Twitter and the Mainstreaming of Porn

Satyr with phallus, Naples Archaeological Museum, Italy, Source https://www.flickr.com, Author Tyler Bell (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)

Pornography – printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings.

–Oxford Dictionary

X, the social media platform f/k/a Twitter, has formally changed its policy to allow so called “adult” content [1].

Actually, Twitter has long tolerated adult content, i.e. pornography and graphic violence.  Reuters reported two years ago that made up fully 13% of the platform’s content [2].

This change is purportedly meant to make the platform’s rules more transparent.  In reality, it is intended to attract more users by attracting more content “creators” (a term which now includes pornographers).

Porn as an Industry

Tragically, X is not alone in mainstreaming the sexual exploitation of women and children.  Once a relatively small niche market, pornography has in recent years become an established, technologically sophisticated, multi‐billion‐dollar industry [3].

The pornography industry is closely related to organized crime, since child pornography is illegal in many countries [4A].  The crimes associated with it can include kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder.

But home video equipment and computers have greatly assisted pedophiles in the production and distribution of child pornography.

A Shift in Values

The growth and acceptance of the pornography industry reflect a serious crisis of values [5].

It used to be that individuals purchasing obscene or salacious material were embarrassed at being seen with it.  No more.  Standards of decency have been radically revised.  Pornography has been normalized, and is discussed openly.

Victimization

This ignores the fact that pornography is facilitated through the victimization of women and children [4B].

• Boys and girls are robbed of their images, not to mention their innocence [6].  Children in these situations have no control over their bodies or their lives.
• Adult performers (the vast majority being women) are trapped in a ruthless industry which uses them shamelessly, then spits them out [7A].  Most are uneducated, and in need of money to support their families [4C].  They fall prey to physical, psychological, and/or economic coercion [4D].  Rates of drug use and suicide are horrific.

Misleading Marketing

Pornography is today marketed as harmless entertainment and/or a means of empowering women to take control of their sexuality [8A].  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Both the male and female representations of physical beauty in porn are not only unrealistic, but unattainable without steroid use or plastic surgery [8B].  The women portrayed are objectified, and may even be raped or sexually assaulted during production [4E][7B].

Real women who watch porn are likely to be left with body image issues [9].  Their self-worth can be so skewed by the focus on appearance that therapy and medication may be needed.  Yet 62% of girls under the age of 18 are exposed to porn [8C].

Not surprisingly, a study found that adolescents who watch porn see sex as no more than a casual encounter, divorced from any relationship [8D].

Ironically, pornography fosters sexual dysfunction [8E].  Users have difficulty becoming aroused without it, while their partners feel sexually inadequate [8F].  This interferes with genuine intimacy.

Many believe pornography, also, fosters violence against women [4E][10].

Biblical View

“Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body” (1 Cor. 6: 18).

Today’s society considers the biblical view of sexuality confining — simultaneously naive and narrow-minded.  As it happens, however, the Bible affirms humans as sexual beings.  It teaches that our bodies are good (1 Cor. 6: 19).

Human sexuality in all its physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects is a gift from God [11].  It is be used to perpetuate the human race, and establish a special bond between husband and wife (Gen. 2: 24; Matt. 19: 6).

The right use of sexuality brings us to a more profound understanding of God.  The wrong use substitutes sexuality in God’s place.  That ends in self-destruction.

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[1]  Fortune, “Elon Musk turned Twitter into X:  now he’s turning X into XXX” by Paolo Confino, 6/3/24, https://fortune.com/2024/06/03/does-x-allow-nudes-elon-musk-twitter-x-social-media-meta-instagram-facebook-onlyfans/.

[2]  Reuters, “Exclusive:  Twitter is losing its most active users, internal documents show” by Sheila Dang, 10/26/22, https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-where-did-tweeters-go-twitter-is-losing-its-most-active-users-internal-2022-10-25/.

[3]  eCommons, University of Dayton Law School, “Pornography, Contemporary-Mainstream” by Rebecca Whisnant, 2008, https://ecommons.udayton.edu/phl_fac_pub/91/.

[4A through 4E]  Manupatra, “Pornography:  Victimisation of Women and Children” by Roopali Sharma and Shruthi Menon, 8/13/12, https://articles.manupatra.com/article-details/Pornography-Victimisation-Of-Women-And-Children.

[5]  Spiked, “The mainstreaming of porn” by Frank Furedi, 7/6/18, https://www.spiked-online.com/2018/07/06/the-mainstreaming-of-porn/.

[6]  National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), “Image Based Sexual Abuse”, https://endsexualexploitation.org/issues/image-based-sexual-abuse/.

[7A and 7B]  National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), “Sex Trafficking”, https://endsexualexploitation.org/issues/sex-trafficking/.

[8A through 8F]  The Prospector, “Pornography and the harmful effects it has on women” by Julia Lucero, 3/25/22, https://www.theprospectordaily.com/2022/03/25/pornography-and-the-harmful-effects-it-has-on-wome/.

[9]  Greatist, “Body Image Issues:  How to Improve Negative Self-Image” by Rory Stobo and Marney White PhD, 4/29/22, https://greatist.com/health/body-image-issues,

[10]  National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), “Public Health Harms of Pornography”, https://endsexualexploitation.org/issues/pornography/.

[11]  Got Questions, “What is a biblical view of sexuality?”, 1/13/23, https://www.gotquestions.org/biblical-sexuality.html.

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