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gettingthere
 
Joined in 2008
August 2, 2009, 23:55

What do you guys think about it? Harmful or harmless? Why or why not? Let’s just leave this open-ended, I’d be interested in seeing where this goes.



iplantolive
 
Joined in 2008
August 3, 2009, 21:05

In a broad sense, p*rnography should be discouraged in a christian context because it has the potential for addiction, thus undermining our faith and ability to participate in serving Christ and others …


Here’s the catholic church’s take on it, courtesy of wikipedia …


P*rnography… offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each another. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants… since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense.



Sandy
 
Joined in 2007
August 4, 2009, 00:48

Gettingthere, I’m going to assume you meant “guys” in the all-encompassing sense of the word–hopefully I won’t need to check my femininity at the door on this one. 😉


I don’t think porn can automaticlly be discounted on the basis of potential addiction. A majority of Christians are addicted to something: tobacco, caffine, shopping, CSI reruns–oh no wait, the latter is just me. 😉 Are these things “bad” or “sinful” merely because they have the potential for addiction or is there something else about pornography that adds to the debate?


The Catholics have always been prone to hyperbole but I think they make some good points in Moblie Guys quote there. God’s design for sex. If you are morally ok with casual, often stranger-driven sexual encounters then it wouldn’t be an issue but for–I believe–a majority of Christians they try to avoid this. Viewing pornography is partaking–if only as a vouyger–in the act itself.



Anthony Venn-Brown
 
Joined in 2005
August 4, 2009, 10:00

I think this in an interesting article written by a gay man which is relevant.


http://www.xtribe.net.au/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=234&PHPSESSID=f5ef0f5501851d621588c22e54902bf0


Penetration

Lifeblood

Monday, 10 July 2006

By Colin Batrouney

Manager, Health Promotion Program


“****** me man! Oh yeah, *****my ******, oh man yeah!” So goes the dull mantra of a thousand gay porn movies. Encapsulated in its blank verse are the prescribed, manufactured fantasies of countless gay men perched in front of flickering screens, mesmerised by the rote sexual exercise that passes as gay erotica.


Pornographic isolation

In the wholesale discount of gay experience that gay porn represents, there is probably nothing that throws isolation into starker relief than the bald depiction of sex for the casual consumption of gay men. Its merit as a form of instruction notwithstanding, the fact that porn has nothing to do with connecting with another human being is precisely the point and probably the foundation of its most profound and consistent characteristic: tedium.


Gay porn is not exceptional in this sense although there are those who would argue that it is. There are those, most notably pornographers, who argue that gay porn has somehow carried on a ‘sex positive’ crusade that was begun in the early days of gay liberation, a crusade that became more urgent after the emergence of HIV. Gay pornographer Paul Morris contributed to an online discussion on barebacking (the practice of choosing to not use condoms in anal intercourse) organised by the University of Southern California. He commented on the marketing of porn that depicts unprotected anal intercourse saying, “I see the men who explore these capacities [having unprotected sex] and are willing to do it on camera for other people as heroic. I admire them and love them. And my obligation is to clearly represent precisely what they do, and release it.” Morris acquits his obligation, expressing his love at $120.00 a pop.


Exploitation

By accessing Morris’s site on the internet you can read his ‘Academic Lecture’ delivered to the World Pornography Conference in 1998. In his lecture, a spirited, self-interested defense of barebacking videos, Morris, whose titles include Knocked Up and Raw Shots, concludes that gay porn should develop “toward a greater eloquence and inclusivity [sic] – and toward possibilities more creative than worn-out concepts like ‘safe’ and ‘unsafe’ have allowed – the practice of porn should veer away from the directed film and toward the more straightforward and generous practice of real documentation.” The practice Morris suggests is perhaps most straightforward and generous to Morris himself who saves on the money it would take to create a ‘directed film’ thereby increasing his profit margin in his exploitation of those he ‘loves’. In his search for possibilities that are more “creative than worn out concepts like ‘safe’ and ‘unsafe’” Morris is merely capitalising on another set of prohibitions to exploit in the marketplace.


Porn culture

The inflated claims that Morris and his ilk make for gay porn ignore the most profound impact pornography has in the lives of gay men and in the shaping of gay culture. Given that culture involves the training, development and refinement of mind, taste and manners there can be no denying that porn and porn imagery plays an active role in this process for gay men. Indeed the business side of porn tirelessly re-treads the tastes and manners of gay men in servicing the insatiable appetite of the market. It is perhaps the porn industry’s crowning achievement, and no small irony, that this multi-lateral exploitation is sold as sexually liberating.


Pornographic imagination

Gay social theorist Cindy Patton has posed the questions, “Is watching porn a sexual activity in itself or are porn videos an aid to the imagination, doing the work of fantasy production for the viewer?” Well, it would seem the answer to both questions is no. Watching porn is not, in itself, a sexual activity. By its bland description of sexual mechanics, pornography is dismissive of the imagination by serving up scenarios that are as formulaic as boot-scooting, but for the fact that they are not as socially interactive.


Pornographed culture

Philosopher and social theorist Michel Foucault put forward the notion that the words and images, found within a culture, create that culture. If that’s the case then gay culture has been ‘pornographed’ so completely that our very sexual identities have been formularised to suit the marketplace. The prototypical gay man is built around the notion of consumption and the consumption of sexual fantasy in particular is marketed and sold as a communal norm that is then packaged as an empowering enhancement of our sexuality. But the function of gay porn is not to enhance sexuality, like other forms of prescribed fantasy it enhances masturbation. In this regard porn is truly subversive in the sense that it shifts the emphasis of sex from a complex multi-layered form of expression to nothing more than a prerequisite physical function of ejaculation. After all, what would porn be without the cum shot?


Pump and cum

As sexuality, and indeed sex, is composed of much deeper impulses and desires, gay porn (or all porn for that matter) falls short of the most profound consequence of sex: communion with another human being. The final indignity of gay porn lies in the fact that it has nothing to do with the fantasies of grind, pump and cum, but that it is essentially antithetical to the nature of situating sex within relationship to another person. Its sweaty, auto-erotic heave ignores the fact that, as people, gay men are distinguished by fellowship, fraternity, passion, sex and mutual love and are not merely a bunch of wankers.


(Quotes and ideas presented in this article were sourced from works by Paul Morris, Cindy Patton, Michael Scarce and Robert Kirsch.)



iplantolive
 
Joined in 2008
August 4, 2009, 21:00

An interesting read indeed, and probably cleared up some misconceptions that I held about p*rn. Goodness, an addiction to CSI reruns Sandy? Sounds like my sister 😆 😆 😆



Sandy
 
Joined in 2007
August 4, 2009, 22:23

Goodness, an addiction to CSI reruns Sandy? Sounds like my sister


My friend, I have two words for you: Jorja Fox. 😆 😆



Anthony Venn-Brown
 
Joined in 2005
August 4, 2009, 23:01

I think I need to watch more television……I dont know what you guys are talking about.



forwardtherapy
 
Joined in 2009
August 5, 2009, 10:25

There is another interesting article here:


http://www.smh.com.au/news/lifeandstyle/lifematters/the-porn-ultimatum/2009/03/04/1235842454092.html


Although I admit a little bias, as I am quoted.



Anthony Venn-Brown
 
Joined in 2005
August 5, 2009, 14:00

hey Ash……nice of you to pop up in here and thanks for the extra article…..


BTW….how did you find us.



forwardtherapy
 
Joined in 2009
August 5, 2009, 18:30

Hi Anthony! People have mentioned the organisation to me in discussions about sexuality and religion. However in this case I came across the site through a search engine while researching views and opinions about the use of pornography. In my work as a counsellor & therapist, many of the people who consult me are questioning sexuality concerns. I find it useful to keep gathering information and hearing stories. I think it was Michael White who suggested as therapists we are in an apprenticeship for life, continually learning from others. Forums such as this one provide an opportunity to hear about the expertise of those with life experience, which I something that I value hearing.


Best regards,

Ash.


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