en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 17:52:31 GMT 15 By MariaFernanda Gomez
The following opinion piece on pornography is the last article this year in a series of pro-life opinion pieces appearing in The Speaking Eagle, written by MariaFernanda Gomez. Individuals must make the conscious decision to reject pornography because there are too many victims in the horrible activity that especially include the participant, viewer, and the family; it just isn’t worth it. Pornography has unfortunately developed into a very popular activity in our culture. Consider that each day 30 million people log on to pornographic websites and 72 million Internet users visit pornography web sites per year, according to the Internet Filter Review 2003. Even the innocence of children is snatched away and destroyed. 100 thousand websites offer child pornography and children are exploited to generate three billion dollars annually, according to the Internet Filter Review 2004. This is such a big issue in itself that I will only focus on adult pornography. Pornography doesn’t seem like a problem to many people because it creates an illusion. People only see the screen and don’t acknowledge that there are victims behind it including the young people who may consent to participate. Often these participants are driven to this activity because they are desperate. Pornography makers take advantage of this and offer a “way out” that is humiliating and devalues human dignity. “ Eros , reduced to pure ‘sex,’ has become… a mere ‘thing’ to be bought and sold, or rather, man himself becomes a commodity…” said Pope Benedict XVI in Deus Caritas Est, 5. “ On the contrary, he now considers his body and his sexuality as the purely material part of himself, to be used and exploited at will… no longer is it integrated into our overall existential freedom; no longer is it a vital expression of our whole being, but it is more or less relegated to the purely biological sphere.” Sadly, people viewing pornography aren’t valuing themselves as they should, and statistics prove these people are no small club. In 2004, there were 372 million pornographic web pages, 2.5 billion emails (8% of total emails), and 72 million annual worldwide visitors to pornographic websites, according to Internet Filter Review 2004. Honestly, pornographic viewers are also victims, but they can choose to not be if they stop. Whatever drives the viewers to seek pleasure or enjoyment in pornography is not healthy or satisfied by the activity. See, it doesn’t give comfort or real pleasure. It isolates the viewer more and more from real intimate human contact. Furthermore, the viewer devalues him/herself by using other people for pure enjoyment. As viewing pornography becomes a vice, the viewer begins to objectify his/her partners as a thing to be used, not a person who loves and feels. And eventually, the secret will leak. And that is when perhaps the most important unit central to human life is wounded, sometimes permanently – family. For a family to function successfully in a loving and trusting environment, it is necessary that they are discouraged from acting selfishly. When a family member turns to pornography, however, they’re betraying the trust his/her family has in them to live exemplary lives and be satisfied by love. Pornography can especially fracture the relationship with the spouse because the commitment of eternal love promised to them is shattered when the other partner prefers fleeting lust from pornography. Rejection and betrayal are the only results and the pornography addict shouldn’t be too surprised if the marriage is irreversible destroyed. Young and grown adults can, most of the time, heal and recapture some of the happiness and trust in pure love again. Innocent children, however, are taught by their parents and families to keep dreaming of their Prince Charming; a blissful dream of real love is the only future they know. Teenagers are taught to wait until after marriage to have intimate sexual contact with the “right person,” the spouse. When children or teenagers discover the secret that mom, dad, or big sister/brother, has been preaching about generous love when they haven’t been living it, it is a major betrayal. The children learn that love is just a temporary lust. That immediately destroys trust that had been developed between the parent and child after years. Is it worth it? For more on the harms of pornography, visit: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=7321#novictims http://www.purehope.net/stat.asp ]]> Tue, 29 May 2012 02:03:19 GMT