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Aleshia Cooper

Anne Lawler
English 120-10
Thursday, 09 February, 2012
Calling for the Banning of Porn
Pornography, otherwise defined as vulgarity and obscenity, is an issue that has and will
continue to call upon a great deal of debate. The Bahamas Christian Council took great interest
in reviewing channels 874 to 895 from service provider Cable Bahamas, outlining in detail the
scope and nature of the pornographic material available to Bahamian viewers. For that reason,
The Bahamas Christian Council is calling for a complete ban on pornographic content. Is it the
job of the Christian Council to ban pornographic content of Bahamian viewers? Many may argue
that Christian Council has the right to ban pornographic content because they are the religious
side of the country. To a certain extent this might be true, but the job of the Christian Council is
to promote understanding and trust between the numerous of Christian church in the Bahamas.
Obviously no one wants their children watching porn, but banning it isnt the answer. Why?
Basically because you cant! Porn is everywhere. It is impossible to put a censorship on
pornographic content. So not only does Christian Council have no control over censorship, it has
no constitutional power. The most practical and effective way to ensure your child's safety is by
parental control on the television and the internet not by banning it completely.
Many people are no strangers to pornography materials. The Christian Council wants to
put a censorship on pornography movies. Pornography material involves books, magazines,
videos, and devices. Pornography material has moved from the side-line of society into the
mainstream through the internet, purchasing DVD, sales "soft-porn" magazines, and the airing of
sexually explicit movies on cable television. Nevertheless, pornography movies are not just on

the cable television but with the help of technology pornography has become more and more
accessible regardless of the age of the viewers. Yet the Christian Council view pornography as a
terror on society that needs to be strictly censored. Censorship takes away the right of the
individual to make a decision about what is appropriate for them to see or hear. Many people see
pornography material as a turn on, a form of sexual expression and entertainment. What might
offend a particularly person may not offend another person. Just because persons find certain
materials offensive is not a sufficient reason for restricting those material. It is unreasonable to
ban someone from reading or seeing inappropriate material based on the opinion of someone
else. My question is what harm does pornography do to viewers and to what extent? One
argument might be that pornography is the influence behind an individual committing rape or
other acts of sexual violence. However using that argument there is no inconclusive evidence to
prove the argument to be true. To characteristic a rape cases to a sexual picture is similar as
blaming a drunken driving accidents on alcohol. The person who chose to drink and then drive is
at fault, similar to the man who decided to continue with sex when a woman resisted. There are
no statistical or any scientific evidence provided which could conclude that a person will
absolutely commit rape after viewing or utilizing pornography. For a person to be motivated to
rape, commit assault, murder, or to do any wrong, there is no evidence that the basic reason is
pornography.
William Orville Douglas once stated that Restriction of free thought and free speech is
the most dangerous of all subversions. The Christian Council has no constitutional authority or
obligation over the country there has to be proper grounds for making such laws.On the other
hand, just because the Christian Council find certain movies offensive is not sufficient reason for
banning those channels for every viewer. Christian Council is trying to enforces their personal

codes of conduct on what they seem to think are the bad-mannered masses. They may think its
for the good of the Bahamian people and that their trying to improve the Island we live in.
Banning pornography programs that cannot be proved to be directly responsible for any harm is
just the form dictatorship takes when its being pushed forth by the moral crusader. They want to
take the choice away from the individual and build an atmosphere they consider to be safer and
create more peace or in this case the respecting of women. One may argue that porn is degrade
and takes away the qualities of the female gender. Despite the fact that this might be true,
however studies had shown that not just men watch porn for arousal but female also. Therefore
attempting to take away pornography movies would be virtually impossible. The fact of the
matter is that thousands of persons use various kinds of sexually explicit materials every month
and forming laws to restricting pornography from viewers would be similar to restricting alcohol
from alcoholic. The outrage and protest would be uncontrollably extreme. And laws are only
obeyed by people who believe in them. There are a lot of laws against drugs. Has it stopped
anyone? As far as a universal ban goes, I happen to believe that mature adults should be allowed
to watch whatever they want. Its called our freewill. God gave it to us and despite their
consistent of the Gospel teachings the Christian Council should respect that. Which bring me to
my finally point parental control.
Christian Council stated that Experiences in the Bahamas and abroad have already
shown us that not all adults who view pornographic content are responsible enough or care
enough to utilize set top box parental controls or only do so when their children are absent or
asleep. Pornography is powerfully addictive and enslaving because it perverts a pleasurable,
God-given appetite. On the contrary, some parents allow their children to view rated R movies
containing sexual content and nudity. Whereas on the other hand others parents would restrict

their children from attending sexual education classes in high school. Finding middle between
two strongly differing standards would be rare. Regulating television should be left to parents not
the Christian Council. My theory of life is if a child really wants to do something and if your
child works at it long and hard enough, he or she will get it. A simpler way of putting it is that if
a child wants to watch pornography material he or she will no matter how hard you try. Do you
think children will be permanently damaged by viewing a few, or numerous photos, videos of
pornography? Many of us will agree that viewing pornography is very inappropriate for children.
Parents are supposed to be watching out for their children, and teaching them right from wrong
in this world. However, children know that many parents are knowledgeable enough to check the
history channel. So when they have access to the pornography material on an unmonitored
television or internet, the first thing they usually do is look up porn. You cant stop the
pornography material on the television or internet, so you have to stop the child. Open and
honest reinforcement of your personal standards with your children is basically your only hope.
To bring to a close, its better to talk to children about pornography material and how it
twists peoples views of sex and what a healthy relationship is. Repeated experience translates
into belief and embracement. This is why advertising works. The more you are open to the
elements of the images the more you expect reality to match those images.

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