Pornographic material may be defined as something which stimulates the sexual feelings of an individual. Pornography may be broadly divided into two major categories namely, visual and written. Pornography is also known as smut or obscene material. This paper will throw light upon pornography as a health issue and how it impacts society.
The term “pornography” comes from porneia, the Greek word for prostitute, and means “the writings of and about prostitutes”. Defining the type of material that qualifies as pornography is more difficult. It is a relative term, subject to interpretation based on people’s opinions. Standards of obscenity have been defined legally in a consistent way.” (Pornography, 2008). Society has changed for the worse, pornography is impacting society and it mainly targets youngsters. They become more prone to this evil and it leads to devastating consequences. There is no doubt that watch porn movies spoil the character of an individual in addition to this it also provokes a person to commit various crimes like rapes, eve-teasing, etc. Pornography is a very big menace in society, the porn industry is growing with each passing day, and it is a multibillion-dollar industry. This goes to show that the demand for such obscene movies exists this is the only reason why such movies are produced and distributed. If there is no demand for a product there will be no supply this is the simplest of all the economics principles. Considering all this it is quite obvious that there is a demand for such obscene movies.
Impact of Pornography
Pornography impacts society hugely; it portrays a wrong picture of women, it shows women exploitation and it is a source with the help of which women are very frequently exploited. “Many laboratory experiments are alleged to prove a negative societal influence from exposure to pornography. Results from different experiments supposedly demonstrated that exposure to pornography particularly that which includes violence, leads to the degradation of women, the trivialization of rape and increased likelihood of aggression or acceptance of violence against women.” (Pornography, 2008).
More and more people and young children are falling prey to pornography. “Swedish politico Goeran Eurenius was caught with his pants down when the Goteborg-Posten, a daily newspaper, revealed that he had moonlighted as a porn star. The 47-year-old Eugenius is a local councilor in Haerryda, 310 miles southwest of Stockholm, and has “acted” in at least 14 pornographic movies.” (Swedish politician moonlights as a porn star, 20 November 2008). There are numerous politicians who have been caught red-handed in their involvement with pornography. This is a very shameful thing because the politicians are supposed to be the representatives of the common people and if they get themselves involved in such activities then the people would lose their faith in them. They are supposed to lead from the front but the reality is very different, till date there have been so many politicians caught for their involvement in pornography.
Pornography has negatively impacted our society and in reality, it is an evil that should be dealt with without wasting any more time. It is weakening our society and spoiling the future generation. Some big steps to counter the same must be taken sooner rather than later.
References
- Pornography. In Sexual Health.
- Pornography. In Pacific Center for Sex and Society.
- Swedish politician moonlights as a porn star. In Salon.