When we allow real-life human beings to "make a living" in pornography, we allow them to be less than fully human, 2/3rds human. Because as soon as they are full human beings like us we feel a pang of guilt that we don't want to do deal with. So we reduce to porn stars to slightly less than human.
There are a number of unfortunate consequences of this fact: 1) We tend to reduce anyone who acts like a porn star as slightly less than human, as more and more of an object; 2) As a result of watching pornography, we generally develop a taste for more marginal sexual activity; 3) We secretly seek out people whom we can use as objects to submit to our desire for marginal sexual activity; 4) Our relationships with almost all people of the opposite sex (or whatever sex we are attracted to) are disturbed and corrupted.
Given my faith, I find it extremely regretful that I know the course of these events first-hand. But I also see some hope. Because I have personal experience with the inner process sparked by watching pornography I am not one of those strict Christians who condemn pornography on principle without having any understanding or empathy for those who are trapped in the system; in connection with my faith, I am able to analyze more readily how damaging pornography is on my relationships with others and with myself. So I know that pornography will, eventually, drag us through all four of those listed consequences.
And what is the issue, really, of experiencing any of those four consequences? Well, even if we stop at consequence # 1, we all hopefully can see how close we are to using people for our own enjoyment without any consideration of their enjoyment, without any thought to a reciprocal relationship where the Other's needs are as dignified as our own. Already we are on the path to slavery. Already we can start to get inside the heads of those people who get a kick out of paying $50 to a pimp to enter a room where a young girl or boy is kept 24/7 to do exactly what the client wants. The second we don't look at another human being with full respect and dignity we are already on the path to justifying objectifying others for our own benefit and only our own benefit. And that is exactly what we do with porn stars.
We objectify, even if only slightly, porn stars regardless of whether or not they voluntarily choose or enjoy to do what they do. Of course I want to ask whether it's appropriate to objectify anyone whether they "enjoy" to be made an object or not. My faith tells me that no one is an object and even if someone thinks they enjoy being made an object with the sole purpose of satisfying someone else they are not living fully into the life that they are given, the life of a true and dignified human being.
But do porn stars willingly do what they do? For the vast majority of porn stars the answer is no. Many porn stars join the industry to make a quick buck. Others join the industry because they are told that it will be their best chance at making a living. Those who join to make a quick buck are generally sucked in because whenever they return to "the real world" they find that it is much easier to be told what to do, to be used for a little while, to make money than to work 40, 50, or 60 hour weeks doing something "respectable." I think of the movie Shawshank Redemption. If nothing else the movie shows us that people who spend many years in prison often find it difficult, or perhaps impossible, to return to life outside the prison--no longer do they have someone telling them what to do every second of the day, they don't have meals prepared for them, and now they have to be concerned about developing relationships and doing a job well. Porn stars are much like people who have been in prison for awhile. If at any point a porn star tries to leave the industry they will find it very difficult, it's much easier to submit oneself entirely to another and still "make a living."
Or let's compare porn stars to those who are actually held in brothels. If a pimp can addict his/her whores to cocaine or some other drug, then if the whore escapes they'll find themselves desperate to be under the pimp's control again for easy access to the drug. They're addicted and can't get over the withdrawal. Or the whore is so used, abused, and disturbed that they cannot function properly in society, get frightened, and again return to the pimp. Porn stars are only different by degree, not by kind. Porn stars are used, abused, and taught to submit to the point that "normal" life is no longer possible. They are objectified to the point that only if someone objectifies them can they feel any self-worth. Forget about working in a typical work-place because their self-worth has been reduced to living as an object, which does not occur nearly as regularly in a typical work-place, and the porn star can no longer operate needing to worry about how they will live on their own.
The parallels between porn stars and sex-slaves are really greater than we think, certainly greater than we'd like to think. And the path from pornography to using or wanting to use sex-slaves is much shorter than we'd like to think. The changes in our mental, spiritual, and emotional attitudes toward people are generally slight enough to go unnoticed, but one cannot watch pornography for any significant amount of time and escape from the inevitable desire and/or need to objectify others. Many of us will feel guilty when we use others for our enjoyment. Some of us will then try hard to stay away from pornography, but some will simply push through that guilt and become animals in which all we will do is desire to use and abuse so that we can feel good.
If you watch pornography you are not innocent. We cannot rationalize our habit by saying that we aren't harming anyone or that the porn stars enjoy what they are doing. All we do when we watch pornography, when we allow the existence of pornography even, is subtly giving credence to another much more lucrative trade: sex-slavery, human trafficking.
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