What is Pornography

The purpose of this post is to make sure that everyone who views this blog understands what I mean when I say "pornography." In our society today there are many different ideas and concepts about porn, so it is important that we are all on the same page. For our purposes, pornography will be defined as follows.

General Definitions

Most of the world's population, when asked the question, What is pornography? would typically think of hardcore pornography. A smaller group would include softcore pornography in their definition. And all but a virtually nonexistent group of proactive members of the anti-porn movement would completely exclude much of the material that can and should be considered pornography. SA Lifeline Foundation offers the following definitions in it's book, "Understanding Pornography and Sexual Addiction" for soft- and hardcore as well as on-demand pornography:

"Softcore pornography generally consists of models posing topless or nude, as is common in Playboy magazines. Hardcore porn involves images of people actually engaging in graphic sexual acts or poses. On-demand pornography is available on the internet for a cost, allowing viewers to specify the exact acts they want to see performed in front of the camera."

Hardcore pornography can be hetero- or homosexual in nature. It may include vaginal, anal, oral, hand and other sex acts. More perverted forms include violence, child porn, and bestiality which is sex acts involving animals.

More Specific

Hopefully the definitions given thus far are clear and widely accepted. Now we will dig a little deeper to find more potential sources of pornography. One definition I have commonly heard is any material created with the intent of arousing sexual desire. Using this definition we can classify much more material as pornography. A limitless assortment of photos, videos, text, music, and fashion styles that do not include the depiction of explicit sex acts or full nudity, nevertheless are created to entice, titillate, and arouse.

Marketing campaigns for much of the products and services we purchase are pornographic. The marketing companies have discovered that "sex sells." Take Carl's Jr, for example. They know that if they stimulate their viewers's sex drive, they are more likely to make a sale, so it can be said that much of the advertising we are exposed to is created with the intent of arousing sexual desire and therefore it is pornography. Advertisements are just one example. Music videos, movies, TV shows, books, and magazines are often created for the purpose of creating sexual arousal. These are pornography.

Getting Personal

Now we will take it even a step further. In clinical terms, pornography is defined as anything used for the purpose of arousing sexual desire. Whether or not it was intentionally created for the purpose of sexual arousal does not matter; what matters is how a person uses it. This personalizes the definition to each individual. What may be pornography for one person is not necessarily for another.

Going along with this definition of pornography, let’s see just how easy it really is to access...Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, Twitter, Youtube are full of material that if not intentionally sexual, can easily be sexualized by the viewer. Watching R-rated movies is an obvious one that we all know we should avoid, but what about inappropriate PG-13 and even PG movies? What about TV-M or TV-14 shows? What about video games? There’s the less-conspicuous glancing at the magazines at the checkout stand in the grocery store. Gawking at a person’s body at the beach, on the street, in school, or even at church--whether that person intentionally dressed in a provocative way or not--lust is in the eye of the beholder; an observer can sexualize virtually anything, even people who are modest and appropriately dressed. What about the images we create, or re-create, in our own minds? Do our thoughts arouse sexual desire? If so, our thoughts have become pornography.

Conclusion

Did you realize how much pornography you and your loved ones are exposed to on a daily basis? No wonder sex addiction is the most difficult addiction to recover from; imagine an alcoholic who is handed a beer every time he turns on the TV or a drug addict who gets a hit of heroin each time she checks her email. How difficult would it be for them to gain abstinence and recover from their addictions? Thus is the severity of sex addiction. As one addict shared: "In my eyes cocaine doesn't hold a candle to this. I have done both. …Quitting even the hardest drugs was nothing compared to [trying to quit pornography]."

The truth is this: pornography--in all its forms--is all around us. If you or someone you know have trouble looking away from it, give me a call. I'd love to help you out. As always, I'll give you a free consultation and some info that will help you.