Essay about The Effects of Pornography

Internet pornography is not only on a large scale but it also easily accessible by children. Teenagers use the Internet an average of 8.5 hours per week for chatting and e-mailing, compared to 1.8 hours spent using it for school work. An estimated 18.8 million children under 18 have access to home computers and internet usage. In August, 1997, there were 72,000 sexually explicit sites on the Internet, and an estimated 266 new porn sites every day.( Harms of Pornography , Prgph. 4) The vast majority of Americans believe a ban on Internet pornography should be legal.( Pornography in Our Lives , Prgph. 5) However, we now have no legal means to protect children from sexually explicit material on the Internet. The door has been flung open wide for pornographers and sexual predators. “Pornography is influencing everything from how teens language and frame sexuality to how and why they pierce certain body parts to what they expect to give and receive in intimate relationships....after all, how bad can it be if the large culture around you finds abusive and demeaning acts a turn on?” Jill Manning, PhD, Witherspoon Institute, 2008.
Researchers have found that pornography (especially violent pornography) can produce an array of undesirable effects such as rape and sexual coercion. Specifically they found that such exposure can lead to increased use of coercion or rape, increased fantasies about rape, and desensitization to sexual violence and rape. (Psychologist Edward