The Growing Menace of Pornography
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"I don't think pornography degrades women. The women who are doing it want to do it. No one is holding a gun to their head. I don't get that whole thing." - Madonna, Sex (1992)
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{Thousands of years ago, the pagan Romans dissipated their pent-up desires for depraved activity on a single annual holiday called Lupercal. On this day everyone, including the most respected leaders, would indulge themselves in activities they considered forbidden for the rest of the year: Rape, adultery, homosexuality, bestiality (sex with animals), child molestation, and literally any other sexual perversion that crossed their minds. There were no lega l or social sanctions on this day, no matter how violent or bizarre the acts committed. There was no distinction between man and beast. In our present time, there is no need for such holiday. We have Lupercal everyday. Our society is saturated with the filth of sex murders, robberies, rapes, drugs and many other anti-life forces. Obscenity is all around us. Lust is glorified in its heathen form, pornography.
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{Pornography comes from the Greek words "porno" and "graphos," meaning the writing of prostitutes. It is defined as written, graphic or other forms of communication intended to incite lascivious or lustful feelings. It is a $25 billion international enterprise with outlets in print and broadcast media, in magazines, comics, tabloids, in videos, on film and television, radio, telephone, computers and even live on stage. Through advanced technology such as interactive CD-ROMs the formerly passive viewer of exploitation and abuse now becomes an active participant in the abuse of another. Exposure and involvement of children, in particular, has taken on unprecedented global dimensions; sex-related crime is now a global problem.
Pornography comes in two forms, soft-core and hard-core pornography. As is always the case with pornography, it is difficult to draw the line between soft and hard porn. One proposed demarcation holds that soft-core porn generally involves a single adult person depicted in various revealing, but non-violent poses. Under this definition, then, hard-core porn would therefore depict total nudity or sex acts between persons. In the Philippines, the soft porn probably does much more harm than the hard-core type, because it is much more accessible to the public.
The Pontifical Council for Social Communications, in a primer entitled Pornography and Violence in the Communications Media, attribute the cause of pornography from the following:
-A pervasive moral permissiveness, rooted in the search for personal gratification at any cost. Associated with this is a kind of despairing moral emptiness, which makes sense pleasure the only happiness human beings can attain.
-The profit motive. Pornography is a lucrative industry. Some segments of the communications industry have tragically succumbed to the temptation of exploiting human weakness in order to make money from productions of pornography.
-Bad libertarian arguments. People engaged in the porno business believe that nobody has the right to attempt to stop or limit the production or distribution of sexually explicit materials. Such materials according to them is protected freedom of expression, and anyone who tries to interfere with it as an intolerant, narrow-minded censor. Some even falsely say that the best way to combat pornography is to legalize it. Faulty libertarian arguments such as these are espoused by small groups who do not represent the moral values of the majority and who fail to recognize that every right carries with it a corresponding responsibility. The public responsibility for promoting the moral welfare of the young, for fostering respect for women and for the protection of privacy and public decency.
-The lack of carefully prepared laws or the ineffective enforcement of laws which already exist to protect the common good, especially the morals of the young.
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