Then let’s take another example, like guns. I’d guess that criminals are far more likely to have guns than members of the general public. Does this mean that guns corrupt members of the general public into violent criminals? No, it means that people who are already inclined to crime are more likely to buy the things.

Similarly, I’d be extremely surprised if even violent porn caused people to become rapists. To my mind, it’s infinitely more likely that rapists are simply more into violent porn than the average Joe.

I say again, even if correlation could be demonstrated, correlation is not causation.

How do you measure the difference between the souls of two people–one who has struggled deeply with pornography, and one who has not been exposed to it? You can’t put a number on an inner life.

I agree completely. Which is why this is best left as a matter of personal choice.

Lifewish….do you have kids? I wonder if you would feel the same about legislation as your children grow towards sexual maturity…especially if you had/have a daughter.

I originally got into this argument because I enjoy playing Devil’s advocate. However, on reflection, I’m happy with my position. I personally would prefer the sex offenders to stay sat at their computers, rather than being out on the streets.

For instance, we have all kinds of numbers and records about sex offenders, but that only lists those who have been caught. Surely, there are many who offend but are never found out, or have not had sufficient evidence to be prosecuted.

How do you measure the difference between the souls of two people–one who has struggled deeply with pornography, and one who has not been exposed to it? You can’t put a number on an inner life.

Lifewish….do you have kids? I wonder if you would feel the same about legislation as your children grow towards sexual maturity…especially if you had/have a daughter.

Still, I don’t mind saying porn is an invitation to bad places and that we both might be out on a limb if you’re saying it can be therapeutic.

Lifewish,
I knew it was only a matter of time before someone dragged out the tired old dihydrogen monoxide argument. I had hoped no one would mention the “milk in the fridge” thing either, which is another way of saying the same thing. Do I need to tell you that dihydrogen monoxide use (or more accurately “abuse”) among sex offenders is essentially identical to that of the general population? Yes, some areas of the country have been flooded with it at times and yes, we as a society need to work on that. But currently, I’d say porn is a more serious matter.

I don’t have the numbers (I’ll see if I can find some), but the point I was making is that porn possession among offenders would likely be higher than among non-offenders. That’s where the link would be. Not so with dhmo.

“If someone plays silly blighters…”
I don’t even know what that means.

It’s a little surprising that this thread is so focused on porn. I figured it would be the morality part.

Similarly, it turns out that all those sexual offenders were regular users of dihydrogen monoxide. We must act now to ban this dangerous chemical!

If that’s the case, you gotta wonder how many of those offenders would have done what they did had porn not enticed them to do it. Maybe they would have played Tetris instead.

Or maybe, without porn to help them work out their sexual frustrations, they’d have flipped a lot sooner. Causes are not always easy to disentangle, which is why I usually ask for hard numbers.

Would you say morally repugnant = morally ewwy?

Unless that repugnancy translates into concrete harm to others, yes I would. If someone plays silly blighters, I am perfectly entitled to personally dislike them for it, but unless it hurts the rest of us I have no excuse for legislating against them.

Fair point. However, let’s imagine for a moment that you married someone, slept with them… and only then discovered that they’d been married to someone else the whole time.

Technically you’d have been committing adultery with this person. However, I’d argue that, since you’d have no way of determining this beforehand, you wouldn’t be willfully disobeying God and hence wouldn’t be sinning.

If we don’t avoid marriage for fear of ending up hitched to a bigamist, why should we avoid pornography for fear of seeing a nude married person?

Secondly, pornography demeans and devalues women. It reduces them to body parts and fantasy.

No more than online debates reduce people to disembodied minds. The only way this can possibly be an issue is if you’re in the habit of assuming that what you see of a person is all there is to see.

In which case, to be blunt, pornography would probably be the least of your worries.

It ruins marriages by setting up unrealistic expectations and diverting healthy sexual drives into an image instead of the other person.

I’d have to see some figures for that – IMO people don’t need outside help to be unrealistic. How does the average with-pornography marriage compare to the average no-pornography marriage? Has anyone bothered to study this, or are we just assuming that it’s bad?

Many people in pornograpy have serious issues that drive them into the business in the first place. It is not a job for the whole and healthy person.

Again, numbers would be good.

Would people enjoy pornography as much if they knew the actress/model was an alcoholic that hated what she was doing, and felt trapped in the business?

Well, the “hated it and felt trapped” bit probably applies to 90% of Macdonalds or Walmart workers. Have you ever enjoyed a Big Mac?

Secondly, pornography demeans and devalues women. It reduces them to body parts and fantasy. It ruins marriages by setting up unrealistic expectations and diverting healthy sexual drives into an image instead of the other person.

Many people in pornograpy have serious issues that drive them into the business in the first place. It is not a job for the whole and healthy person. When we consume it, we are basically contributing to the exploitation of those people for our own pleasure.

Would people enjoy pornography as much if they knew the actress/model was an alcoholic that hated what she was doing, and felt trapped in the business?