At one level, my novel The City of Earthly Desire is a polemic against pornography. I wrote the novel partly to confront my own previously held attitudes concerning the subject which, if my assumptions are correct, probably mirror the attitude most people hold today - that pornography is essentially harmless, a personal matter, a guilty pleasure, a form of entertainment, etc.
I admit it, for much of my adult life I believed there was nothing particularly wrong with watching pornography or the existence of the porn industry. Yet, no matter how much I thought I believed these things, deep down I always knew pornography was not good - that there was something inherently harmful and pernicious about creating it, participating in it, viewing it and, as it is often phrased today, consuming it. I wrote The City of Earthly Desire partly to challenge these previously held views of mine; writing the novel turned out to be the first step toward the eventual but total elimination of pornography from my life.
I will elaborate on the subject of pornography in future posts, but for the time being I will leave a link to a rather gruesome story that provides a rather shocking example of the harmful effects pornography can unleash on individuals and society. Of course, the story is an extreme example, and any porn apologist worth his or her salt could easily develop an argument to challenge it as proof of the innate harmfulness of pornography in general.
I admit, I would concede to a certain point - the story in the link truly is an extreme case example, but, I would argue, these extreme cases are now increasingly common, and that alone points to something. Regardless, instances like the one described in the link do not address the subtler negative effects of pornography consumption which, in the long-term, are likely far more pernicious. I will address those effects and develop some arguments against pornography consumption in future blog posts.
For now I will simply offer the following once again - let the porn enthusiasts and apologists say what they will, but in my view there is nothing positive about pornography.
Full stop.
I admit it, for much of my adult life I believed there was nothing particularly wrong with watching pornography or the existence of the porn industry. Yet, no matter how much I thought I believed these things, deep down I always knew pornography was not good - that there was something inherently harmful and pernicious about creating it, participating in it, viewing it and, as it is often phrased today, consuming it. I wrote The City of Earthly Desire partly to challenge these previously held views of mine; writing the novel turned out to be the first step toward the eventual but total elimination of pornography from my life.
I will elaborate on the subject of pornography in future posts, but for the time being I will leave a link to a rather gruesome story that provides a rather shocking example of the harmful effects pornography can unleash on individuals and society. Of course, the story is an extreme example, and any porn apologist worth his or her salt could easily develop an argument to challenge it as proof of the innate harmfulness of pornography in general.
I admit, I would concede to a certain point - the story in the link truly is an extreme case example, but, I would argue, these extreme cases are now increasingly common, and that alone points to something. Regardless, instances like the one described in the link do not address the subtler negative effects of pornography consumption which, in the long-term, are likely far more pernicious. I will address those effects and develop some arguments against pornography consumption in future blog posts.
For now I will simply offer the following once again - let the porn enthusiasts and apologists say what they will, but in my view there is nothing positive about pornography.
Full stop.
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