Let’s Talk About The Porn Pandemic

Modern technology has brought us many things: the best cell phones, online shopping, and thousands of apps to view for hours. Unfortunately, it has also given us the ability to exploit our brothers and sisters at the click of a few buttons. Let’s talk about a pandemic. Let’s talk pornography.

 As media and technology advanced, so did the porn industry. Such graphic images went from the centerfolds of adult magazines, to VHS tapes behind red curtains, to downloadable videos from smartphones. Unfortunately, the demand for sexual pleasure has increased so much that we’ve allowed it to put our humanity and morality at risk. What was once considered soft porn, we now see in everyday television, music videos, and movies. To make matters worse, society has accepted it as normal and justified it as “keeping up with the times.”

Don’t be fooled though. The pornography issue is nothing new. Racy images have always been present but what has changed is the way consumers view it and the way society accepts it and we’ve never seen a media take over like this before. As Conservatives, we should be outraged. We’ve placed such value in the nuclear family and pornography is the ultimate threat. Consuming pornography destroys marriages, causes betrayal in relationships, and often encourages young people that what they’re viewing is an expected sexual experience. To be extremely clear, there is nothing normal about porn and no one owes you anything. The average age of a first pornography exposure is below the teenage years. Those images and sounds become inculcated in the brains of young minds. Those clicks quickly become a crave and without even realizing it, an addiction has formed. What’s even more sickening? Watching pornography is viewed as normal, a way to spice up a relationship, and has even been welcomed with open arms by modern society.

What are we teaching? That self-satisfaction is priority no matter the cost? Studies show that the more an individual consumes pornography, the more numb they become to what they’re viewing. Soon, the old videos don’t cut it anymore. They start searching for harder pornography like videos that encourage a fetish, bondage or violence. These scenarios are portrayed as exciting, edgy, and romantic when in reality they’re degrading, disgusting, and abusive. We should be promoting healthy, virtuous relationships, not violent power dynamics.

The frequent rebuttals?

“Not all porn is bad”

“Ethical porn exists” 

Let’s be clear. There is no such thing as “ethical porn.” All porn promotes exploitation and trading humanity for profit. In fact, pornography and sex trafficking thrive off one another. Pornography websites, such as Pornhub, are proudly displaying images and videos of people being raped, abused, and tortured for the world to see. These videos are categorized as something playful but in actuality, if the website had a “trafficking” category more than half would fall in.

Several women have publicly called out Pornhub demanding them to take down recorded videos of their rape, but Pornhub doesn’t care. This is the same website with explicit material of babies and children. They may have deleted the download button but let’s not pretend they’re some champion of human rights. In fact, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover have all cut ties with PornHub in recent weeks due to allegations of child abuse.

So, what is happening in our society? What have we allowed? Do we crave sexual satisfaction so much that we put our children, women, and men in danger? The way our society has normalized frivolity, promiscuity, and sexual pleasure has caused an immorality we can no longer ignore. Our children and teenagers are getting sex education from pornographic videos. Our romantic partners are becoming addicted to viewing intimate sexual moments of other individuals while their partner is left feeling lonely, heartbroken, and betrayed. Pornography is destroying relationships, marriages, and the family structure. It’s seeping in our everyday life and causing destruction.

What do we do?

We call out the billion-dollar pornography industry.

And we vow to protect and respect our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We hold our partners and ourselves accountable.

We educate ourselves and above all we acknowledge that love and trust cannot be clicked or bought.

It’s time to end porn.

If you know someone who is struggling, click here. for more sources about the #TraffickingHub campaign, click here.