ABSTRACT

Pornography is a highly controversial commodity, with some viewing it as a vehicle of sexual liberation and others seeing it as a crime against humanity. This chapter discusses the potential impact of excessive pornography use, particularly how it can become addictive, before ending in the increasingly perilous waters of online child abuse images. The positive benefits of viewing pornography can be broadly broken down into two categories: education and entertainment. In terms of entertainment, some would view pornography as art, others as a physical expression of the self, similar to dance, and others as a dramatic performance. While education is undoubtedly one of the pleasures of pornography, not all learning is beneficial. The world of Internet pornography has many genres. What the Internet does provide, which no other medium of pornography in the past has done, is infinitely changing sexual stimuli that can be instantly, cheaply, and anonymously accessed, hence bypassing common inhibitors.