Grenville Phillips II, Blogmaster of Weighed in the Balance, Engineer
Pornography is now easily available to all school children who have access to a tablet or a smart phone. It is facilitated by persons who allow unrestricted access to the Internet in their homes or at the many Wi-Fi hotspots around Barbados. So let me share a solution; but first, let me describe the problem.
Pornography has two main damaging effects. The impact for viewers is that that they can primarily view sexual intercourse as a means to satisfy themselves rather than satisfying their partners. For male viewers, this can lead to a less satisfying sexual experience for her and a boring routine for him. He will likely develop an uncaring attitude towards her if she does not express a similar delight in his sexual performance as those whom he watches. His sexual experience should be all about satisfying her, and her sexual experience should be all about satisfying him.
The most damaging impact is on the victims whom the watchers are viewing. Many women, especially from Asian and eastern European countries, are forced into the sex slave trade, with harsh consequences if they do not show delight when raped (See Half the Sky and other research into sex slavery). As the watchers view these victims, they are supporting and sustaining this slavery. If people choose not to pay to view pornography on the Internet, then they still support and sustain the sex slave trade by adding to the web sites’ page views, which increases their potential advertising revenues.
For men to intentionally choose to harm themselves and their marriages for a few moments of pleasure is irresponsible. However, for viewers to sustain the sex slave trade, and the hopelessness of the victims who are repeatedly raped into submission, is unconscionable. The persons who forced the victims into sex slavery are vile. However, how do we describe the viewers who keep them in slavery by sustaining the slave owners’ profits? For us descendants of slaves, who should be held to a higher standard in this matter, to now sustain the enslavement of these women, is beyond my comprehension. So what is an economical and effective solution?
The obvious solution would be for the local Internet service providers to block pornographic images. However, this may attract claims of censorship from persons who feel entitled to access pornography regardless of the consequential damage to viewers and their victims. Yes, the sex slave actually becomes the victim of their Internet viewer. Therefore, the responsibility of helping the victims must fall heavily on all Internet subscribers.
Every household, school, resource centre and business with an Internet account should protect our children, and refuse to support the sex slave trade, by installing an effective pornography blocker at their router. I recommend the free Open DNS Family Shield software, which can be installed at the router in less than 2 minutes. This should have the added benefit of significantly improving productivity in the work place.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.