by Cole Nelson

Created on: November 27, 2006   Last Updated: April 30, 2007

A look at the facts: Pornography's effect on adolescent males

Over the past few years I have become aware of a disturbing mentality that has become more and more prevalent in our society. Sex is no longer viewed as a thing of beauty or closeness, but more as a commodity to be attained, coerced, or bartered for by any means necessary. In this paper I intend to show that this loss of mutuality, respect, and sensitivity to the psychological needs of others is partially due to what a friend of mine once called a "plague upon America". That plague is called pornography. Few could deny that that our culture has become saturated with it, especially since the advent of the internet. Pornography has far passed the point of being merely accessible; it has become intrusive, especially online. More frighteningly, it has also become progressively more and more violent as boundaries continue to be pushed and digital mediums make it easier to trade illicit and illegal sexual material. How does this affect an adolescent or a child in the prime of their psychological development? In this paper I intend to examine the negative impact pornography has on America's youth, especially males.

Pornography is nothing new to human society. There have been depictions of human sex acts far back into history. Greeks had depictions of people engaging in sexual activity with each other, even with animals, something which many people today would consider unacceptable. Artists throughout history have also depicted sexuality and the human body in its natural form. However, there is a distinction between art and pornography that can sometimes be difficult to make. In reality, the mind of the person observing this material is what makes the true distinction between art and pornography, but for the sake of this paper, I will use the most widely accepted definition of "pornography" as opposed to art. According to Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, pornography is "the representation of the human body or human sexual behavior with the goal of sexual arousal". Following this definition, the previously mentioned portrayals of human sexuality cannot be considered pornography. In the case of the Greeks, these were simply depictions of the reality of their society. Taboos that exist now about intercourse with animals for example did not exist then. This is not to say that pornography of sorts didn't exist, but one of the major differences between then and now is accessibility and presentation. While

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