Pornography
General Purpose: To Persuade
Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience of 4 problems, and 2 solutions of pornography.
Organizational Pattern: Cause, Problem, Solution
Introduction:
I. Attention Getter: According to Pornhub, a popular pornography website, 64 million people each day visit this website to watch pornography.
II. Introduce Subject: My name is xxx, and today, I am going to show you how pornography is destructive to our society. Maybe hearing the word “pornography” is scary, embarrassing, or intriguing but…
III. Reason to Listen: If you promote safety of children and society along with the physical and emotional health of individuals, it is important to be aware of this issue.
IV. Credibility: Personally, I have seen pornography, and I first saw it when I was 13. Am I proud of it? No, I felt shameful and confused… Additionally, I have people in my life who have struggled with porn addiction. That is why this topic is so important to me.
V. Preview of main points: So today, I will first tell you about the history of pornography and how it has evolved and then I will tell you the 3 problems of this behavior.
Body
Main Point 1: Facts
I. History:
a. According to our class survey, 79% of you said that pornography has become worse overtime.
b. Surprisingly, from the second and third centuries pornography has existed. As time has progressed the type of content being shown has changed.
c. Pornography was first depicted through artwork and sculptures. Which later progressed to erotic writing became popular and accessible due to the printing press in the 1800s.
d. What we might define pornography as occurred within the 19th and 20th centuries when pornographic DVDs, films, and the creation of the internet shaped a profitable industry. Individuals were given the freedom to pornography in privacy without feeling exposed (Jenkins).
e. Today’s pornography has taken on a very violent and aggressive form of sexual content. There are minor limitations in terms of what is being shown online. (Pappas).
i. According to Emily Rothman, a professor of community health, found in 2014 that 66 percent of men and 36 percent of women watch porn (Rothman). It is obvious that this abusive material is growing in popularity.
II. Sign Post:
a. Internal review: Now that I’ve explained the history of pornography.
b. Internal preview: Now I will go into depth of the problems of this sexualized content.
Main Point 2: Problems
a. According to our class survey 57% of this class believes that Pornography is bad for society, while the other 43% would disagree.
II. Although those who advocate pornography find feelings of relaxation and a way to express sexuality there are a plethora of problems that pornography can affect one’s health in and out of this industry.
a. According to Donald Hilton, part of a department of neurosurgery, consumers can become addicted when watching pornography due to a pleasure chemical dopamine. When this reward chemical producing exhilaration is released when one is exposed to new material (Hilton). This is why people become addicted and have urges to progressively watch different types of pornography.
i. This addiction can also cause depression, anxiety and other health issue such as sexual dysfunction which effects one’s relationships and sexual experiences.
III. The second problem with pornography is that it’s a gateway to child exploitation and exposure to explicit content at a young age.
a. According to Amy O’Leary, a professional writer and reporter, Children as young as six years old are being exposed to pornography (O’Leary).
b. Why is this a problem? According to Miranda Hovarth, A researcher of pornography, Exposure to this content can affect a child’s physical development, psychological thinking, and overall lifestyle (Horvath). I believe that we need to protect our future generation.
c. In terms of child exploitation, in 2011, 17.3 million images of children were found and investigated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and that number has doubled each year (“Fighting Sex Trafficking”).
d. Why is this happening? Because of the easily accessible nature of pornography, more websites are putting out content that is hard to discern ages. For instance, a girl might be 16 and it may be hard to discern if is 18 or legally an “adult”.
e. Although those who advocate pornography would side with the fact that parental supervision needs to be at the forefront of this issue, it is almost impossible to avoid this content when searched.
IV. The third problem with pornography is that it promotes sexual abuse which can form similar behaviors in society.
a. Today’s form of pornography is violent in and outside of the industry.
b. According to Rape response services, 20% of women experience some form of sexual assault in their lifetime (“National Statistics”). This is believed to occur because individuals learn this behavior through this sexual content.
c. Ted Bundy, a rapist and serial killer stated, “I’ve met a lot of men who were motivated to commit violence just like me and without expectation, every one of them was deeply involved with pornography” (“Connection”).
d. Although not every serial killer has had ties to pornography, isn’t it important to avoid the chances of people adopting this violent sexual behavior?
Conclusion
I. Review:
a. In summary, I have talked about the history of pornography, and the 3 problems of it being health concerns, lack of child protection and child abuse, and sexual abuse.
II. Clincher:
a. With all this said, society craves this sexualized entertainment. If we didn’t there wouldn’t be 69 million viewers on a porn website each day. But before you advocate or enjoy this content ask yourself these questions… How important is societies health? How frustrating is addiction? How important is the safety of children and individuals all around the world? Take a stand against pornography and promote the health and safety around the globe. Thank you.