Pornography….

1. Accessible Affordable Anonymous Pornography…. Who does it hurt?

2. What does pornography entail? • Writing • pictures/cartoons • Videos/animation • 3-D forms • Phone conversation • Live-person presentations • Computer games • So when does art cross the line into porn?

3. What is pornography? • When is the line crossed? • Representation of any sexual behavior with the following characteristics: • Primary purpose: is stimulation of sexual interest or excitement • Degrading portrayal male/female as merely a sexually object to be exploited and manipulated sexually • Barbara MacKinnon, University of San Francisco

4. Legal Definition • Depictions or works that are : • Patently offensive to local community standards • That appeal to prurient (aka lust) interests • And that taken as a whole lack “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value” • So what about medical textbooks? Sculptures? What about the David? Songs of Solomon?

5. Art vs. Porn • Nude in fine art: • The word “nude” in fine art represents a “balanced prosperous and confident body NOT a defenseless body • The naked in porn • To be naked is to be deprived of our clothes & to be embarrassed in that condition

6. Art vs. Porn • Art: • Nudity employs the unclothed human body to express order, energy, despair, detail and perfection • Pornography: • Porn uses naked people for lust, shock and greed

7. An industry of exploitation • The largest consumer of Internet pornography is the 12-17 age group.Internet Pornography Statistics.  Internet Filter Review, 2004. • Child pornography generates $3 billion annually. • Among the child molesters incited, the study reported that 53 percent of them deliberately used the stimuli of pornography as they prepared to offendInternet Pornography Statistics.  Internet Filter Review, 2004. • LAPD found that in 10yrs. Pornography was involved in 2/3 of child molestation cases

8. Pornography's Relationship to Child Molestation • In a study of convicted child molesters, 77 percent of those who molested boys and 87 percent of those who molested girls admitted to the habitual use of pornography in the commission of their crimes. • Besides stimulating the perpetrator, pornography facilitates child molestation in several ways. For example, pedophiles use pornographic photos to demonstrate to their victims what they want them to do. They also use them to arouse a child or to lower a child's inhibitions and communicate to the unsuspecting child that a particular sexual activity is okay: "This person is enjoying it; so will you."

9. Replicated studies have demonstrated that exposure to significant amounts of increasingly graphic forms of pornography has a dramatic effect on how adult consumers view women, sexual abuse, sexual relationships, and sex in general. These studies are virtually unanimous in their conclusions: When male subjects were exposed to as little as six weeks' worth of standard hard-core pornography, they: • developed an increased sexual callousness toward women
 • began to trivialize rape as a criminal offense or no longer considered it a crime at all
 • developed distorted perceptions about sexuality
 • developed an appetite for more deviant, bizarre, or violent types of pornography (normal sex no longer seemed to do the job)
 • devalued the importance of monogamy and lacked confidence in marriage as either a viable or lasting institution
 • viewed nonmonogamous relationships as normal and natural behavior

10. Divorce & Pornography • At a 2003 meeting of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, two thirds of the 350 divorce lawyers who attended said the Internet played a significant role in the divorces in the past year, with excessive interest in online porn contributing to more than half such cases.

11. How does Pornography (even casual use) affect Men? Women? • MEN • Same as the women • Portrays sexual activity outside of marriage as acceptable without the dire consequences of STI’s, infertility and without the responsibility towards conceiving a human life • WOMEN • Teaches that women enjoy “forced” or perverse sexual activity • Advocates prostitution as normal behavior • Regards women as sex objects to be used for one’s self-gratification http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/27/police-people-watched-gan_n_334975.html

12. Effects of Pornography • First phase– Addiction • Second phase– Escalation • Third phase– Desensitization • Fourth phase– Acting out Sexually Dr. Victor Cline, PhD

13. Is Porn really a drug? • Viewing porn tricks your brain into releasing the same chemicals • We have “reward pathways” in our brains • When we do something that makes us happy the pathway is activated and the brain releases pleasure chemicals (more info. On the pleasure chemicals to come) • Your brain thinks you are doing something good (like building relationships) when watching porn and your need for a connection is not being met

14. Pornography an addictive stimulus? • Brain responds the same way to porn as to a drug addiction • Why? • Affect the brain in a similar manner • High likelihood that someone who has one kind of addiction will develop others due to the same genes for both types of addictions • People addicted to drugs and ppl addicted to sexual things have higher than average rates of mental problems (anxiety, depression etc) • Same medications are prescribed to those suffering from drug addictions also help those with sexual addictions • Same effect= same treatment

15. Chemicals Behind the Addiction • Dopamine • Rewards you with feelings of excitement, pleasure and arousal • Helps you to remember what’s happening so it can happen again In Sex: • Awesome in a relationship! Helps you to focus on THEM • Helps their positive characteristics to stand out, they become more attractive to you, develop a healthier relationship In Porn: • No person to focus upon and you end up focusing on the act of sex or sex organs = objectification

16. Chemicals Behind the Addiction Norepinephrine • Adrenaline rush • Seals the details of that event in your brain so you can remember them well In Sex: • Makes sex exciting • Makes your heart beat faster and creates a lasting memory of your time with that person In Porn: • Makes images harder to forget but with no personal connection which leads to feelings of loneliness • The strong memories makes it hard to stay away from porn

17. Chemicals Behind the Addiction Oxytocin • Love potion • Released with physical touch • Correlates with trust and decreases anxiety In Sex: • Strengthens the bond • Helps to you relax and creates an emotional bond btwn you and your partner • Fear decreases and trust increases In Porn: • Released during mast. and viewing of porn but leads back to porn to experience that release of stress but doesn’t fill your need for a relationship

18. Chemicals Behind the Addiction Prolactin • Promotes brain development • Surges after orgasm and inhibits dopamine to bring about feelings of being done In Sex: • Brings the act to a finish and leads to a period of rest • Enhances togetherness In Porn: • After a heterosexual activity it is 4x higher of an amount released than after self- stimulation means 4x more satisfied • Therefore, you are getting more dopamine (arousal) and less prolactin(satisfaction) becomes a vicious cycle

19. Serotonin • natural prozac= feelings of happiness, calmness and relief • Released to signal the end of sexual act In Sex: • you attribute those feelings to your partner and associate them with those feelings In Porn: • Could lead to self-medicating to escape life’s pressures

20. Floods your brain with chemicals in short periods of time without having to interact with someone therefore, not meeting your needs of affection and love • Your brain adjusting to the flood of chemicals you have an increased inclination towards it because of the shortcuts pathways that develop

21. Hypersexual Disorder • According to experts: • Porn use is taking up time that you would spend on other activities like spending time with friends etc • Use porno when you feel anxious, sad, bored or angry • Use porno to manage stress • Use porn more than you mean to or you tried stopping but you cant • Cont. using even that you know that it may prove hurtful to yourself or others or getting in the way of your goals

22. Moral and Spiritual effects of Pornography • Addiction • Self-destructive behavior • Inability to sustain healthy relationships • Divorce • Objectification of women and the human body. • Deviant behavior • The dehumanization of human dignity and the exploitation of the individual person. • Crime • Separation from God’s friendship in this life and the life to come.

23. What is the Church’s stance on Pornography?? • 1) pornography offends against the virtue of chastity (living out a respect for our own human sexuality) • 2) Pornography dismisses the respect for marriage and its conjugal love and is not simply limited to any physical expression • 3) Pornography offends the dignity of the participants . Each one is exploited or exploits others in some way for personal pleasure or gain • 4) those who engage in porn immerse themselves in a fantasy world, w/drawing from reality …genuine love involves self-giving of oneself for the good of others…porn entices a person to withdraw into a selfish world of perverted fantasy