NoPornNorthampton: Recent Comments

Comment on The Science Behind Pornography Addiction

Luke Gilkerson — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:40:11 GMT

Viewing pornography also has many potential negative effects on intimacy between couples.

I wrote a blog about this very recently on my company's blog: http://blogs.covenanteyes.com/2008/03/11/husbands-who-watch-porn-what-are-their-wives-saying/

I believe that repeated use of pornography are a direct affront to the vows most say preparing for marriage (or at least the intention behind those vows). Perhaps this is why so many women feel "cheated" or "robbed" when their husbands frequently view pornography.

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Luke Gilkerson
Internet Community Manager
Covenant Eyes
www.covenanteyes.com

Comment on Kink.com: Bondage Porn Gone Chillingly, Cheerfully Corporate (explicit language)

NPNAdmin — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:54:35 GMT

We are not calling for censorship, but people need to be aware how this media affects attitudes and is a factor in domestic abuse. Please see the many articles in our Impact of Porn category.

To put this another way, if a woman wants to reduce her risk of suffering at the hands of an abusive person, she should avoid partners who consume porn.

Comment on Testimony in Massachusetts: My Experiences with Men, Porn and Domestic Abuse (explicit)

Bill — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:49:42 GMT

I find myself maddened. To hear such stories eats me up to the very core. The worst part is knowing how mainstream the causes of these kinds of behavior are, even in young children. I only hope that this woman, and all like her, will be able to live on. No woman should ever be with a "man" like that. Find your prince ladies, and tell your stories if you can.

Comment on Kink.com: Bondage Porn Gone Chillingly, Cheerfully Corporate (explicit language)

Maria Pallson — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:50:30 GMT

The whole point of sights like Kink.com is that they are ADULTS. It is not the industry's responsibility to monitor what children are watching - that is the responsibility of the parent. It may come as a surprise but some women do actually find the activities on Kink.com pleasurable and partake of them of their own free will. With open discussion beforehand, safe words and gestures and an experienced partner there is no difference between a BDSM style partnership and any other. I think the phrase is "don't knock it until you've tried it."

Comment on Free Book Download: Diana Russell's Against Pornography: The Evidence of Harm (explicit)

NPNAdmin — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:43:38 GMT

Actually, we have frustrations with both "progressives" and "conservatives", as discussed, for example, in this article about sex education. I wouldn't mind seeing a viable third party form.

Comment on Free Book Download: Diana Russell's Against Pornography: The Evidence of Harm (explicit)

Joe — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:41:00 GMT

I admire your site and am pleased to learn that otherwise politically liberal people are not buying into the pornography myth of it being harmless. That said, it is disheartening to realize that most if not all of your organization is made up of people who will, time and time again, vote for left wing politicians. These kinds of politicians are the same ones who have and will continue to nominate supreme court justices who expand, not limit, the spread and influence of pornography. As much as you hate the conservative platform, they will nominate justices who are more likely to take a stand against pornography and you know it.

Think before you vote.

Comment on A Review of Pornified: How Pornography Is Damaging Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families

NPNAdmin — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 11:30:09 GMT

From these articles, I think it's clear that porn taps into ancient impulses towards cruelty, dominance, and promiscuity. I believe this is incompatible with healthy marriages, and, for that matter, respect and equality for women:

What Porn Is: Selections from Mainstream Porn (explicit language)
[Robert Jensen:] ...Given the ease with which video can be edited, why did the producers not edit out those expressions [pain, shame, despair]? There are two possible answers. One, they may view these kinds of expressions of pain by the women as of no consequence to the viewers’ interest, and hence of no consequence to the goal of maximizing sales; women’s pain is neutral. The second possibility is that the producers have reason to believe that viewers like the expressions of pain; women’s pain helps sales...

...from my research, both through these content analysis projects and my reading of material from the industry, it seems clear that mainstream heterosexual pornography is getting more, not less, cruel...

Video Presentation: A Content Analysis of 50 of Today's Top Selling Porn Films
Ana Bridges: "...I'm going to begin to talk about what it is that we found after looking at these 304 scenes in these 50 top selling pornographic films. In total in the 304 scenes we coded a total of 3,376 acts of aggression. That ends up averaging...to an aggressive act every minute and a half. The scenes on average contained eleven and a half acts of verbal or physical aggression...

"So how many scenes didn't contain aggression? About 10%...

"For verbal aggression, by far namecalling and insulting were the most common types. They were seen in almost half of scenes...

"Gagging and choking were much, much more common than any of us thought when we first walked into this project...

"Slapping happened 30% of the time... Most of the aggressors in these films were men...73%. By far the most common recipient of aggression was a woman. Even when women were aggressing, they were generally aggressing other women...

"...Less than 10% of the videos showed any kind of a positive act, and that included kissing... caressing happened maybe twice. Something like a verbal compliment, 'Gosh, you look pretty', not, 'Slut bitch, come over here,' that happened maybe five times in the 304 scenes. So we have a ratio of positive to negative behaviors of 1 to 9, which is not a sustainable, happy relationship."

Research Paper: "Cruelty's rewards: The gratifications of perpetrators and spectators"
Victor Nell is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of South Africa, where he directed the clinical neuropsychology training programme, and led epidemiological studies of traumatic brain injury and interpersonal violence in Johannesburg. His research paper, "Cruelty’s rewards: The gratifications of perpetrators and spectators" (Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2006, PDF), gives us an idea why pornographers would be tempted to portray cruelty. It taps into deep-seated, primitive impulses related to hunting, survival, sexual appeal, and status. Life in a cruel world may be gratifying for the few on top, but for most, it is savage and bitter...

Time to Explore the Links Between Porn, Testosterone, Sexual Behavior and Violence

Mark B. Kastleman, "Dominance, Aggression, and Violence in Male-Centered Porn":

[T]he more cellular memories (biological and physiological processes) that pornographers can link their porn to throughout the male brain and body, the greater chance they have of addicting their viewers. And the more naturally occurring drugs/hormones (especially testosterone, but also adrenaline, epinephrine, and others) flowing in the male mindbody during viewing, the more narrow will be his focus, the more intense his sexual/mindbody arousal, the more deeply the images will be imprinted in his memory, and the greater his addiction.

Pornographers achieve this combination of a high number of mindbody links and maximum drug/hormone release by mixing sexual images with male dominance, aggression and violent images intended to shock and stimulate simultaneously. Porn scenes ranging from simple "male in control" to aggression, rape, torture and murder, abound in Internet porn geared to the male viewer.

These kinds of images link sexual arousal in the male mindbody with emotions of shock, anger, confusion, violence and domination which cause the male mindbody to release enormous amounts of additional testosterone, which further increase male narrowing, loss of reason, feelings of aggression, and sexual drive and arousal...

Rick Porras, Capital Video Executive, Would Rather You Not Know He Is a Pornographer (explicit language)
Photo Caption: "The look in her eyes tells us that she would like this bondage session to end pretty soon. Forget it, girl!"

Photo Caption: "Her Master has told her, 'Don't you dare move.' She's finding that immobility is in itself a form of torture.'"

Photo Caption: "Because her body is beginning to ache, she writhes on the carpet. It makes watching her even more arousing."

Photo Caption: "Tied to the post, Tracy takes a fearful whipping."

What Capital Video Sells: Movies that promote infidelity, despair, call women "sluts" and "whores" (explicit language)
Wonderland
This DVD features a story-driven title that mixes drama with hardcore sex. Wonderland tells the story of a man obsessed with his stepdaughter's friend when she visits during Christmas break. Gary sacrifices everything in his traditional suburban existence for a single moment of ecstasy with a femme fatale...

Deviant Housewives
In this world nothing lasts forever and it looks like Kelly Erikson's husband Van needs some space. Kelly decides to invite all her friends going thru the same problems to stay and support each other. But all of Kelly's friends have an empty void in their lives they need filled and it's from a younger man!

Use Em' Abuse Em' and Lose Em' #9
Ride along as we pick up ordinary young women fuck'em senseless and dump'em! It's all good clean fun!

Porn Use Correlates with Infidelity, Prostitution, Aggression, Rape-Supportive Beliefs

The Impact of Internet Pornography on Marriage and the Family: A Review of the Research
...according to data from the General Social Survey in 2000 (N = 531), people who report being happily married are 61 percent less likely to report using Internet pornography compared to those who also used the Internet and who had completed the General Social Survey in 2000...

...the following observations were made by [the 350 attendees of the November 2002 meeting of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers] polled with regard to why the Internet had played a role in divorces that year...56 percent of the divorce cases involved one party having an obsessive interest in pornographic websites...

Comment on A Review of Pornified: How Pornography Is Damaging Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families

Ventrue — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 11:19:20 GMT

So Ray, the solution is simple...take your life back and quit whining that porn is preventing you from doing so. Act like an adult, and exhibit some self discipline and personal responsibility.

NPNAdmin wrote:"Porn, on the other hand, disrupts society by tempting us to revert to a primitive, 'mindless' state.

V -How so?
"

Comment on Young New Yorkers Talk about Porn's Effect on their Relationships (explicit language)

Jim Sanders — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 10:33:54 GMT

I agree, for an example of a person who was able to battle out porn addiction you can take me.
I would not have been able to do this if I didn't have the support of my wife. It just takes a strong will and positive support from you near and dear ones. I would also like to mention the
mental support I got by speaking to people who were affected and were fighting their own battle against porn. I could interact with them at http://www.throughtheflame.org a forum
designed for all those who are affected by porn, directly or indirectly.
But then again the first thing that one should work on is getting the porn addict to realize that he is wrong when he watches porn and this act of his has an agonizing effect on his partner. If he can be made to realize this then trust me, thats the halfway mark. Once he has developed that will to free himself from porn then you can think of several ways to get that

done.
Regards
Jim

Comment on Writer's Digest...What Erotica Is

NPNAdmin — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 16:33:21 GMT

We offer these definitions as a point of departure for people to look inside their hearts and see what's good and true. Other distinctions between porn and erotica are suggested in the left-hand sidebar that appears on every page. We don't expect universal consensus, or that standards won't fluctuate over time. However, we won't accept that the fuzziness around these issues is a reason to avoid the subject entirely, not while real people are being hurt in the production and consumption of pornographic media.

I observe you used no people in the production of your art. That right there makes it much less likely to be pornography in our eyes. However, if you found that large numbers of people were inspired by your art to hurt others, I hope that would give you pause. We are not calling for increased censorship, but for an increased sense of responsibility from people involved in media and sex businesses.