Pornography is nothing new. It can be found in the images left behind by many ancient cultures. Yet, never before in history has pornography been as readily available to the average person as it is today. Amongst the many things we can find floating around on the internet, there’s loads of pornography for those who want it.
Actual statistics about porn usage can be a bit difficult to pin down, as different researchers make different claims. As with most studies, some of that difference comes from differences in the way that the data has been collected, collated and interpreted. Studies which rely on surveys are naturally going to produce different results than those which look at search engine inquiries and download rates. It is easy to lie on a survey; but it’s basically impossible to lie to the databases that track overall internet uses. While they may not be perfect, they are accurate enough that corporations spend millions of dollars, betting on their accuracy.
The World Wide Web, the part of the internet that most of us are familiar with, went public in 1993. Those early years saw a rise in all sorts of internet uses, as people experimented with this new information platform and how to make the best use of it. This included pornography, which hit a high of roughly 30 percent of internet use in those early days. While the amount of porn available on the internet has risen exponentially since then, the actual percentage of the internet dedicated to porn has dropped considerably, to somewhere between 10 and 20 percent. That figure is constantly changing, as 266 new porn websites appear every day. Children are being exposed to porn at an average age of 11.
One of the big differences that the internet has made for the porn industry is availability. No longer do people have to buy magazines or videos on DVD or other formats, they are able to view and/or download it directly from the internet. This has birthed a slew of new porn “businesses,” some of which could more correctly be described as amateur operations, while others are thriving organizations.
The availability of pornography may not have increased the number of people who make use of it as much as changed the demographics. One demographic change is that today roughly a third of porn users are women. Worse than that, teens and children are using porn in quantities never seen before, starting younger and younger. Demographics are also changing because people who would never buy a Playboy magazine before, afraid that a family member might find it, can get on the computer, see what they want and hide their tracks afterwards. This has reduced the “risk” associated with pornography, while increasing accessibility.
According to the most recent statistics I can find, 28,258 users are watching internet porn every second, 68 million search queries related to pornography are instituted every day, and about 200,000 people are classified as “porn addicts.” All this porn is having a negative effect on relationships and society.
What Does God Say About Porn?
If we look for the word pornography in the Bible, it can’t be found. That doesn’t by any means indicate that God is okay with pornography though. It just means that the word was not used in the times that the Bible was written. Our word “pornography” is actually a construct of two words: “porneia” and “graphe.” The Greek word “porneia” refers to sexual sin or perversion of any kind. It is the root of our word pornography. We often find it translated in the New Testament as either adultery or fornication; but the actual meaning isn’t limited to that. The Greek word “graphe” is where we get the word graphics and it refers to something that is drawn. Putting the two together, we find that “pornography” means a sinful sexual image.
Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 18 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? – 1 Corinthians 6:18-19
The word translated as “sexual immorality” in this verse is the Greek word “porneia.” It is intended to be all-inclusive, speaking of any type of sexual immorality that one can think of… and even a few that most people wouldn’t think of.
Sexual immorality was closely tied to a large number of ancient pagan religions. There are several references in the Old Testament to “temple prostitutes,” as having sex with those prostitutes was considered an act of worship to their gods. Both the Greeks and Romans used sex with temple prostitutes in the worship of their many gods. Yet there is nowhere in the Bible where such actions are condoned or even permitted.
Going back to our meaning of pornography, what would make a sexual image sinful? The most obvious thing is that the image is of a couple having sex, who are not bound together in marriage. God makes it clear, throughout the Bible, that the sexual relationship is to be limited to marriage. Probably the clearest verse on this is found in the book of Hebrews.
Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. – Hebrews 13:4
One might easily think that the same Greek word, “porneia” would be used in this verse, but it is not for either adulterers or fornicators. The word translated as adulterers is “moichos” which is a more specific word than “porneia,” referring specifically to adultery. The word that is translated as “fornicators” is translated as “whoremongers in the King James version of the Bible and is the Greek word “pronos” and actually refers to a male prostitute, who hires his body out for other men to have sex with.
Regardless of the specific words used and their meanings, it all falls within the category of “porneia,” sexual immorality. We can see this, through the contrast between the second part of the verse and the first. In the first part, God says that a married couple can do whatever they want in their bed and it still remains undefiled. But the key point in the contrast, is that people who have sex outside of marriage are subject to His judgment.
Does this give us a loophole, in that pornography of married couples having sex is okay? By no means. Jesus closed that loophole in his interpretation of adultery, saying that thoughts about having sex with someone other than your spouse is the same as committing adultery in your heart.
But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. – Matthew 5:28
Considering that the main purpose of pornography is to incite lust, it clearly breaks this commandment by Jesus Christ. Since commandments in the Bible are non-sexual, the same can be said about a woman who is looking at pornography, as it would cause her to lust as well. There is no reason to look at pornography, aside from lust.
What Damage Does Pornography Do?
People who use pornography don’t think that there is any harm in it; but this is far from true. The damage that pornography does in their minds is something hidden from them, keeping them from seeing it. Yet it can often be seen by others, especially their spouse.
To start with, pornography puts an unrealistic image of women in men’s minds. Men are highly visual, so images of naked women, especially sexy naked women, tend to become a permanent memory. The women in porn aren’t your typical housewife; they are young, thin and beautiful. Many have their bodies and faces modified by plastic surgery and implants. So the breasts and butts of the women, the two parts of the woman’s body that men’s eyes are most attracted to, are enlarged, making them more attractive. They then compare their own wives to that image and she falls short.
In addition, pornography provides an unrealistic image of sexual relationships. Women are paid to do things in porn, which they would not do otherwise. Men watching that will expect their wives to do the same, because it has become normalized in their minds. When their wives won’t do that, they think there’s something wrong with their wife.
There is no question that pornography is addictive. As men become more and more addicted to pornography, they need more extreme porn to satisfy their lust. This makes it harder and harder for them to be satisfied by normal sexual relations. Most of these men have less and less sex with their wives, as they either turn to masturbation along with the pornography, or they turn to prostitution to get their sexual needs satisfied.
Pornography results in a 300 percent in mental infidelity; where the individual is having an “affair” with their fantasies. It often leads to divorce, with 56 percent of divorces involving one of the partners being “obsessively interested” in pornography. This often leads to meeting a paramour over the internet, with 68 percent of divorce cases citing this paramour as one of the reasons for divorce.
It’s Not Just Men
As I mentioned earlier, roughly one-third of the pornography users today are women; at least according to statistics. I would argue that, because soap operas and romance novels have the same effect on women that a porn movie has on men, creating the same comparisons and dissatisfaction. Men are visual, but women are auditory. They may not be as interested in the physical act of sex; but they are very interested in an intimate relationship with a male partner. They see very attentive men depicted in the relationships they find in romance novels and soap operas and start expecting their husbands to be just like them. It’s easy to forget that those men have a whole team of script writers and assistants to give them the lines to say and the flowers to put into the woman’s hand.
But women are also getting more and more involved in the visual sort of pornography that attracts men. This is an offshoot of third-order feminism, which tells women that they are just like men and should approach sex just like men, accepting casual sex as normal.
Women who buy into this and watch pornography see other women who are enjoying sex and having incredible orgasms. They then compare that to the sexual relationship they have with their own husband, deciding that their lack of sexual satisfaction is his fault. Such thoughts make adultery seem attractive, especially if the woman is convinced that another man can satisfy her in a way her husband isn’t.
Pornography and Our Youth
More and more young people are getting involved in pornography, at a younger and younger age. Today, most children are first exposed to pornography at 11 years of age. Thirty-four percent of teenage girls have shared nude photos of themselves online. Our children are becoming more and more sexualized, at a younger age.
Constant exposure to sexually explicit material has numerous effects on our nation’s youth, including hindering sexual development. While we might think that it would accelerate their sexual development, porn instead distorts it, by giving them a false image of sexual intimacy. Our youth don’t learn how to interact socially with one another, partially due to pornography and partially due to their heads always being on their phones.
At the same time, it can be fairly said that the ready access to porn is pushing children to become sexually active at a younger and younger age. A generation ago, the average age for children to become sexually active was 16, today it is 13, although that might not include intercourse. Those are children; they’re not ready for the emotional responsibility of sex, let alone the emotional responsibility of dealing with pregnancy.
Porn also plays a part in increasing the teen pregnancy rate, by encouraging teens to be sexually active. Studies have shown that teens who are exposed to sexually explicit material are more likely to be sexually active and the more sexually explicit material they are exposed to, the more sexually active they will be. That is bound to result in a higher teen pregnancy rate, whether those pregnancies are terminated by an abortion or the teen carries the baby to term.
In Conclusion
Pornography is incredibly dangerous. In my years of ministry, I have counseled a large number of people who have had problems with addictions to pornography, with some of those addictions starting as young as 10 years old. Without exception, those people had sexual problems in their own marriages, if they were married. Many had trouble maintaining any long-term relationship, let alone marriage, because they could not be sexually satisfied by a normal sexual relationship. Some searched for satisfaction in many inappropriate ways, such as one-night-stands and bestiality.
The women who have been sexual partners with men who used pornography, whether married to them or not, were mostly abused, as their husbands or boyfriends did not know how to have a healthy relationship. This carried on into other relationships, affecting their marriages.
God’s commands about sexual purity are given for our benefit. He desires for us to have a healthy, enjoyable sexual relationship, within the confines of marriage. That can only happen, when we follow God’s commandments and abstain from all types of sexual immorality. Those who do, find they have a better sexual relationship with their spouse, than they could ever imagine having with anyone else.