Let's talk about porn...

[Rali_hates_Mondays]

Yes about its role in sex crimes.

I was watching this really interesting documentary about Ted Bundy yesterday and it was mainly about causation of the horrific acts of murder that he committed against his victims. In fact even Ted Bundy himself blamed hardcore pornography itself and he evaluated that it was his addiction to porn that fuelled his murderous desires. And this case is not exclusive to him. Most paedophiles, who have molested children, have kept collections of pornography. In Brighton 3 years ago Jane Longhurst was allegedly strangled to death by Graham Courts, who had just surfed on the internet looking at hardcore pornography.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/02/05/ncout05.xml

Just thought I would post this to warn against any of you porn addicts out there .

 

[Lube]

Sorry, but viewing porn does not cause pedophilia or homosexuality or depravity.

Depraved pedophiles might watch it, but it doesn't cause their feelings. Quite the opposite: their feelings cause them to seek and watch particular kinds of porn.

I fantasize about "rape" porn, but it's not truly rape. It's power. That doesn't mean I go around raping people, or even that I want people to rape me. Absolutely not.

Some people can dissociate fantasy (porn) from reality, others cannot. They try to live the porn.

 

[Swellegant]

By the same token, the ownership of a penis can be said to cause sex-crimes. How many women perpetrate sex crimes? Hardly any... sex criminals are almost exclusively male.

What those documentaries never take into account is the absolute mountains of perfectly normal men who keep pornography yet who don't go around raping children and murdering women.

When people get caught, they always want to blame someone... it's because of all the porn I watched, it's because my Mommy beat me, it's because my Daddy didn't love me, it's because Father Eustace diddled me in the vestry, it's because of the Twinkies and Kool-Aid. It's never because they simply could not prevent themselves from acting on their obsessions, it's never because they believe in their heart of hearts that their personal needs are more important than other people's lives.

I never blame the porn. Sometimes one can blame the childhood influences, frequently one can blame various traumas, but porn is a static object that does nothing to anyone who does not wish to have it done to him or her. It's ridiculous to think so.

 

[Homoerectus]

Oh Countess, have you been hiding under a rock for the last 10 years? How may FEMALE teachers have been charged with having sex with teen boys? Hell, in my state there have been about as many females as males and I hear it all the time on national news. Now, if I were a teenage boy and I was "gettin' some", I wouldn't tell. He has hit the hormone jackpot. There is not telling how many boys never tell and how many female teachers are not turned in.

 

[cynicus]

Some psychologists and psychiatrists say the opposite: it is porn that allows most of us to get off on our fetishs and prevent the acting out. Pay your money and take your choice. . . . Think of the vast number of people who watch porn and never molest, touch, even dream of doing these things outside of their fantasies.

I think Mark Twain said there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.

 

[Lube]

Oh Countess, have you been hiding under a rock for the last 10 years? How may FEMALE teachers have been charged with having sex with teen boys? Hell, in my state there have been about as many females as males and I hear it all the time on national news. Now, if I were a teenage boy and I was "gettin' some", I wouldn't tell. He has hit the hormone jackpot. There is not telling how many boys never tell and how many female teachers are not turned in.

Well, sex with juveniles is certainly not admirable. I would guess, though, that most of the cases you cite are consenting (although not adult, and that makes a world of difference).

I think R~M and the original poster were talking more about violent sex. It would be tough, though surely not impossible, for a woman to do that.

 

[mustangman43]

Ok I have alot of porn, and surf the net looking at it all the time, BUT I have never raped anyone, child or adult. I agree criminals always want to blame something else. Second If I as a 44yo man had sex with a 16yo boy (or even girl) it's molestation, but if and older woman does it, it's looked at as a growth experience. There was a case here at the Church I used to go to where a 17yo was having sex with a 24yo both males, it went on for about a year, the 24yo gave gifts to the 17yo etc. To my way of thinking (since the 17yos parents had to press charges since he wouldn't) this was a relationship. Maybe because of the law an inappropriate one but hardly criminal. Now the 24yo is in jail, while actual perverts roam the streets. I personally had a young guy flirt outragously with me when I was 25, he said he was 17, and still it just went to some touching etc, then I find out he's just a physically mature 14, it made me sick! I was totally in shock, I mean this kid had a happy trail some chest hair and total mature body. So who was guilty there? I ended it once I found out, but still if it had gone further, who knows what could have happened. I could have gone to jail, but after what I've seen in porno's maybe that would be great! Oop's back to the porn and fantasy aspect!

 

[Lube]

I don't think porn causes violence per se, but I do believe bondage porn, intentionally or inadvertently, connects sexual gratification with hurting others.

Sure, the majority of participants are willing and content to only imitate torture, but is it really worth it if it suggests real violence to those looking to inflict it.

No, we can't idiot proof life, but I wouldn't lose sleep if all that bondage mess disappeared. I don't equate it with loving someone, and that is my attraction to sex, period.

If it weren't for bondage porn, I wouldn't be on the Internet.

I consider myself completely normal.

... on a good day.

 

[douseiai]

theres only one thing porn has encouraged me to beat....

 

[sparky95]

I think the porn thing is just an update of 'the Devil made me do it ' type defense. Especialy from some one like Ted Bundy. However I think seeking out very extreme porn obsessively may be a sign of trouble in some people...

 

[Rali_hates_Mondays]

I was waiting for someone to point out the flaw in my argument about Ted Bundy. When he declared that pornography was the main cause, he was in a televised interview with a far right Christian broadcaster, whose name has annoyingly has escaped my mind at this time. Oh well, I won't sleep over it! He was indeed a manipulator and had an arrogance that was so inflated that he took it upon himself to defend himself in court against the charges faced against him.

Correct if I'm wrong but I see the viewing of pornography mainly as an expression of our sexual desires. And the program went into great detail over Bundy's pornographic preferences. The kind of material he looked at were these pornographic graphic novels of a disgusting nature. They consisted of women being strangled, victimised, beaten, raped, killed in gruesome ways. Also one must look at his childhood as well. It seems that he was born out of wedlock and at that time it was heavily frowned upon. So his mother decided to pretend to be his sister to the great resentment of her son.

By the way the doc made it clear that it wasn't blaming all men who look at pornography and it only looked at material that would be deemed "extreme." Graham Courts regularly looked at sites which glorified in the strangulation of partners.

But does this kind of pornography, to any extent, fuel their desires to turn their twisted fantasies into reality?

 

[levenshulme31]

Which porn films did Ghengis Khan, or Vlad the Impaler, or Jack the Ripper, or Caligula or any other of the hundreds of historical mass murderers, rapists, pillagers and general fuckknuckles the world managed to produce before the invention of film, video and dvd watch?

People are just occasionally like that. They are capable of the most vile acts and some of them get their rocks off that way. I think the alcohol analogy above is a very good one. I don't particularly like to get drunk and I find drunk people generally annoying and often scary and dangerous but I don't think I should be barred from having a drink because some other people can't handle it. They should have to face the consequences of their actions.

There are plans afoot in the UK to ban violent pornography (with up to 3 years in jail for possession) but who decides what is and isn't 'violent'. From a more puritanical point of view, it could be argued that someone slapping a guys bum and shouting 'take it bitch!' is tantamount to violent rape. Who gets to say where the line is drawn? I don't care for hard core s&m bondage and simulated rape porn but many clearly do. As long as the participants are consenting adults then I would not call for it being banned. I'll just choose from a different shelf.