In a lot of today’s online pornography, it’s difficult to distinguish between sex and violence. Content that is easily available features sexist remarks, slaps, punches, and mock rapes of women.
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Given the addictive, sexist, and violent character of pornography, it is also more difficult than ever to dispute the detrimental effects it has on viewers. For many youngsters nowadays, their first exposure to online porn occurs before to puberty in Western nations. Because of their exposure to porn, an alarmingly high percentage of adolescent boys and young men today accept falsehoods about rape. Additionally, there is evidence to support the theory that exposure to violent, X-rated content causes a sharp rise in the commission of sexual assaults.
It is also hard to argue against the notion that the porn industry exploits its performers. Narratives like the Netflix documentary Hot Girls Wanted describe situations when female actors consent to film a scene with a certain act, but the producers suddenly force them to undertake a more explicit sequence that they had not previously consented to. Anecdotes imply that this happens frequently.
While these facts regarding exploitative tactics and unsettling material cause some individuals to conclude that watching porn online is immoral or anti-feminist, they also make others wonder if there is such a thing as ethical porn. Are there just specific sorts of pornography, violent material, or exploitation-based objections against pornography? Or is there a more fundamental aspect of porn—any porn—that makes it unethical?
Assume that the pornographic content is of the following type:
showed safe, non-misogynistic, consenting, and realistic sex—with condoms included.
was unaffected by exploitation (fantastic, but let’s dream).
The actors gave their complete and informed agreement for everything to be videotaped.
Regulation made guaranteed that only educated individuals with other work options may perform.
The performers have no past of child exposure to porn or sexual abuse.
Being in perfect sexual health was a requirement for becoming a porn star.
Any connections the pornographic business may have had to sex trafficking or other forms of exploitation were severed.
Would there still be any tenable ethical arguments against the creation and use of pornography if all of this were to come to pass?
We must first address basic issues about the ethics of sex before we can respond to inquiries concerning the morality of porn.
One issue is this: do sex acts have deeper meanings, or are they just another form of physical pleasure similar to receiving a massage? Sexual activity, according to philosopher Anne Barnhill, is a form of body language. She believes that having sex with someone involves more than simply engaging in physically enjoyable activities—it also involves communicating with them.
When you engage in sexual activity with someone you love sincerely, your body language conveys your loving mood. However, engaging in sexual activity for pleasure alone with someone you don’t really care about might convey a variety of cruel or unpleasant sentiments. It can indicate that the other person is only a tool to be employed.
In any case, the signals could be unclear. The fact that one has minimal emotional attachments to someone, especially if this is disclosed beforehand, says one thing to a sexual partner, but the body language of gentle kissing, intimate physical touch, and caresses suggests another.
We are aware that receiving conflicting signals can be hurtful. When people have sex, the same hormone that bonds mothers to their children, oxytocin, is released into the human brain in large quantities. The argument that “casual sex” is a contradiction in terminology has a biological foundation. Whether or not we want it to, sex binds individuals to one another. It is an act of great relational significance.
Let’s return to the topic of porn and these thoughts on what makes sex unique. The notion that sex is something that people in a casual or nonexistent relationship should be compensated for is questionable if the concepts about sex presented above are accurate. There will always be moral issues with watching casual sex on camera as long as there are issues with casual sex itself.
Given how common “amateur” (unpaid) pornography is, what then should we say about porn produced by adults in committed relationships? Let’s say a happy married couple wants to capture and portray genuine, loving, and passionate sex on screen. They have a film created about them. Could consuming such things be considered morally acceptable?
Maybe, but there are still a lot of questions. Porn consumption has the potential to become a haven for those who would otherwise be able to do the difficult but character-developing task of looking for a meaningful sexual connection with a real person. Even the rather healthy form of pornography mentioned above doesn’t involve relationship work, bears no danger of rejection, and doesn’t require respecting the sexual desires or wishes of others.
Porn has the ability to extend adolescence, a time of life characterized by lone sexual fantasies, and act as a deterrent to developing into the complex, sexual relationship-building of adulthood since it offers a high payoff for less effort.
According to this line of reasoning, watching porn—even if it was made in an ethical manner—may still be immoral. A movie about a couple in love that they are the only ones to view may be the only really morally questionable sexually graphic movie ever made.
The Impact of Pornography on Moral Judgment
Overview
Over the past 20 years, there has been a notable growth in the usage of pornography, mostly because of the Internet. The Internet has made pornography more accessible, affordable, and anonymous, which is what is causing more people to consume it at work and at home. The yearly cost of lost worker productivity at work due to pornography usage is estimated to be $16.9 billion. Pornography in the workplace, however, can have more detrimental repercussions than just time and money loss. Pornography in particular has the power to persuade workers to act unethically.
We examine how pornography affects moral judgment in this study. We also assess three putative mediating factors, dehumanization, delay discounting, and physiological arousal, in an effort to understand why watching pornography leads to immoral behavior. Past research indicates that pornography raises all three of these factors; dehumanization and delay discounting reduce moral judgments, but physiological arousal raises moral judgments. Therefore, there’s a chance that watching porn has a beneficial or bad impact on one’s ability to make moral decisions.
Techniques
We employ a 1×2 experimental design to uncover causal evidence that there is a link between the use of pornography and making ethical decisions in order to test our research question. The online labor market Amazon Mechanical Turk provided participants for the trial.
A control or pornographic group was randomly allocated to the participants. The manipulation was applied via a memory task; the control group reported on their most recent workout, whereas the pornography group reported on their most recent time spent watching porn. Without really displaying any pornographic material to anyone, this triggered the vision of it.
Following their experiences, a dull 10-minute film was required to be seen by both groups. The participants were informed that they would receive payment for watching the full film. After recording whether or not participants viewed the full movie, we followed up with a question. We used participants’ willingness to lie for money as our primary indicator of ethical decision-making. To gauge physiological arousal, delay discounting, and dehumanization, we further posed additional questions.
Findings and Discussion
According to our findings, pornography can influence people to make immoral decisions. Actually, compared to the control group, the pornography group had a lying rate that was more than twice as high. We also discovered that pornography raises the degree of dehumanization, which contributes to immoral decision-making. In other words, pornography viewers dehumanize other people, which makes it simpler for them to act unethically. Not one of the other two mediating factors had an impact that was statistically significant.
This study’s conclusions have some significant business ramifications. Companies must understand the risks pornography poses to their operations as the use of this material rises. To prevent scandals, businesses will need to exercise greater caution when selecting employees and putting in place strict internal controls. These measures might stop people from making immoral choices or from seeing porn in the office.
In summary
Pornography has a lot of bad consequences on relationships, self-esteem, and depression levels, among other things. According to this study, pornography makes people feel more dehumanized, which leads to immoral behavior. Although the study’s primary focus was on the consequences of unethical business decisions, its findings should also alarm the general public due to the harmful impact that pornography has on people.
Working on this study endeavor has given me great experience. I now have more expertise in all facets of the research endeavor. I was able to look for pertinent studies in the literature, locate instruments for measuring our variables, create an experimental setup, and present the findings. I am appreciative to my mentors, the ORCA program, and my donor for their assistance.