Why Is It Wrong to View Pornography?

Have you ever questioned why viewing pornography is wrong?  Why it is a bad idea?  Why it isn't just a simple and pleasurable way to pass time?

As I thought about pornography yesterday, something that really bothered me was the story line in some pornographic films.  They present women in a way where how they are treated (and used) and portrayed are mere sex objects available to do whatever the man or woman they are intimate with desires.  There might be violence or the person is portrayed almost like a doll to be used, abused, and spit back out (or thrown down) as a worthless object instead of a human being with dignity, value, feelings, emotions, a heart, mind, will, emotion, character, and individual made in the image of God.  ...Similar to paying for a prostitute...yet viewing pornography is free.

Pornography can be enticing because it shows erotic sexual acts and whatever we desire can be fulfilled simply by the click of a button...yet we must question, "Is this really how I want my sex life to go...(meaning, for the rest of my life, is this how I want to receive pleasure - by watching other people have sex and engaging in masturbation as I view sexual scenes that I am not a part of and never will be since this is on film with people I will never be intimate with?)"

I perfectly understand how viewing pornography can be a way to relieve stress, take our minds off of tension or difficult situations going on in our lives, and can be a way of escape.  We must really consider though the fact that watching other people have sex or masturbate on film is degrading and is quite odd that we feel entitled to be in the room, so to speak, when other people are being intimate.  Think about this for a moment.  Would you just walk in to your next door neighbor's house in the middle of the night and watch them be intimate?  Of course not.  Why is this?  Because intimacy is a private issue and one that is meant to be enjoyed within the context of marriage between two people - not a watching world that can fulfill their sexual fantasies by the wide array of adult films available out there simply because they have the urge to see sex on display.

Pornography is degrading to porn stars because, like a quote I once read states it, "Pornography is like prostitution and having a camera in the room does not change that."  These people are being paid to have sex with others.  And it is caught on film.

I am going to be blunt here because I believe it needs to be told.  How would you feel if your daughter or son engaged in sexual acts on film for your family, boss, or parents to see?  Wouldn't that be an awful feeling that just makes you shudder at the thought?  Well, we must remember that porn stars are somebody's child.  They are a precious person who was once a child.  And what makes viewing porn to our heart's content even more sick and twisted is that people in pornography never set out with having this career in mind when they were growing up.  It is too often the result of past history where they experienced sexual abuse, did not have a cohesive family unit, were exposed to evil things growing up, and were even a stripper or prostitute before becoming a porn star.

Keeping this in mind will change our perspective on porn the next time we are aroused and want to masturbate while watching "free sex" just so we can get off.