by Emma Riley Sutton

Created on: April 22, 2008   Last Updated: June 25, 2008

Someone once asked Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States, if he had ever cheated on his wife. His response was honest, "Only in my mind." He understood his wife. She believed that it is not just actually being with another woman that constitutes infidelity; it also includes what goes on in a husband's mind and heart. Many women agree with her. Sometimes, what happens in a husband's mind can be more personal and intimate than any affair could ever be. Wives should do all that is possible to keep their husbands from being involved in any type of pornography - movies, magazines, websites, etc.

Marriage is between one man and one woman. Pornography undermines this. Being married and keeping that marriage happy and fulfilled is difficult enough without the added strain of bringing others into the sacred union. Pornography does that. It invites others, total strangers, into a relationship that does not and should not involve others. Yes, that includes in-laws and children. They are part of the family, not the marriage.

Pornography can breed doubt in a marriage. The husband may start doubting if he is truly happy or if "the grass is greener." It can also cause the woman to doubt her self-worth and her self-image. They can both begin to doubt if their marriage is truly what it should be. Just as with other people, there is not room for doubt in marriage; doubt that has a physical presence - the movies, the magazines and the websites (not to mention the bills for those websites).

What I can never understand is a man's fascination, especially a married man's fascination, with pornography. What is the point? What purpose does it serve? I just don't get it. I had to watch a pornographic movie for a Human Sexuality class I took in college. It made absolutely no sense to me. I could not get past the fact that these people were participating in what should have been a personal, private, and intimate act (moment), yet they and the act (the moment) was on display like hamburger meat in the butcher's case. There was nothing on that tape I wanted to see and I didn't finish watching it. I was repulsed. Not necessarily by the act itself, I had seen the National Geographic channel and this was very much the same. It was the fact that it was the same as what had seen on the National Geographic channel. The participants in this film had taken all of the human emotion out of their acts and replaced it with the coldness of animals attempting to procreate.

It is a shame that the morals and values of the human race have gotten so low that pornography has a place in society. It only causes problems, despite what it's fans say. It brings up to many issues that would not be there, if not for pornography. It is playing with fire. Speaking of fire, pornography does have it's place in society - a safe and legal area used for the burning of useless and unwanted items.

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