Craig Mueller - Source 2

Is pornography harmful, and if so, in what ways?

Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. Vol. 4. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. Talks 
     about the ways in which pornography is destructive and the accompanying 
     results. 
     

The part of the encyclopedia in question talks about how not only is pornography harmful, but the wide scope of the harm done. Pornography is said to promote ideas of dehumanization, forced sex, sexual terrorism and more all under the guise of entertainment. The work also notes that bigotry and contempt for women is promoted by pornography. As users consume more and more pornography, the more they begin to see women as second-class citizens and sex objects

This text led me to question the long term effects of pornography consumption. I now know that pornography does indeed harm minds, but it is worse than I had previously perceived. As people view pornography, they have the aforementioned ideologies begin to entrench themselves in the viewer. However, the negative effects have significant and negative external value. The viewers of pornography tend to look less harshly, or even perpetrate battery, child abuse, prostitution, and rape. Seeing these negative causes inflicted on others makes me wonder why there isn't wide spread anti-porn education as there was abstinence and now safe-sex education. 

This writing coincides with my first source, but on a deeper level. Both speak a lot of how pornography and viewership is bad for mental, physical, and sexual health. Although both say that pornography is harmful, this article goes much further in terms of the distinct negative impact of the pornography. This works well with the previous article's emphasis on statistical evidence on who consumes and on what level. These two works in tandem point to the scope of the problem of viewership, and the eventual problem of the negative social outputs viewership produces.

I would like my next questions to focus on the inadequacy of only safe-sex or abstinence education in schools. I would like to see first though if these systems are inadequate. If I find them to be so, I can work to show how anti-pornographic education would complement the education. If I find that the system in place is indeed working, I will have to seek a new path for further developing my argument. I feel as though that is the natural next step knowing from the two sources that pornography is a terrible addiction, is harmful, and how it grips people (which can show us how to avoid it.)