In this day and age, pornographic materials are obtainable everywhere, especially on the internet. Anyone can come across pornography, although they do not actively seek for it. An innocent search on Google online will expose them to porn, due to the advancing technology. For example, pornographic materials can be transmitted through the internet via emails or pop ups in a webpage. If you are actively seeking, it is as easy as ABC to search for the porn by simply one single click through Google search engine.
Hawkins and Zimring (1988) suggested that modern technology does alter the pornography access. The distribution of pornographic materials had been an issue concerned by the public since 1970 as mentioned by Hawkins and Zimring (1988). In general, pornography has always been disseminated in the form of film and videotape but the latest technology now is through websites. Lately, the pornography use is escalating due to the high accessibility of internet. According to the statistics in 2014, 12 % of the online websites are actually pornographic pages (Tan, 2014). Besides that, approximately 28,258 Internet users access pornographic websites every second (Tan, 2014).
On the other hand, pornography has been attributed as one of the drivers that motivated the progression of Internet. It is the first product on the Internet that brings profit from the pay to view models as stated by Tan (2014). In other words, pornography actually encouraged the development of the internet and many other technologies, as silly as it may sound. Undeniably, pornography is still growing alongside the internet.
Apart from that, Malaysia has enforced some policies in order to fight against the culture of pornography. As mentioned by Tan (2014), pornography is prohibited and banned under the Malaysian law, including possessing and dissemination of any type of sexually explicit materials. Approximately 8,719 websites that comprised of pornographic contents had been banned from 2008 until 2014 in accordance with the statistics given by Sheikh Raffie Abdul Rahman, the senior director of Strategic Communication Department (SCD) under the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) (Tan, 2014).
In a nutshell, pornography can be viewed as the stimulus to the advancement and development of the technologies today. However, it is also an inducer to crime, for instance, rape. It is a tool that can cause social ills in the society if not used correctly.
Reference
Hawkins, G., & Zimring, F. (1988). Pornography in a free society. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Tan, J. Y. (2014, September 15). Waging war against pornography. The Ant Daily Retrieved from http://www.theantdaily.com/Main/Waging-war-against-pornography
By Lee Hui Chin (41783)
By Lee Hui Chin (41783)
In my opinion, I do agree that pornographic is easily access with the aids of technology nowadays. Not only available in internet, pornographic also found easily at social media especially like WeChat. This trend have indicated that the significant relationship between pornographic and technology nowadays.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think the phenomena happened seriously day by day is because of the strongly enforcement by the authority. It provides an effect that, the harder the authority fight against the pornographic, the stronger the feedback or response reacted by the people which indirectly stimulus the development of pornographic culture. In other words, the development of pornographic culture not only "contributed" by the demand of the people, it also "contributed" by the authority as well.
It is interesting how previous studies have noted the dangers of Internet pornography, yet it is still a global phenomenon. Nowadays, it is considered "normal" to be a regular consumer of pornography because of the advancement of technology. I suppose humans are born with the inherent desire to procreate, and pornography amplifies this desire-- but I, personally, do not agree that in order to curb this problem, the government blocks these sites. This is because although regular access of these websites is blocked, people who really want to actively seek out pornography can still do so with the use of proxy websites or virtual private networks (VPN). In my opinion, if curbing the widespread consumption of pornography really is the aim of authorities, there should be better ways to go about it, such as sex education, because no matter how many times you try to block a website, people are still going to find ways to bypass the block if they really want to.
ReplyDeleteIn my point of view, banning people from accessing pornography sites is not the best way to completely solve the social problems brought by pornography culture in the country.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think that definition of ‘pornography’ depends very much on the individual’s perception. It is normal that each and everyone of us have our different view points towards pornography. For some people, maybe it is just a kind of entertainment for them to release stress or tensions. If they view it in a ‘healthy’ way, then it shall not be a big problem to the society. But if it is done in a very wrong way such as forcing women or underage females to have sex with them, then hard punishment shall be imposed on them.
However, I agree that underage teenagers include male and female should be prohibited from watching porn sites. In addition, parents should educate their children in a proper way and provide a suitable explanation on the sexual characteristic. This should be done in order to reduce their curiosity that might cause them to commit to crime and social problems such as sexual harrassment, rape, and molest.
The government may be doing their best to filter out pornographic materials by blocking the bigger porn sites but if you have a will, you will have many other ways (or websites) that remain unblocked by the government. Therefore, merely blocking websites is not enough. To prevent social ills that arouse from watching porn, more steps need to be taken by the government especially what Natalie suggested, by providing more sex educations in school. Simply blocking websites is as useful as pouring water into the sea. Besides, the government could implement harsher punishments to offenders so that other future offenders would stay clear of commiting the same crimes. For instance, rape could carry more whippings and a longer jail term. Deterrent, not cure, is the key here.
ReplyDeleteIt is very obvious that the adult industry is looking to adapt and drive new technology. Johnson (1996) declared that throughout the history of new media, from vernacular speech to movable type, to photography, to paperback books, to videotape, to cable and pay-TV, to '900' phone lines, to the French Minitel, to the Internet, to CD-ROMs and laser discs, pornography has shown technology the way. I personally think that the sex industry needs to be regulated, not sent underground. For instance, instead of banning pornography, it should be removed from anywhere underaged people have access.
ReplyDeleteI agree with there is mushrooming of pornography website. Sometimes, it even becomes a type of business just like other online business. With the technology today, people can easily access to it as long as there is internet provided.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, it is human right and freedom for everybody to search this kind of video or news. I consider there is no way to prevent people from accessing pornography but maybe authorities can use anther way to educate public regarding to how to protect themselves. Authorities should give proper sex education to youths as they are still immature enough. For example, some of the school children may access to those website using other's account. If this really happen, what can the government do?
Personally I feel that educating public is a better way than ban the website. It is impossible to deal with advancement of technology.
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ReplyDeletePornography has been circulating in the internet for a very long time, and it has been circulating in many other mediums (books and dvds, etc). With technological advancements these days, I think it is near impossible to completely ban pornographic materials from popping up. Programs such as changing IP addresses are making it possible for people to access these websites. People will want to satisfy their desire and there will be no stopping that urge as it will only get worse. So i believe the best solution is to educate the public about sex and also making sure the safety search for under aged students are turned on.
ReplyDelete