Does watching internet porn make one violent?

Question

According to book Killers on the Web watching porn affects all people to commit sexual offences, including those who uphold the law. What about the people on the Censorship board, who watch the most despicable porn in order to censor it. Should we watch out for them or are they carefully 'vetted'? By what kid of vet?

Answer 1

Good question you raise.....

I think watching anything on a repetitive basis makes you 'numb' (to a degree). That could be Internet porn, or a boxing match, or watching 'jihad videos', or a fox-hunt, or real war footage of suffering and death of soldiers, or the endless 'fear' we see on 24hr news channels. Eventually we do tend to think 'whatever'....and get on with our lives.

In my view, the context is different, but the outcome is the same. Our minds are less and less shocked every time. (This is the argument people have over soft-core porn vs hard-core porn). The argument being that we only *need* hard-core, as we've seen soft-core previously and are no longer brought to the heights of sexual excitement by viewing the same types of sexual imagery, we need more, and more outrageous images to keep up the same level of sexual arousal and end up at the extreme end, when we started years before at the mild end. The same could be said for violence, yes.

People argue (anti-porn movement and academics) this is what drives people to watch rape movies or even snuff/scat/animal videos, because hard-core no longer 'did it for them'. E.g. the shock value is reduced each time we view images, and we grow or 'get used' to it. Really this is just human nature to adjust to extreme or shocking things over time though and nothing to do with 'porn' per se. I agree that many people are probably being 'brain washed' by porn, that it just becomes part of our lives - or at least the 'sexualisation' of women (and men) also. I would argue violence too has become 'mainstream' in our lives, just not to the same degree obviously...

Think of the common example of a doctor/nurse who is used to death on a Hospital ward and instead of sobbing over a death, gets on with their work as if it was just 'life'. People are fascinated with this, they watch soap opera's on TV and are transfixed by peoples suffering on screen, even though they are actors. Nobody has ever psycho-analyzed those viewers of medical drama programmes such as 'Casualty or E.R', but they could be, and the results would be interesting. These viewers are transfixed by actors suffering, hence they watch the programme with a passion. Are these people any less 'wrong' than people watch people having sex? (porn). After all they are watching (fake) medical trauma and often violence also. The majority of porn has no violence. The irony here is you have church goers watching 'Casualty/E.R' who detest people who watching 'horny' people online in porn videos. Surely they are *both* disturbed in a way?

So it's just what is considered morally or culturally acceptable that separates the two - ultimately. Would people watch medical dramas if it was illegal or borderline naughty? Maybe so. Maybe the pull, the same fascination would still be there also.....

A doctor is not surprised by their own behavior (numb) to death, and the average porn viewer does not view extreme porn as massively wrong either and thinks of hard-core as totally 'normal'. Is it? Who knows. If hard-core was a crime, would we still see it as 'normal' because we can get it under the covers with our husbands/wives if we turn the TV off?

Humans only behave with increasing ability to 'accept' anything that is initially shocking/wild/disturbing as we've been conditioned to adapt in order to survive. Either as part of our job (necessity), or just by logic.

A farmer who has shot 4021 rabbits with a shotgun is as disturbed by this act as much as a child treading on an ant. (Yet someone who has never shot a rabbit is appalled at the 'ultra violence' of one rabbits death). A 'tough' child at school who is used to punches and kicks may (over time) just deal with it, whilst on their first experience they fall to bits.

You can't really argue watching porn 'in general 'makes one more violent (logically) as there are many many types of porn and also may factors that make us violent. Genetic traits, social conditioning (environment), mental illness, etc etc...

So porn has as much variation as violence itself. The hard choice of what constitutes violence (and thus what is acceptable) is almost as hard as deciding what constitutes porn itself.

Is 'erotica' porn? It depends what you class as erotica. Some cultures (and thus Governments) classify a woman in a bikini as erotica and ban it. Other don't give a damn. The same goes for laws on prostitution and viewing (non-sexual) violence on TV.

In western society we classify porn as mild, mainstream, or 'extreme': Some softcore, some hardcore. Some abusive, some sadistic (BDSM) and highly violent that simulates rape or contains real (consenting) torture, or some further weird and disturbing things that none of us even can fathom.

In reference to those types of porn then I would agree that continuous viewing of people being tied up and punished/tortured/raped could and probably would numb you into basically 'accepting' this is a form of sexual behavior, rather than not accepting it, and seeing it as grossly disturbed. So yes, you could argue it 'makes you more violent', or rather, less shocked by violence. And maybe, then a small percentage of people go out and rape/attack/abuse people.

If you think about it, when we are sexually aroused, we are actually under a 'spell' of hormones and altered psychiatric state (neuro-chemically), a special 'moment' of consciousness, that is how we describe 'feeling sexy'. So in this moment to 'tie up' our lover and whip them may be considered ok, yet to do this to someone out of a sexual context (they stole your car space at work), would be considered 'outrageous' and wrong - because the 'spell' is not cast upon us.

A good example of this would be BDSM and societies view of this. 'Bondage' (to some people) is considered just part of sexual play, yet BDSM until the late 1960's was considered so twisted and sick it was classified as a mental disorder and people could be detained for it in mental health institutes now this included homosexuals. In Britain/USA some homosexuals were given electric convulsive therapy (ECT) to 'cure' them of being gay. Because the state saw this as wrong and evil. We no longer do this, yet in Islamic countries such as law, the death penalty is used for being gay. In those countries being gay is worse than ultra violent porn. So the entire debate of your question is utterly subjective, even if we look at it objectively - as peoples opinions differ and those in power (often) refuse to look at things objectively at all!

By softening or loosening the law on 'Bondage' and BDSM in general, and flooding peoples minds with it on the Internet, many people no longer give a damn, and mostly think it odd or weird or just 'kinky' - whilst some write Internet blogs on it, and make/sell videos to fund a business. Is this right? If you ban that, then maybe ban topless girls in tabloid magazines also. Does seeing a topless girl as a child influence our mind of accepting pornography as 'ok', as 'expected'? Maybe so.

Should we censor people who watch the very outer limits of porn? Well probably, but what good would that do ultimately?
People who are willing to watch this either (secretly) love it, or are psychologically hardened to it. Either way, if these types were replaced by 'moral' upstanding people, what would happen over time? Surely they too would become numbed to the acts they see in front of them? And that goes for the censors/vetters too.

I think it's impossible (personally) to vet anyone. Look at religious leaders, members of parliament, judges and other people in positions of care.... A percentage of them are always found out to be disturbed in the mind, yet dictate to us what is right or wrong.

Ultimately I think it's the consequence of the human mind. People find things that are different or kinky, or extreme, or disgusting - intriguing. They want more. This includes both porn and violence. (Sex after all is only one type of behavior, just as violence is another type of behavior).

It seems a position that cannot really be altered unless one introduces Draconian penalties and further reduction in freedom to 'view' and freedom to express ones interest in a given sub-genre of sexual play or sexual expression. If you ban that, then sex just becomes the act of creating children - and this turns us back 100's of years when it was wrong to have sex 'for fun' and most only be done to make make women pregnant and create more of 'Gods Children'. (Hence some religious groups banned contraception), and labeled it as immoral.

If one bans BDSM, or 'extreme' porn (fake rape scenes) then those deprived of their sexual outlet may/can argue that other types of sexual behavior are also deranged and should also be banned. Gays/lesbians would be targeted first of all as some people would argue this type of sexual behavior is also immoral/disturbed. (We all know religious groups views on homosexuality).

I think for this reason, these sites remain - and borderline mentally ill people can still have their fun pretending to rape people and selling this images/videos online to people who like that kind of thing.

To vet it, is to control/stop it. I imagine some 'think tanks' have declared it's better to turn a blind eye to this, and to let people get on with it, rather than stop them outright.

Having said that, the vote goes with the populace, the masses. What the public want/support the Government can often get away with banning or restricting.

To conclude. Your book 'killers on the web' says all humans are affected by watching porn and go on to commit offences, yet how accurate is this? Porn brings in more money than the film industry and music industry combined.....

That's a lot of people. Is this your point or your worry? Maybe so. However I am sure there are lots of people who watch porn who are totally non-criminal, non violent, who carry out their lives perfectly legally. The percentage is unknown.

I agree that for those inclined, or for those mentally ill, porn is fuel to the flame. But so is religion, and so is political ideology and so is violence on TV that is 'normal' to most people, yet was never shown 50 years ago.

Hitler and the Nazi's and religious doctrines killed more people than porn ever did - yet you raise a very valid point, and as porn becomes more widespread due to globalisation and the spread of technology and is therefore increasingly accessed and becomes more and more 'extreme' maybe more and more people are being affected negatively also?
Both the user and the victim.

It arguable that porn makes the 'user' the victim also - it can psychologically damages our development, especially if viewed at a younger age (adolescence).

Yet it is still debatable, that porn makes us certain violent criminals.

It is arguable that porn vetters are closet 'users' of illegal porn content.

Yet it is debatable if vetting would do anything at all to stop this.

When was the last time you head of a fair or consistent judge?

The law is an as s, and porn is a tight rope of danger/pleasure.

Answer 2

I think going to your parents first is the best option. Tell them what your brother has been doing, because for a 13 year old that is not right. His parents should sit down and have serious talk with them and maybe even take his laptop away until he learns right from wrong. Putting a blocking software on the laptop is also i good idea. But 1st of all, and most important confront your parents about the situation

Answer 3

Sexual offences happens when a person lacks control over another person of the opposite/same sex. It's a control>sex issue (with probably a history of child abuses, etc.).

Porn only makes people horny or masterbate, unless you are really into the rough/violent porn/extreme saddism.

Answer 4

sexual sadism is a distinct sexual preference

they get off seeing fear and making their partner a victim

its completely different from straight porn, I saw the documentary about ted bundy and porn. hardcore BDSM and detective stories involves violence against women

Answer 5

It can. Read Ted Bundy's warning about porn, he should know:

http://www.pureintimacy.org/gr/intimacy/understanding/a0000082.cfm

Answer 6

If someone puts it into practise,,,,,but parents should make sure they can block any of these site from children watching them,,,

Answer 7

probably too old to hav any sexual feelings otherwise they would have sore bits and acheing arms

Answer 8

no.you just get sore wrist.and a big bill.