Pornography is tearing apart the very fabric of our society. Yet Christians are often ignorant of its impact and apathetic about the need to control this menace.
Kerby Anderson is the president of Probe Ministries International. He received his B.S. from Oregon State University, M.F.S. from Yale University, and M.A. from Georgetown University. He is the author of several books, including Genetic Engineering, Origin Science, Living Ethically in the 90s, Signs of Warning, Signs of Hope, and Moral Dilemmas. He also served as general editor for Marriage, Family and Sexuality.
He is a nationally syndicated columnist whose editorials have appeared in the Dallas Morning News, the Miami Herald, the San Jose Mercury, and the Houston Post.
He is the host of "Probe," and frequently serves as guest host on "Point of View" (USA Radio Network).
Pornography is an $8 billion-a-year business with close ties to organized crime. The wages of sin are enormous when pornography is involved. Purveyors of pornography reap enormous profits through sales in so-called adult bookstores and through the viewing of films and live acts at theaters.
Pornography encompasses books, magazines, videos, and devices and has moved from the periphery of society into the mainstream through video cassettes, soft-porn magazines, and cable television.
The extent of pornography is shocking. Nearly 900 theaters show films rated NC-17, and more than 15,000 "adult" bookstores and video stores offer pornographic material. Adult bookstores outnumber McDonalds restaurants in the U.S. Each year, nearly 100 pornographic films are distributed to "adult" theaters, providing estimated annual box office sales of $50 million.
Pornography can be broken down into at least five types. The first type of pornography is adult magazines. These magazines are primarily directed toward an adult male audience. The magazines that have the widest distribution (like Playboy and Penthouse) do not violate the Supreme Court's standard of obscenity and thus can be legally distributed. But other magazines that do violate these standards are still readily available in many adult bookstores.
A second type of pornography is video cassettes. These are rented or sold in most adult bookstores and have become a growth industry for pornography. People who would not go into an adult bookstore or theater to watch a pornographic movie will obtain these video cassettes through bookstores or the mail and watch them in the privacy of their homes. Usually these videos display a high degree of hard-core pornography and illegal acts.
A third type of pornography is motion pictures. Ratings standards are being relaxed and many pornographic movies are being distributed and shown carrying R and NC-17 ratings. Many of these so-called hard-R-rated films would have been considered obscene just a decade ago.
A fourth type of pornography is television. As in motion pictures, standards for commercial television have been continuously lowered. But an even greater threat is on cable television. The FCC does not regulate cable in the same way it does public access stations. Thus, many pornographic movies are shown on cable television. Like video cassettes, cable TV provides the average person access to pornographic material. People who would never go to an adult bookstore can now view the same sexually explicit material in the privacy of their homes, making cable TV "the ultimate brown wrapper."
A fifth type of pornography is audio porn. This includes "Dial-a- Porn" telephone calls, which are the second fastest growth market of pornography.
The 1986 Final Report of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography examined five different classes of material: (1) sexually violent material; (2) nonviolent materials depicting degradation, domination, subordination, or humiliation; (3) non-violent and non-degrading materials; (4) nudity; and (5) child pornography. The first two categories demonstrated negative effects on behavior, the third showed mixed results, the fourth was not found harmful but the commissioners agreed it was morally objectionable, and the fifth involved sexual exploitation and was already outlawed.
Let us briefly look at the psychological effects of pornography. Psychologist Edward Donnerstein (University of Wisconsin) found that brief exposure to violent forms of pornography can lead to anti-social attitudes and behavior. Male viewers tend to be more aggressive toward women, less responsive to the pain and suffering of rape victims, and more willing to accept various myths about rape.
Dr. Dolf Zillman and Dr. Jennings Bryant showed that continued exposure to pornography had serious adverse effects on beliefs about sexuality in general and on attitudes toward women in particular. They also found that pornography desensitizes people to rape as a criminal offense and that massive exposure to pornography encourages a desire for increasingly deviant materials that depict violence (such as sadomasochism and rape).
Feminist author Diana Russell notes in her book Rape and Marriage the correlation between deviant behavior (including abuse) and pornography. She also found that pornography leads men and women to experience conflict, suffering, and sexual dissatisfaction.
Statistical studies by sociologists Murray Straus and Larry Baron (University of New Hampshire) found that rape rates are highest in states that have high sales of sex magazines and lax enforcement of pornography laws.
Michigan state police detective Darrell Pope found that in 41 percent of the 38,000 sexual assault cases in Michigan between 1956 and 1979, pornographic material was viewed just prior to or during the crime. This finding corroborates research done by psychotherapist David Scott, who found that "half the rapists studied used pornography to arouse themselves immediately prior to seeking out a victim."
Edward Donnerstein and Daniel Linz, writing in Psychology Today, report that "in one study by Malamuth . . . men read several stories, some of which were about a woman being raped. When the men were asked how likely they would be to behave as the rapists did if they knew they would not be caught, more than half indicated some likelihood of behaving that way."
Some psychologists, however, do not believe that pornography contributes to rape. They believe that men may be "generally callous about rape to begin with." But if there are people in our society already predisposed toward rape, will not pornography fuel that desire and increase the possibility that they will begin to act out their fantasies?
One of the studies frequently cited by pornographers is a Dutch study done by Kutchinsky alleging that the number of reported sex crimes dropped after legalization of pornography. His theory was that the availability of pornography siphons off dangerous sex impulses. But when the data for his "safety valve" theory were further evaluated, it was found that he lumped together voyeurism and homosexuality (which police stopped reporting after legalization) with rapes (which actually increased in number).
Deborah Baker, a legal assistant and executive director of an anti- obscenity group, says that proving a connection between pornography and crime is very difficult. She says, "The argument that there are no established studies showing a connection between pornography and violent crime is merely a smoke screen. Those who promote this stance well know that such research will never be done. It would require a sampling of much more than a thousand males, exposed to pornography through puberty and adolescence, while the other group is totally isolated from its influence in all its forms and varying degrees. Each group would then have to be monitored--through the commission of violent crimes or not. In spite of the lack of formal research, though, the FBI's own statistics show that pornography is found at 80 percent of the scenes of violent sex crimes, or in the homes of the perpetrators."
Nevertheless, there are a number of compelling statistics that suggest pornography does have profound social consequences. For example, in the 1400 child sexual molestation cases in Louisville, Kentucky, between July 1980 and February 1984, adult pornography was connected with each incident and child pornography with the majority of them.
Police officers have seen the impact pornography has had on serial murderers. In fact, pornography consumption is one of the most common profile characteristics of serial murderers and rapists.
In his introduction to a reprint of the Final Report of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, columnist Michael McManus noted that
The FBI interviewed two dozen sex murderers in prison who had killed multiple numbers of times. Some eighty-one percent said their biggest sexual interest was in reading pornography. They acted out sex fantasies on real people. For example, Arthur Gary Bishop, convicted of sexually abusing and killing five young boys said, `If pornographic material would have been unavailable to me in my early states, it is most probable that my sexual activities would not have escalated to the degree they did.' He said pornography's impact on him was `devastating. . . . I am a homosexual pedophile convicted of murder, and pornography was a determining factor in my downfall.'"
Dr. James Dobson interviewed Ted Bundy, one of this nation's most notorious serial killers, on the day before his execution. Ted Bundy said that the "most damaging kinds of pornography are those that involve violence and sexual violence. Because the wedding of those two forces, as I know only too well, brings about behavior that is just, just too terrible to describe."
The Supreme Court ruled in the case of Miller v. California that a legal definition of obscenity must meet a three-part test. In this 1973 case, material is obscene if all three of the following conditions are met:
The Supreme Court further ruled in Paris Adult Theatre v. Slaton (1973) that material legally defined as obscene is not accorded the same protection as free speech in the First Amendment. The court ruled that even if obscene films are shown only to "consenting adults," this did not grant the films immunity from the law.
In the case of New York v. Ferber (1982), the Supreme Court ruled that child pornography was not protected under the First Amendment even if it was not legally defined as obscene under their three-part test. Since children cannot legally consent to sexual relations, child pornography constitutes sexual abuse. Congress also passed the Child Protection Act in 1984, which provided tougher restrictions on child pornography than had previously existed.
Another issue we need to examine is the topic of pornographic addiction. Victor Cline (University of Utah) has documented in his research how men who become addicted to pornographic materials, begin to desire more explicit or deviant material, and end up acting out what they have seen.
Psychologists have identified a five-step pattern in pornographic addiction. The first step is exposure. Addicts have been exposed to pornography in many ways, ranging from sexual abuse as children to looking at widely available pornographic magazines.
The second step is addiction. People who continually expose themselves to pornography "keep coming back for more and more" in order to get new sexual highs. Dr. James McCough (University of California at Irvine) says that "experiences at times of emotional or sexual arousal get locked in the brain by the chemical epinephrine and become virtually impossible to erase."
A third step is escalation. Previous sexual highs become more difficult to attain; addicts therefore begin to look for more exotic forms of sexual behavior to bring them stimulation. A fourth step is desensitization. What was initially shocking becomes routine. Shocking and disgusting sexual behavior is no longer avoided but is sought out for more intense stimulation. Concern about pain and degradation gets lost in the pursuit of the next sexual experience. A fifth step is acting out the fantasies. People do what they have seen and find pleasurable. Not every pornography addict will become a serial murderer or a rapist. But many do look for ways to act out their sexual fantasies.
Pornography attacks the dignity of men and women created in the image of God. Pornography also distorts God's gift of sex, which should be shared only within the bonds of marriage (1 Cor. 7:2-3). When the Bible refers to human sexual organs, it often employs euphemisms and indirect language. Although there are some exceptions, generally Scripture maintains a basic modesty towards a man's or woman's sexual organs.
Moreover, Scripture specifically condemns the practices that result from pornography such as sexual exposure (Gen. 9:21-23), adultery (Lev. 18:20), bestiality (Lev. 18:23), homosexuality (Lev. 18:22 and 20:13), incest (Lev. 18:6-18), and prostitution (Deut. 23:17- 18).
A biblical perspective of human sexuality must recognize that sexual intercourse is exclusively reserved for marriage for the following purposes. First, it establishes the one-flesh union (Gen. 2:24-25, Matt. 19:4-6). Second, it provides for sexual intimacy within the marriage bond. The use of the word know indicates the profound meaning of sexual intercourse (Gen. 4:1). Third, sexual intercourse is for the mutual pleasure of husband and wife (Prov. 5:18-19). Fourth, sexual intercourse is for procreation (Gen. 1:28).
The Bible warns against the misuse of sex. Premarital and extramarital sex is condemned (1 Cor. 6:13-18; 1 Thess. 4:3). Even thoughts of sexual immorality (often fed by pornographic material) are condemned (Matt. 5:27-28).
Christians, therefore, must do two things. First, they must work to keep themselves pure by fleeing immorality (1 Cor. 6:18) and thinking on those things that are pure (Phil. 4:8). As a man thinks in his heart, so is he (Prov. 23:7). Christians must make no provision for the flesh (Rom. 13:14). Pornography fuels the sexual desire in abnormal ways and can eventually lead to even more debased perversions. We must, therefore, "abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul" (1 Peter 2:11). Second, Christians must work to remove this sexual perversion of pornography from society.
Here are a number of positive steps we can take to combat porn. First, parents must teach a biblical view of sex to their children. Second, we must evaluate our exposure to media (magazines, TV shows, rock music) with inappropriate sexual themes. Parents should set a positive example for their children and take time to discuss these stories, programs, and songs with them.
Third, pastors should warn their congregations about the dangers of pornography and instruct them in a proper view of sexuality. Like Joseph in the Old Testament, we should flee immorality.
Fourth, individual Christians should get involved with a local decency group that is organized to fight pornography. These groups have often been effective in ridding their communities of the porno plague.
Finally, encourage your federal and state representatives to implement the recommendations from the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography and use existing legislation to prosecute those who distribute pornography. If we are willing to get involved we can fight the porno plague in our communities.*
Probe Ministries is a non-profit corporation whose mission is to reclaim the primacy of Christian thought and values in Western culture through media, education, and literature. In seeking to accomplish this mission, Probe provides perspective on the integration of the academic disciplines and historic Christianity.
In addition, Probe acts as a clearing house, communicating the results of its research to the church and society at large.
Further information about Probe's materials and ministry may be obtained by writing to:
Probe Ministries
1900 Firman Drive, Suite 100
Richardson, TX 75081
(972) 480-0240 FAX (972) 644-9664
info@probe.org
www.probe.org
Copyright (C) 1996-2003 Probe Ministries
Copyright 1992 by J. Kerby Anderson