Term paper on Pornography In The Media

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Pornography in the Media-

It started by way of messengers and scribes, evolved through

the presentation of newspapers and radio, brought us together with

television, and now serves us world-wide via the ever-popular

Internet. It is the mass media, and even from the earliest days of

its existence, it has contributed greatly in ways that both enlighten

and enrich society, and ways that deteriorate and perplex it. It is

not a surprise to learn, then, that the mass media is the most

powerful source of information we have, and nothing else in today s

world influences public perception quite as heavily.

Unfortunately, however, most of what is broadcast or

transmitted in the news today is with reference to the chaotic

condition of our planet, or something else that society as a whole

sees as detrimental or damaging. But the news on television is not

the only type of media taking the criticism of society. Other forms

of mass media, specifically movies and television programs containing

pornography and violence have been heavily criticized. The underlining

concept to be debated here is that society is negatively influenced,

specifically, by these images of pornography and the result is

increased violence against women. This assumption, and it is indeed

only an assumption, is completely fallacious, however, as no concrete

and completely conclusive evidence has ever been formulated in

support of the theory. The key premise here is that the mass media

does not cause undesirable social behaviour and in actuality, the

media people should not be dubbed as the bad guys . They simply use

their power in the most constructive ways possible in order to promote

their ratings and popularity. One way to do that is to concentrate on

what sells: sex, violence and disaster.

Having said this, why is it then, that many in society still

believe otherwise; why do they continue to believe that pornography is

evil and is a major cause for violence against women, specifically

rape? There are many reasons for this misinterpretation and through

the following few points, an attempt will be made to show that

pornography has very little to almost no correlation with violence

against women (of course nothing is absolute in society). In order

to demonstrate this, it must be made evident that pornography is not

evil and does not cause undesirable social behaviour by displaying

nude women in sexually explicit circumstances. Thus, it is important

to indicate that women are not treated only as sexual objects through

the media. This is done in an attempt to quash any traces of evil

in pornography. Subsequently, a second point, that some may consider

to be completely bizarre, can be addressed; that pornography actually

reduces the amount of violence against women.

For thousands of years, sex itself has been considered evil

and revolting. This is exactly why the concealment of the sex organs

and teaching feelings of shame toward human sexuality is so common

worldwide (Christensen 1990:4). These same feelings of shame are the

chief reasons that sex is considered a personal and private matter.

Contrary to the beliefs of many, the mass media did not create these

settings; society creates this image. In some societies, women have

no reservations with regard to living their entire lives completely

naked, while in other societies, females cover themselves from head to

toe, only revealing their eyes. The media has been bombarded with

criticism, overwhelmingly from the female community, relative to the

amount of sexually explicit material that is published in magazines

and that appears on television and in the cinemas. A common argument

against pornography is that the media portrays women as being nothing

more than sexual playthings and objects to satisfy male sexual

desires. As before, the media once again, is not to be held

responsible for creating this image; these views are products of

society.

It would be downright absurd to assume that women in this

society are treated as sexual objects only because the media releases

or broadcasts pornographic material. A magazine associated with

make-up and skin care, for example, will quite obviously not be

concentrating on much else. Such a magazine would not display

pictures of women who mountain-climb or women who water-ski; only

images of make-up and text referring to skin care would be relevant.

Clearly, society does not consider women to be beings who s only

purpose in life is to worry about make-up and skin care; but why are

the complaints only directed towards pornographic media then? The

answer to this question may be more complicated, however, what remains

obvious is that the media does not portray women as only being able to

fill male sexual desires. To say that pictures featuring nudity, etc,

are making objects out of women is foolish. One should consider

females who pin-up posters of male rock stars or children who collect

hockey or baseball cards. Society, however, does not say that objects

are being made out of these rock stars and sports heroes; pictures of

clothed people are no less objects than pictures of naked people.

Many complaints are also made to the effect that pornography

only offers a one-dimensional view to life; that women are seen as

nymphomaniacs who are hysterically addicted to sex. It should be

pointed out that events such as hockey games, boxing matches, horse

races and operas all offer a one-dimensional view of life. One does

not attend an opera hoping to see a horse race. The underlying

problem here is that the above mentioned events are socially

acceptable; media displaying pornography is not. It is also said that

the media reduces women to a collection of body parts through

pornography (Christensen 1990:74). But why then are their no

complaints of advertisements in magazines displaying only ears, for

example, or a nose, or feet? The reason is a simple one; society

considers certain body parts to be shameful or disgusting and once

again, the media can be let off the hook .

Realistically, the only way to prevent women from being seen

as sex objects is for them to be seen as other things as well; but to

say that women are not sexual beings would be misleading because both

men and women are very much sexual (Christensen 1990:42). Similarly,

to say that women are singled out in the media is fallacious due to

the many examples of media where men are seen catering to the needs of

women; something known as chivralic sexism (Christensen 1990:42).

Take, for instance, a recent television ad portraying young men

groveling at the feet of supermodel Cindy Crawford, almost begging to

be the one to cater to her needs. There were no lineups of men

aching to announce their displeasure with the sexist ad; and this is

precisely why male stereotyping in the media often goes unnoticed.

Similarly, it is pornography in the media that is noticed and shunned

by anti-pornographic and censorship organizations because it seemingly

singles out females for their bodies. It should be well noted,

however, that paperback romance novels, which make up an incredible

40% of total paperback sales (Gerbner 1988:15), depicts males as

sexual objects, performing what is called Sweet Savagery (rape),

just as pornography depicts females as sexual objects. But once

again, this goes unnoticed.

It is fundamentally important to realize that the media does

not deliberately create images of hate or disagreement (Howitt,

Cumberbatch 1975:80). They just influence the more appealing things in

society (thus directly increasing their ratings). Although it is

obvious that pornography is largely a male interest, a noted

increase in female interest would certainly cause an increase in the

amount of pornographic material geared for women; this relates to the

laws of the business world (Christensen 1990:50).

Having discussed the untruthfulness of the claims against

pornography and showing that pornography is not evil , it is now

possible to consider the violence issue. Are men who are exposed to

pornography likely to commit violent acts, such as rape against women,

more so than men who are not exposed to pornography? It is tempting

to believe that media influences males and overstimulates them through

pornography to the point that they become aggressive towards females.

But this is completely baseless; just as pornography arouses or

stimulates, it also satisfies....