornography is consumed by millions of people around the globe each day.[1]
It would not be surprising that there are not only some positive but also some negative consequences to watching pornography considering that so many people consume this form of entertainment.
Sexual Violence
Naturally, any time that a sexually deviant crime is committed immediately people assume that pornography had something or even everything to do with the act. There is no way of proving this. In this author’s opinion, we all know right from wrong and whether or not someone watching hours upon hours of pornography or none at all he or she knows that sexual violence is wrong. This is not something that someone should even have to be told.
To buttress this author’s argument is a case study performed at the University of Copenhagen in the 1970s by Berl Kutchinsky. He was a professor of criminology at the university. He studied the crime rate in Denmark, Sweden and Germany and the effects of violent crime after porn was legalized in the late 60s and early 70s. After hours of study he could find no basis for a theory that pornography contributed in the least in the rise in crime. Ironically enough, some types of sex crimes actually fell during this time period in those three countries including rape and child molestation.[2]
Another research study done in 2009 in the United States has concluded that of the eighty cases of subjects who watched porn, the link between porn and violence is “very slim”.[3] In most situations, politicians and the media take situations of sexual violence and exaggerate.[4]
The average internet user spends forty percent of their time online.[5]
This gives the users a great deal of time to spend watching porn.
Many people begin watching porn innocently by clicking onto one or two sites. Then, it gets to be more and more sites and then after a while they have an addiction. Today, with all of the self-help groups in existence there is always help available for people with strong addictions to pornography.
On the surface this industry has always been “gay friendly”. But, underneath, the business has not been very friendly to the LGBTQ community. They use gay slurs and are more interested in profiting at the expense of the LGBTQ community.[6]
As we have seen there are arguments for both sides of this issue. It is time for the reader to make up his or her mind as to whether or not he or she is going to watch porn and think it is OK or whether to shun it because it is not OK.
[1] Is Porn Harmful? The evidence, the myths and the unknowns. Brown, Jessica. BBC Pornography is consumed by…
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170926-is-porn-harmful-the-evidence-the-myths-and-the-unknowns, 26 Sept 2017, 2.
[2] Is Porn Harmful? The evidence, the myths and the unknowns. Brown, Jessica. BBC, case study performed at the University of Copenhagen... could find no rise in crime….including rape and child molestation. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170926-is-porn-harmful-the-evidence-the-myths-and-the-unknowns, 26 Sept 2017, 2.
[3] Is Porn Harmful? The evidence, the myths and the unknowns. Brown, Jessica. BBC “very slim”.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170926-is-porn-harmful-the-evidence-the-myths-and-the-unknowns, 26 Sept 2017 3.
[4] Is Porn Harmful? The evidence, the myths and the unknowns. Brown, Jessica. BBC politicians and the media…
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170926-is-porn-harmful-the-evidence-the-myths-and-the-unknowns, 26 Sept 2017 3.
[5] 10 Negative Effects of Porn on Your Brain, Body, Relationships, and Society, Fight the new Drug, The average internet user…https://fightthenewdrug.org/10-reasons-why-porn-is-unhealthy-for-consumers-and-society/ 2.
[6] 10 Negative Effects of Porn on Your Brain, Body, Relationships, and Society, Fight the new Drug, profiting at the expense of…https://fightthenewdrug.org/10-reasons-why-porn-is-unhealthy-for-consumers-and-society/ 8.
The Chemistry of Love and Attraction
“What ‘Tis Love?” Shakespeare once asked.[1]
For many millenia the human race has asked this question. For most of recorded human history we just did not know the answer to Shakespeare’s question. Now we know. It’s all about hormones.
Remember the last time anybody ran into a person that he or she found attractive? There was a feeling of sweaty palms, heart racing, a general overall feeling of euphoria. Those feelings come down to three major themes.
According to a team of scientists led by Dr. Helen Fisher at Rutgers University, lust, attraction and attachment all are attributed to their own set of hormones in the brain. Testosterone in men and estrogen in women are responsible for the lustful thoughts. Dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin are responsible for attraction and oxytocin and vasopressin initiate attachment.[2]
When a man looks upon a woman lustfully he is simply following the laws of nature in that he wants to perpetuate the human species by procreating with the woman that he sees. This is driven by the hormone testosterone. If she also looks at him lustfully then she is releasing estrogen in her body as well.[3]
Religious people the world over claim that lusting after another person’s body is sinful. Whether or not someone takes this stance does not change the fact that hormones are at play and people are attracted to whomever they are attracted to, religion or not.
Here is a great example of how love and attraction are basically one and the same.
In a television commercial for Axe body spray, the commercial portrayed an elderly man in a wheelchair rolling out into traffic while his caretaker nurse suddenly forgets about him due to her attraction she felt towards a young, good smelling man who was presumably wearing the Axe body spray. Chaos ensued, cars, buses and motorcycles swerved to miss the old man and the nurse. Meanwhile, the attractive young man and this nurse approached each other and sniffed each other and it was obvious that sex was on their minds.[4]
If this were a real life scenario probably the next thing that the young man and the nurse would do is likely start dating and maybe marry in the future if they fell in love and wanted to marry. Sexual attraction is a very powerful force in each one of us and this was well portrayed by these actors in that commercial.
So then, considering that there is not much that we can do about these feelings then, in this author’s opinion the best thing to do is not to try to fight them. Go with what feels good and if a person feels a strong feeling to someone of the same or opposite sex then try to hook up with that person and see if a real relationship could come from it.
This is really the best advice that anybody could give and for anybody to take.
The laws of physical and sexual attraction are strong. Men are attracted to beautiful women and women are attracted to men. There is no reason to fight this so go with the flow. Who knows. Great relationships could be built out of something as simple as a strong sexual attraction between men and women.
[1] Love Actually: The Story behind Love, Lust and Attraction. Wu, Katherine. Harvard University, “What ‘Tis Love?” https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/love-actually-science-behind-lust-attraction-companionship/ Ju12 2023, 1.
[2] Love Actually: The Story behind Love, Lust and Attraction. Wu, Katherine. Harvard University, Testosterone in men and…norepinephrine and serotonin…oxytocin and vasopressin…, https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/love-actually-science-behind-lust-attraction-companionship/ Jun 12 2023, 2.
[3] Love Actually: The Story behind Love, Lust and Attraction. Wu, Katherine. Harvard University, When a man looks upon a woman lustfully, https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/love-actually-science-behind-lust- attraction-companionship/ Jun 12 2023, 3.
[4] Sexual Attraction and Survival Mode, Montgomery, John. Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-embodied-mind/201301/sexual-attraction-and-survival-mode, Jan 9, 2013. 1.




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