Pornography Does Not Cause Rape

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Pornography Does Not Cause Rape

It started by way of messengers and scribes, evolved through the

presentation of newspapers and radio, brought us together with television,

and now serves us world-wide via the ever-popular Internet. It is the

mass media, and even from the earliest days of its existence, it has

contributed greatly in ways that both enlighten and enrich society, and

ways that deteriorate and perplex it. It is not a surprise to learn, then,

that the mass media is the most powerful source of information we have,

and nothing else in today's world influences public perception quite as

heavily.

Unfortunately, however, most of what is broadcast or transmitted

in the news today is with reference to the chaotic condition of our planet,

or something else that society as a whole sees as detrimental or damaging.

But the news on television is not the only type of media taking the

criticism of society. Other forms of mass media, specifically movies and

television programs containing pornography and violence have been heavily

criticized. The underlining concept to be debated here is that society is

negatively influenced, specifically, by these images of pornography and

the result is increased violence against women. This assumption, and it is

indeed only an assumption, is completely fallacious, however, as no

concrete and completely conclusive evidence has ever been formulated in

support of the theory. The key premise here is that the mass media does

not cause undesirable social behaviour and in actuality, the media people

should not be dubbed as the "bad guys". They simply use their power in

the most constructive ways possible in order to promote their ratings and

popularity. One way to do that is to concentrate on what sells: sex,

violence and disaster.

Having said this, why is it then, that many in society still

believe otherwise; why do they continue to believe that pornography is "

evil" and is a major cause for violence against women, specifically rape?

There are many reasons for this misinterpretation and through the

following few points, an attempt will be made to show that pornography has

very little to almost no correlation with violence against women (of

course nothing is "absolute" in society). In order to demonstrate this, it

must be made evident that pornography is not "evil" and does not cause

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