The problem with porn is the problem with culture
The problem with porn is the problem with culture
October 3, 2007
I agree with Phil re. pornography but think the problem must also be seen not simply in terms of the categories of lust and exploitation of women. These are surely only part of the story. The need for constant change and variety (nobody ever gets busted with 5 pornographic pictures on their computer -- it is usually thousands, if not tens of thousands) is surely integral to the problem. Looking at the same nude women is apparently not enough. It has to be a constantly changing procession of such. And the strange fact that it is the very anonymity of pornography (as with other types of casual sex) which seems to constitute part of its appeal -- these facts must surely form part of pastoral analysis and response. Could it be that pornography is the ultimate free market industry -- creative of, and driven by, an insatiable need for change to create new demands and new markets with personal solipsistic gratification as the all-consuming and ever elusive goal? If so, there are elements of it which are symptomatic, rather than constitutive, of a much wider cultural problem and which thus require more radical cultural criticism than `it's bad for women and it's dirty', true and serious as these undoubtedly are. Porn addiction becomes merely an extreme example of the general way we live today and of the worldly expectations which our culture infuses into us as natural and acceptable.