Pornification is the acceptance or rather normalizing of pornographic and sexual themes rotating in social media platforms. Today’s society living in an internet environment. It is slowly by slowly emulating and seeing it as normal for existence of sexual and pornographic sites that are all over the internet. Pornographic creations may come in forms, such as pictures, videos, sound notes, and written articles. A social media is a computer- oriented technology digitized to enable sharing of information and ideologies between different sets of people in a given network. Social platforms have become so much insecure, hence unable to be controlled (Sampson and Gridley, 2015).
Currently, social sites are the highly used fields for relay of various types of information across the borders. The types of information put across by the social platforms and the users of such information have become difficult to monitor and regulate. Therefore, this has allowed for all range of ideas to roam around these sites. Also, apart from other nasty matters commonly discussed in internet sites, sexual themes are all over it. The themes have become commonly used and applied in so many social communications to an extent the community has emulated and accepted them to be a normal phenomenon (Boyle, 2018). Therefore, the main aim of this essay is to find out the reasons behind this situation, explore the freedom of expression issue, and discuss the sociological effects in this regard.
The Reasons for the Rise in Pornography
Firstly, internet, which is a network provider of a platform for social communication is readily available and accessible across the world. Every individual who is connected to the internet and gets access of it, is free to post any form of information they feel to various social sites. Besides, the internet is relatively cheap and does not require much expertise to use, hence makes it easy for everyone to explore through and enjoy the freedom of using and misusing it (Boyle, 2018). Also, the internet being uncontrollable becomes an open door for everybody who wishes to do anything with it. In the current world, the internet is used on personal beneficial reasons, two of which are marketing and popularity. Additionally, love and matters of sex are considered by many communities around the world to be precious and highly respected. Hence, some firms and people use sexual themes in their marketing forums so as to attract the attention subscription of users of a certain dealing. Also, others who believe and seek for fame and public attention may use sexual makes just to popularize themselves on celebrity basis (Antoniou and Akrivos, 2017).
Secondly, there are so many users of internet and they can neither be monitored nor controlled. The regional location of a single user of a social network on internet may not be easy to locate since internet works on a worldwide connectivity basis. The users enjoy a non-security ground of using and misusing the internet to post and share any relevant and irrelevant form of information anytime they deem fit. Therefore, an internet user can decide to impersonate themselves and instead use a fake name just for social media purposes. Such cases occur due to fear of being traced on grounds of internet misuse. Since internet is not secure enough to bar bad users from access, such subscribers get an opportunity to make any unpleasant comments on social sites. For instance, in case someone posts a pornographic video on a social site, such as Facebook, with a fake account, no internet security measure can be used to trace such a person. Failure of security on use of internet has perpetuated the existence of such matters, like pornification (Grubbs et al. 2015).
Also, internet is used for business purposes. Some people use and misuse internet to earn a living. For example, individuals are in position to create pornographic videos and sell them in order to earn a living. Similarly, some characters in pornographic videos are hired and paid for such acts. Therefore, criticizing pornographic creations that are publicized for advertising purposes by these business people may mean working against them. In this regard, some individuals feel the necessity to let sex matters to be made public for beneficial reasons, hence making it seem normal (Grubbs et al. 2015).
Sociological Explanations Suggested for the Phenomenon
The interest towards pornography has always been high in the modern society. The reason for that is its poignant and piquant character. Recent times has seen the rise in the pornography issues penetration in social world. What previously was considered a taboo, currently is widely accepted due to rapid pace of society development, including technological advancement and globalization.
The cultures and beliefs of one community may differ from that of the other. Also, a society has both age groups; young and old. An interest towards discussed issue was revealed in both groups. For instance, if a nasty video that may have been meant for a certain age bracket is uploaded on a social site, it leaks across all the members that are subscribed to the site irrespective of their ages. In such an event, it is suggestible that social sites should be separable on age basis. In addition to that, members of a specific social site should comprise people of a certain age that can share any information without indulging in abusive character (Kohut, Baer & Watts, 2016).
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Difference Between Freedom of Expression and Social Media Freedom
Freedom of expression as advocated by laws allows an individual to exercise such right at any platform. Everybody is allowed by law to share their views and feelings considerably. Internet security measures cannot control such freedoms. However, the law enforcing organs upon realizing a misuse of such freedom, can sometimes be compelled to provide limits in order to bar the misuse or impose charges on such a character for improper expression. The use of social media platforms has not yet been able to put measures to control what subscribers share on websites. Therefore, the right to speak is highly upheld in this case in contrary with what a portion of a society would wish for (Sampson and Gridley, 2015).
Also, a section of the society living within the internet environment today would love to see those misusing the social sites being punished. On the other hand, part of this society enjoys using those platforms the way they are. Hence, the social media society is left in dilemma on whether to snatch the rights or retain. The law permitted freedom differs from the rights enjoyed by the internet users. So, it is the social media freedom that has caused all the nasty stuff circulating all around the social sites (Baumel et al. 2017).
Ways in which Pornography is Identified as a Sociological Issue and the Social Measures Adopted to Curb the Problem
To begin with, several sociological issues have erupted from pornography, including women degradation. According to ideology, both, women and men, should be treated with much respect and dignity. However, most pornographic articles portray women as sex materials used by men for sexual satisfaction. Also, controversial pornographic aspects depict that obscene and pornographic materials have led to misbehavior among women (Best, 2017). In fact, studies have shown that wives who may be abused physically are similarly more likely to be abused sexually, especially when their male partners are deep-rooted into pornography (DeKeseredy, Muzzatti and Donnermeyer, 2014).
On the same line, cases of children exploitation have been on the rise since pornography took charge on the social media. Several negative effects have been noted following children exposure to television pornography. According to various research, it is stipulated that problems related to emotions, like confusion, guilt, anxiety, and imitation occur due to early sexual doings. Besides, potential effects in future relationships are distorted from pornography exploitation. Consequently, there are high chances for potential psychological harm as children may be unable to provide an informed consent to ascertain their participation in relationship activities. As such, such children may be forced to indulge in sexual practices in the future in order to get attention (DeKeseredy, Muzzatti & Donnermeyer, 2014).
Additionally, pornography has led to marriage breakages. Viewing pornographic materials dissociates love feeling. Men are offered with sexual content which is brutality saturated as well as promoting women sexual degradation. Consequently, pornographic material may lead to marriage breakages (Baumel et al. 2017).
. As to social measures of addressing the issue, it should be noted that education could play a major role in preventing the harmful effects of phenomenon. While control on the part of the government should be stricter, society through education should be well aware of the negative outcomes of pornography penetration in the social world.
Beliefs of two communities may differ over a single social event on a social platform that they may be sharing. One community may find it normal to share a pornographic video on a social site contrary to the other community. For that case, it is advisable in such scenarios that communities that share common beliefs and culture join a specific social platforms. Moreover, in cases where a society finds it unreasonable to bare some norms of the social media, it can have dialogue with the media powers to limit the kind of information it exposes to the public. As a result, the society plays a major role in making sure that what goes around the social networks is acceptable, ideal, and reasonable (Sampson and Gridley, 2015).
References
Antoniou, A.K. and Akrivos, D., 2017. The rise of extreme porn: legal and criminological perspectives on extreme pornography in England and Wales. Springer.
Baumel, C.P.C., Guerra, V.M., Garcia, A. and do Rosário, A.G., 2017. Pornography Consumption and Relationship: A Systematic Review of 2006–2015. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 14(5), p.e325.
Best, J., 2017. Images of issues: Typifying contemporary social problems. Routledge.
Boyle, K., 2018. The implications of pornification. The Routledge Handbook of Gender and Violence, p.85.
DeKeseredy, W.S., Muzzatti, S.L. and Donnermeyer, J.F., 2014. Mad men in bib overalls: Media’s horrification and pornification of rural culture. Critical Criminology, 22(2), pp.179-197.
Grubbs, J.B., Volk, F., Exline, J.J. and Pargament, K.I., 2015. Internet pornography use: Perceived addiction, psychological distress, and the validation of a brief measure. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 41(1), pp.83-106.
Kohut, T., Baer, J.L. and Watts, B., 2016. Is pornography really about “making hate to women”? Pornography users hold more gender egalitarian attitudes than nonusers in a representative American sample. The Journal of Sex Research, 53(1), pp.1-11.
Malamuth, N.M. ed., 2014. Pornography and sexual aggression. Elsevier.
Sampson, E. and Gridley, H., 2015. APS highlights concerns about the harmful impacts of pornography. InPsych: The Bulletin of the Australian Psychological Society Ltd, 37(2), p.18.
