Hardcore pornography is significantly harmful to society

Pornography and Aggression My opponent asserts using various studies that pornography and misogynistic aggression are correlated, I would say he even tries to create a causal link. Regardless, there has been no conclusive link between porn and aggression and results concerning the subject are dubious at best [A]. The work by Vega [Pro 3] notes that a societal link between porn and violence is spurious. In her paper she writes “Follow up analyses indicated that the reason pornography contributed significantly to the overall equation is because of its importance in the context of men who are at a relatively high risk for sexual aggression. It was found that among men who scored high on both general and specific risk characteristics, frequent pornography consumption increased the risk for sexual aggression. In contrast, amount of pornography consumption had little predictive value among men considered to be at relatively low risk for sexual aggression” (pg . 114). In other words, porn only promotes misogyny in those who are already misogynists; thus making the connection to spousal abuse irrelevant, because it’s pre-existing attitudes that cause abuse, not porn. Even my opponent tacitly acknowledges the lack of a conclusive societal link when quoting Dr. Jensen, who to paraphrase says, ‘Because we don’t know for sure either way, opponents caution we may over state the link, but it’s just as likely we are understating it.’ It’s just as likely; as in it’s 50/50. Can we really trust the conclusion that porn and aggression are linked based on a coin toss? Even the chart shown in Pro’s initial argument has wildly varying correlation results; taking the average of a crapshoot does not qualify as a reliable average. There is just as much evidence to suggest a null hypothesis [D][E][F][G][H]. Obviously the Attorney General did not examine all of the science before reaching his conclusion in 1986. For example a 37 year study in India on the connection “suggests that easy access to pornography did not have a significant impact on rape rates and crime rate against women. [B]” There is even evidence to suggest pornography lowers sex crime rates [G]. In the United States, Pro does a wonderful job at pointing out the ubiquity of porn; yet since 1993 “Rape is down 72 percent and other sexual assaults have fallen by 68 percent. [C]” If porn is correlated with increased violence, then why since the introduction of the internet pornography have sex crimes gone down so dramatically? As a quick aside, it would follow that those who watch violent porn can’t be nearly as affected as those who actually participate in violent sex. BDSM is a subculture that is entirely based on sexual domination and violence, yet when studied it appears their mental health is better than the average population [J]; how does my opponent explain a lack of misogynistic violence in a group that practices violence as a form of sexual arousal? Pornography Harms Relationships This will come in two parts, first a refutation of Pro’s claim then evidence to suggest how porn can help relationships. In regards to its conflation with divorce there are 2 important quotes to be taken from [Pro 14], first, of the causes for divorce “met new love interest over the internet” ranks higher than porn at 68%. It should be noted that while porn may be a contributing factor, compared to other more common reasons for divorce, like cheating and financial troubles, porn is not a major contributor. And the second quote, “While I don't think you can say that the Internet is causing more divorces, it does make it easier to engage in the sorts of behaviors that traditionally lead to divorce,” according to Short.” Even a divorce lawyer in the source my opponent cites does not believe there is a correlation between internet porn and divorce. In regards to [Pro 17], the insecurity of wives does not constitute as harm done by porn. As said in the abstract this group is not representative of women in general. A possible reason these women feel insecure in their relationship is due to a lack of communication or intimacy in the relationship; porn use being a symptom rather than a cause. Feeling stupid or like a failure for not challenging the husband for his porn use shows how culture can influence people to have unfounded thoughts that porn is necessarily taboo and that somehow women are in competition with porn. This could not be further from the truth. In fact, instead of having porn be a solo act, a study has shown that when both couples participate in viewing it can have positive effects, opening the couple up for sexual exploration and lessening the perceived taboo of sex. In fact Maddox et al. [I] in response to the study cited as [Pro 17] says “These results imply that women may not view their partners SEM (sexually explicit material) viewing as unhealthy as long as they do not perceive that viewing as excessive. In fact, some women may even view their partners' pornography use as enhancing their sexual relationship” and they finally noted that couples that only viewed porn together had higher quality relationships and “… we cannot know from our results whether viewing SEM alone leads to poorer relationship quality or vice versa …”. Porn is Habit Forming As interested as I am in the penile circumference of anonymous men, all Pro has shown is that repetitive sources of entertainment go stale over time. Anything can be habit forming and made into a routine. Unless Pro is willing to make the claim porn is addictive I see no reason to address this point. However it should be said that anything taken to an excess can be problematic, this does not define the product, but the lack of responsibility in the user. Porn Warps Views of Sex If we are going to criticize porn for being an inaccurate depiction of reality then we must also indict all non-educational TV, movies, entertainment radio, music, video games, and fictional literature. Of course porn is a fantasy. To blame porn for warping our views of sex leaves out one very important part of the equation; who is teaching our children about sex? Pornography does not exist in a vacuum; without context yes a young person can misunderstand what s/he is seeing and come to false conclusions. Just as they come to false conclusions about other unrealistic depictions in the media. However this does not constitute a failure of pornography, it shows a failure of parents and school administrations that fail to adequately teach sex ed. and how to understand porn in context. To make porn out to be the source of dissatisfaction ignores all the other non-pornographic sources that compound the issue. To say that porn is significant while other more palatable yet just as unrealistic media is consumed is a red herring. As for 28% of kids being accidentally exposed to porn, this again highlights my point. Parents need to take responsibility and set up parental controls and talk to their children about how to understand the adult world. However many parents choose to have their kids remain woefully uneducated when it comes to sex despite its detrimental effects [U]. If anything, the lack of education is what warps the minds of children, as they are taught that sex is taboo and should be avoided. Porn causes STDs To begin with the health of porn stars, Pro says that they are more prone to STD’s while this may be true, if “significance” is going to play a factor in this debate higher rates of STD’s can be chalked up to occupational hazard. Porn stars are aware of this hazard, and are tested regularly [K] and test results are circulated around the industry. However any perceived harm can be mitigated through the use of condoms, so we can still have porn and be safe. In regards to the mental health of the actors my opponent is playing into the “damaged goods” trope, as a one study reports “The analysis found no evidence to support the "damaged goods hypothesis" that actresses involved in the porn industry come from desperate backgrounds. Rather, the researchers found the women have higher self-esteem, a better quality of life and body image, and are more positive, with greater levels of spirituality. [L]” To further debunk the damaged goods myth, porn stars were not molested as children [M], and not all porn stars are highschool dropouts, some are actually very intelligent [N], and one women even uses porn to pay for her college education [O]! Again Pro brings up how young folks will imitate porn and become more sexually active, again as I said in the previous section this is a matter of education. If kids are taught to have safe sex, they will not transmit STD’s as much [T]. Conclusion I have shown that Pro’s claim of a societal link between misogynistic violence and porn is nonexistent. Porn can help relationships when taken holistically and without stigma [V]. Claims about porn being habit forming is irrelevant; and any problems with the warping of peoples view of sex and STD transmission can be solved with comprehensive sex education. However given the erroneous nature of the US’s taboo on talking about sex candidly [P][R] (the reality of sex, not media depictions) with the large scale teaching of abstinence only education [Q][S] the problems that Pro associates with young people are magnified and spuriously conflated with porn. Overall my main point illustrated throughout this rebuttal is that porn is not the problem, but it is how our culture deals with the subject of sex. Porn is not a significant problem in our society. Thank you. Sources: http://www.debate.org...