Sexual morality has declined in America today. The immoral life can be
seen all around us. We see it in drugs, alcohol, movies, magazines,
gangs, teenage pregnancy, pre-marital sex, and society as a whole. A
person can walk into almost any convenience store and purchase a
magazine depicting naked women. Videos and movies with graphic sex
scenes can be rented or watched in any movie theater. They have
become more common than ever before. Almost every movie with an "R"
rating will have at least onesex scene. Even Forrest Gump, a highly
acclaimed movie, had a sexual act and nudity involved. Also public
television has been known to show nudity and sex. Allusions are made
to sex in every part of our life. Work, school, sports, and recreation are
all forums through which unhealthy sexual views are expressed. One
of the more predominant and obvious forums for the proliferation of
unhealthy sexual desires is pornography. Pornography is displaying the
human body in a perverse, sexual way. It can be found in film, magazine,
television, on CD-ROM, and even the internet, and can range from
"soft-core", depicting natural poses and action, to "hard-core", or
depicting sex combined with violence, that any reasonable, decent,
well-adjusted human being would recognize as horrible and disgusting.
Much pornography is socially acceptable, with few people actively
speaking out against it. Pornography can be bought at many "adult" or
"adult novelty" shops. One only has to listen to any popular local radio
station after 8 P.M. to hear strings of advertisements for local
pornographic outlets. Television advertisements are shownalso, but not
as often as on the radio. Pornography is so socially acceptable in today's
society, that it is protected by the same amendment to the constitution
that allows Pro-Life groups to protest abortion, the first amendment to the
constitution. For years, the first amendment has been quoted to support
pornography, as well as everything from freedom to protest abortion, to
freedom of holding Nazi views. The first amendment was drafted, not to
protect boring, popular, or inoffensive views, however, but to protect the
right of people to hold and express controversial ideas. There is a
line, though. A television network cannot show images of children having
sex, but it can show a naked woman, if the perspective is such that
certain parts of her body are not seen. In Germany, access is blocked to
certain "chat rooms" which contain pedophile pornography. In Denmark,
the government has dropped all legal barriers against pornography for
adults. Explicit magazines cannot be sold to anyone under the age of
eighteen, showing some morality is still intact in America today, if not
entirely. The Church's stand on pornography is clear and obvious.
The Catholic Church is adamantly against all pornography. Pornography
" offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the
intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave injury to the
dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since each one
becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others." The
church's view is that " civil authorities should prevent the production and
distribution of pornographic materials. God has willed that the expression
of sexual ideas be within the confines of marriage. No man has the right
to violate the will of God, and pornography is a violation of this will. It is
an unnatural act, a immoral human act. The responsibility of the
church over the matter of pornography is to be a clear, constant teacher
of the faith, especially objective moral truth. We live in a time of
permissiveness of moral violation and confusion. It is a time that
demands that the church be a clear voice of morality and its role in
society. Pornography and wanton violence in the media can blind
people to the divine images, the very likeness of God, in the human
being. We are made in the image of God, and to portray that image in a
perverse and corrupt way for the enjoyment of others is not only immoral,
but goes against our human nature and purpose, to know, love, and
serve God in this life, as well as through to the next. To willingly disobey
God and pervert one of his creatures is sacrilegious, and a grave offense
against God. We must educate those in Catholic schools as to why
pornography is wrong, and why we must fight against it. Combined, the
voices of all morally fit individuals in society would be loud enough to
cause the communications industry to cease the senseless proliferation
of immoral content into society. Everyone must resist the temptation and
notgive in to the grip that pornography has on a lot of people in this world.
As it is now, in an unscientific poll, if offered just $100,000 to pose
for a pornographic magazine, almost fifty percent of high school students
would seriously consider performing this immoral and unspeakable act.
Pornography has many obvious as well as not-so-obvious
consequences within society. Pornography has the power to ruin
marriages, destroy trust, excite a person to the point of sexual crime, or
create an unhealthy view of human sexuality and the opposite sex. If a
married man purchases a pornographic magazine and looks through it,
he involuntarily loses some respect for the opposite sex, by reducing
them to an object to satisfy his sexual desire. If the magazine is
discovered by his wife, she loses faith in him, weakening their marriage
bond. If the magazine is discovered by one of his children, male or
female, that child begins to form an unhealthy view of sexuality. Any
person allowing themselves to be used to satisfy the sexual desire of
another is sinning by causing another person to lust. There own
perception of self-worth is diminished, as well as their perception of
healthy sexual expression. Dress is another thing that causes a
person to lust. If a young woman is dressed immodestly, it causes a man
to desire her. Therefore, it is very important that every person dress
modestly and not care what others think of their dress. When a young
woman dresses immodestly, this may suggest that she is "easy" and
some people willlook down on her. The restaurant chain Hooters is a
perfect example of a bad tastein dress. The restaurant features
scantily-clad women working as waitresses giving food to men who are
only there to lust after them. Over seventy-five percent of the men
aremarried. On society as a whole, pornography acts as a moral
anesthetic, deadening us to the effects of immoral life. Pornography is as
much as a drug as alcohol is. When you get started on it, you cannot
control yourself, and is hard to quit. The view of moral human sexuality is
greatly harmed, when a person can walk past storefronts boasting "Girls,
Girls, Girls". Society as a whole needs to re-think its position on
pornography, as well as human sexuality entirely. Also as individuals, we
need to think about how our actions in regards to human sexuality affect
those around us, as well as ourselves, our relationship with others, and
our relationship with God. Pornography is accepted in the world today.
Any movie theatre won't hesitate toshow a movie with pornography
depicted in it if it will sell. The same goes for any bookstore which sells
magazines. You can go into any major bookstore chain and see a
Playboy magazine on the rack next to Sports Illustrated. Now what does
this suggest?It suggests that Playboy is as widely read as Sports
Illustrated. The movie industry has glorified pornography in many
movies. Movies are themain source of pornography, along with
magazines. Any person can see pornography when watching one of the
pay channels on the television late at night. This provides theoppurtunity
for anyone with access to these channels to see pornography. Many
childrenhave access to this. Also anyone with a computer and access to
the internet has the oppurtunity to pick up some pornography. Some
restrictions should be made on these things but people say that it violates
their First Amendment right. Pornography is something that
shouldn't be around. Women shouldn't be portrayed as sexual objects,
but as an individual. Pornography is a very bad thingthat severes your
relationship with God and is a big sin.
. today, if not entirely. The Church's stand on pornography is clear and obvious. The Catholic Church is adamantly against all pornography. Pornography " offends against chastity because. Sports Illustrated. The movie industry has glorified pornography in many movies. Movies are themain source of pornography, along with magazines. Any person can see pornography when watching one of the pay. to certain "chat rooms" which contain pedophile pornography. In Denmark, the government has dropped all legal barriers against pornography for adults. Explicit magazines cannot be sold