Porn is Not the Problem

I grew up hearing all about the dangers of pornography from Christian leaders. Young Christians are constantly taught that watching pornography is sinful. However, from my own experience, I have found that watching pornography is only a symptom of a much deeper problem that many young men and women face. Porn itself is not the problem. Porn is not the sin. The real problem, the real sin, is sexual lust and objectification.

Lust. This word is thrown around a lot, but what does it mean? I believe the answer is actually simple. It is a synonym of coveting. Jesus said, "everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28, NASB). The Greek word translated as lust in this passage is also translated elsewhere in the Bible as covet, desire, and longing. The NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon says the word refers to "those who seek things forbidden." Similarly, the tenth commandment is this: "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor" (Exodus 20:17, NASB). Lusting for a woman means thinking of her as an object to be craved instead of a person to be respected and loved.

Lust goes hand in hand with sexual objectification. The objectification of women is rampant in our culture and in our media. Women are often used as mere attractive objects in advertising. TV shows and movies treat "getting the girl" as the ultimate goal, which usually just means getting in her pants. Pornography treats women as things to be used for selfish pleasure. Porn doesn't show you the full personality and vibrant life of a woman — it shows you only her sexuality and sells you her body's desirability. Beauty magazines, paparazzi, gossip, catcalling, the list goes on — women are constantly treated as one-dimensional objects with only one attribute: sex appeal. We live in a hookup culture, a consumer culture, a porn culture, a rape culture, where people are used and then discarded like disposable sex toys.

Pornography is only one particular manifestation of this brutal cycle of lust and sexual objectification. There are many more manifestations that are just as damaging. Some are even more damaging because they are more socially acceptable.

Until we start to deal with our own hearts, our own motivations, and own our attitudes toward sexuality, nothing will change. We must strive to change ourselves and then change our culture, or else we will continue to perpetuate a world where it is the norm to objectify and abuse others.