Pornography
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
25 Apr 2010
Pornography was once only available under the counter. It has now become a major force shaping the culture. It is one of the most dramatic transformations of our time.
It is one thing for adults who want to do the wrong thing, but quite another when people who are not interested are constantly exposed to graphic images in advertising and the media.
Many studies document pornography's malign effects. Hard porn goes far beyond a harmless bit of fun for consenting adults. Many who begin with soft porn quickly progress.
The claim that pornography "enriches" relationships mocks those whose marriages and families it has destroyed.
Married men who use it become dissatisfied with their wives and less attached to them, and less interested in their children. Unsurprisingly, pornography frequently paves the way for infidelity and divorce, with all the disastrous outcomes this has for adults and children.
Porn is highly addictive. Users become desensitised and seek stronger and stronger "hits" through more extreme forms of pornography. Men who are regular users have a higher tolerance of rape, sexual aggression and promiscuity.
Internet porn aggressively seeks new users. In one study, 26 per cent of young people said that when they tried to exit a sex site they had found accidentally, they were taken to another sex site.
Pornography also reinforces sexual permissiveness. Adolescents who have an increased exposure to internet pornography report more accommodating attitudes to sexual activity outside marriage, putting a generation of future spouses and parents at risk.
One study found that adolescents who regularly watched TV programs with the highest level of sexual content were twice as likely to have sex. Male use of pornography is a main driver of the "hook-up" culture among the young.
Porn also disorients adolescents when they are most vulnerable and trying to learn how to deal with their sexuality. Studies have linked it to increased confusion about sexuality and moral values, and to low levels of sexual self-esteem. It has also been linked to loneliness and major depression in adolescents.
Much of the devastation pornography causes occurs under the radar. It encourages young people to make mistakes that hurt and sometimes expose them to disease or pregnancy. It desensitises and isolates sex addicts, often destroying their families and sometime their careers. And it feeds into divorce, with all the hardship this causes children and the community. But private sufferings have social consequences.
Big lies are destructive, and pornography is one of the biggest.
