"The Porn Myth"

As far as I can tell, Naomi Wolf is no Christian, nor is she even a conservative. In addition, just within the last week she has been heavily criticized for perpetuating some rather "wacko" conspiracy theories. However, she has written something recently that I believe reveals one the more significant and sad truths when it comes to the plague of pornography.

She misses the mark quite a bit, and I may deal with this later, but for now I just want to share some of what she reveals:

The onslaught of porn is responsible for deadening male libido in relation to real women, and leading men to see fewer and fewer women as “porn-worthy.” Far from having to fend off porn-crazed young men, young women are worrying that as mere flesh and blood, they can scarcely get, let alone hold, their attention...

But does all this sexual imagery in the air mean that sex has been liberated—or is it the case that the relationship between the multi-billion-dollar porn industry, compulsiveness, and sexual appetite has become like the relationship between agribusiness, processed foods, supersize portions, and obesity? If your appetite is stimulated and fed by poor-quality material, it takes more junk to fill you up. People are not closer because of porn but further apart; people are not more turned on in their daily lives but less so.

The young women who talk to me on campuses about the effect of pornography on their intimate lives speak of feeling that they can never measure up, that they can never ask for what they want; and that if they do not offer what porn offers, they cannot expect to hold a guy. The young men talk about what it is like to grow up learning about sex from porn, and how it is not helpful to them in trying to figure out how to be with a real woman...

The whole piece is worth reading and is here. Of course, it's somewhat graphic, but not in a vulgar way. Again, I may come back to this later and deal with how Wolf is not completely accurate in her critique of pornography.

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com