Thread by ♰La Raccolta (@laraccoltaa)

Why You Should NOT Watch PORNOGRAPHY. Thread Opener:

NOTICES 1) Since I don't like to discriminate, this applies to Catholics and non-Catholics, men and women. 2) It's important to educate yourself, because it's easy to say IT'S WRONG, but you also have to know how to explain it; everything has a basis.

3) Since space on Twitter is quite limited, I won't go into too much detail on topics like masturbation, concupiscence, sin, etc. We'll get to the point.

WHAT IS PORNOGRAPHY Pornography is an express dissociation of sex and eros, sex and love, sex and commitment, sex and procreation, and we would even say of sex and sex.

And as such, a painful dehumanization and degradation of its actors, its merchants, and its spectators; for all of them, then, "a serious offense." "It introduces both of them into a fictitious world," into a perverse fiction.

Its vicarious relationship with PROSTITUTION is evident, of which it becomes a more hygienic and cheaper audiovisual substitute, at the same time more illusory and more far-fetched, since in a brothel there are no actors or actresses with such a degree of professional obscenity.

The definition that the RAE provides regarding PORNOGRAPHY and its relationship with PROSTITUTION is interesting:

Pornography trains men to measure a woman by the degree of sexual desire she arouses in him. He may try to brush it off and say it's not a problem, but the truth is, his ability to love a woman is already damaged.

While he's busy fantasizing, his masculinity is fading and his self-centeredness is increasing. If a woman is unlucky enough to enter his life, he'll be making the frustrating mistake of confusing love with lust.

LOVE means commitment, dedication, and sacrifice. PORNOGRAPHY teaches you to reduce others to objects for sexual gratification that can be used and thrown away when the novelty and passion are gone.

Pornography is the best way to ruin your future marriage. It trains the mind to be aroused by selfish and adulterous sexual fantasies.

Even though it only takes a few seconds to look at the photos, it won't take you years to forget them. This can cause many problems in marriages, because the couple is compared to models and expected to produce the same excitement.

When this doesn't happen, the union suffers, and the couple feels hurt and unable to "meet" the standards of their fantasies. Who wants to put their future partner in this situation? Besides, those who become accustomed to pornography are training themselves to be unfaithful, even in their fantasies.

Think about all the women in your life: mother, sisters, cousins, aunts, etc. Would you let them expose themselves in scantily clad videos or images for the titillation or consumption of degenerates?

Imagine the heart of God, our heavenly Father, who loves his daughters infinitely. The women in those videos or images are the daughters of the King of heaven. It's sad that we, his children, have created a market selling his daughters, our sisters.

Saint John Paul II called us: “Every person must look within himself to see if the one entrusted to him as a sister in humanity… has not become, in his heart, an object of adultery.”

Sam Guzman, founder and editor of The Catholic Gentleman blog, shared an article that points out 9 compelling reasons to reject pornography of men's lives. Here are a few:

IT HURTS REAL WOMEN "Countless porn stars who have left the industry have told stories of physical and emotional abuse, coercion, self-mutilation, depression, violence, and attempted suicide. They vehemently say that being a porn star was miserable."

"That's not to mention the millions of women who are trafficked and sold into slavery to feed the industry," she notes.

MAT4 LOVE Watching pornography plunges a knife into your spouse's heart. It makes them lose all confidence. It tells them they'll never be good enough.

EXTINGUISHES GOD'S GRACE IN THE SOUL “Saint Paul makes it clear: those who tolerate sexual sin in their lives 'will not inherit the kingdom of God' (Galatians 5:19-21). You can have heaven or pornography, but not both. Choose your option,” he urged.

IT MAKES YOU SELFISH “Instead of embracing the sacrifice required for true love, you begin to see others as objects designed to serve your needs and desires, just like the fantasy women on screen.”

"Instead of giving and serving like Christ, you become obsessed with taking and consuming. You become selfish, angry, and abusive without even realizing it."

IT MAKES YOU A SLAVE “Christ redeemed us, and when we were baptized, he freed us from this cruel slavery and brought us into the freedom of the children of God. If you are baptized, you are dead to sin and alive to God. (Galatians 4:7).”

And like all evil, it has CONSEQUENCES 1) AT THE BRAIN LEVEL: - As with other addictive substances, in the long run the user needs a higher dose to continue enjoying its effects. For this reason, people tend to seek out increasingly stronger contents.

and extremes. However, there comes a time when nothing is enough.

-Watching porn frequently reduces nerve connections in the brain. The brain becomes lazy, and certain areas even shrink.

-The person becomes increasingly permissive with what they see, so much so that they end up normalizing and enjoying acts that they would have previously considered unpleasant, degrading, and unethical.

2) ON THE EMOTIONAL LEVEL - ISOLATION: The person becomes more withdrawn. They have difficulty sharing their consumption behavior with others, especially with their partner. This isolation reinforces their refuge in pornography for comfort and solace.

Psychological problems are becoming increasingly prominent. - Loss of interest in social and romantic relationships: Pornographic fiction and fantasies eventually cause the person to lose interest in reality.

A distorted view of sexuality leads to a loss of satisfaction with their partner's physical appearance and sexual performance. They value monogamy and marriage less, and are more prone to infidelity with their partners.

3) ON A SOCIAL LEVEL: -The pornographic industry has evolved massively since the first Playboy magazine was published in 1953. Its content has also rapidly become more extreme and graphic, depicting abuse and degrading and humiliating scenes.

-Fifteen years ago, the global revenue of this industry exceeded that of Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple, Netflix, and Earthlink combined.

-The content of films, series, music videos, advertisements, video games, toys, and other media outlets has been sexualized.

-It encourages the rise of human trafficking for sexual slavery. It is estimated that 21 million victims are involved worldwide.

-It encourages AGGRESSIVE fantasies and behaviors, which can evolve into sexual abuse and assault of women and girls.

CONCLUSION In the words of St. John Paul II: “God assigned to every man the duty [to care for] the dignity of every woman.”7 One concrete way to do this is to stop supporting the industry that degrades them by stopping “consuming” pornography.

SOURCES - Pure Love and Pure Masculinity by Jason Evert. - Sexuality, Love, Holy Purity by José Miguel Ibañez Langlois. - How Does Pornography Consumption Affect Us? by Betania Center for Psychological Studies.

-9 Convincing reasons to reject PORNOGRAPHY in your life, Aciprensa.