Analysis of the phenomenon of pornography

Analysis of the phenomenon of pornography

Introduction

Ancient Greek mythology is already full of sexuality and its depiction. Greek culture captures representations of prostitution and sexual indulgence. Chinese and Indian cultures are full of depictions of erotic themes in paintings or sculptures. In those times it was paintings on pottery, and temples decorated with erotic scenes. In Indian culture, these were sculptures and reliefs depicting the Kama Sutra on temples dating from the 10th and 11th centuries. The form of representation changed in history with the arrival of print, and in recent decades with the availability of the internet and the emergence of digital content.

Pornography therefore still has its enthusiasts and admirers in the world today (a liberal view), but also its opponents who hold a radical opinion—its complete prohibition in the production of pornographic materials. Pornography is almost everywhere around us. If one turns on mass media, our senses are daily surrounded by scenes that are stimulating for many and in some cases could even be described as arousing.

Early attempts to define pornography can be dated to the beginning of the 19th century. Pornography/porno/ pornocracy/ porno culture—whatever we call it—has, since the 1960s of the last century, become the dominant culture of Western civilization. Wherever there is even a hint of nudity, or even merely some sexual content, it sells well. Pornography was, is, and will be about money.

Pornography is a word of Greek origin and means immoral literature, image, or film, literary trash, obscene writing, or obscene images. The etymological origin comes from ancient Greek and is a compound of two words: porne and graphia. Porne means bride and graphien means to write. In everyday speech, it could be translated as a description of the life, habits and activity of prostitutes. Colloquially, porno is the depiction or portrayal of the human body or sexual activity intended to cause sexual arousal or satisfaction. Pornography is in a sense similar to eroticism, which is a form of artistic shaping of pornography. Today we call pornography any written, visual, or audio material with sexual content. The porn business is trade in pornographic materials, from photographs, through cassettes, books and magazines, films, to live performance. Pornography penetrates throughout society, all social layers, all occupations, all age groups. People’s dependence on pornography is not always visible.

In our increasingly secularized society, the population is gradually being taught not to focus on negative arguments about pornography, and this can create the impression that consuming pornography is completely normal and harmless.

Although pornography consumption is a trend in today’s societies of our civilization, it is rarely possible to meet critical analyses of this phenomenon. Even less is said about possible dangers. We mostly encounter only warnings that browsing porn sites increases the risk of having the computer blocked, and that some sites are paywalled.

Theories explaining pornography

In recent years, there has been a rise in the use of theories such as social exchange, sexual behavior observation, and erotophilia/erotophobia to explain why and how pornography consumption can affect individuals or their relationships.

Definitions of pornography by dictionaries of foreign words are not very helpful to us either, because definitions by authors who have dealt with this issue, and continue to deal with it, differ. For example:

• Rajman (1966) defines pornography as “pseudo-art trash of morally questionable content, created to satisfy primitive sexual drives, a set of writings or objects of this type”;
• The Small Encyclopedic Dictionary (1972) defines pornography as a verbal creation, image, film, or photograph with no purpose other than arousing sexual excitement;
• Schneider (1987) defines pornography as “the depiction of sexual events in words, images, and sound, created for the purpose of sexual arousal, substitute sexual gratification, and financial profit.” He is one of the few authors who also connects pornography with profit and financial benefit (in Chmelík, J., 2003).
• Among experts—psychologists, sexologists, psychiatrists—there are diametrically different opinions as to whether pornography is a criminogenic factor.

For the discussion of content and the definition of pornography, the following analysis of four general hypotheses is useful (Borneman, 1990):

1. If a person considers an act in itself harmful, they will find it difficult to view it as appropriate to depict. This hypothesis emphasizes a subjective view of the disclosure of sexuality and sexual arousal. Under this hypothesis two views can be distinguished: - everything that happens in the sphere of sexual contacts outside marriage and unrelated to procreation is immoral; - any depiction and presentation of sexual arousal is considered legitimate, regardless of whether it is commercial presentation/profit or involves a child as the object of arousal, and so on.
2. Sexual intercourse is dialogue between two partners, and therefore sexual activities without a partner are perverse. From this perspective, all sexual deviations—such as fetishism, exhibitionism, or voyeurism, where an object, not a human being, is the partner in sexual arousal; also masturbation and reading erotic magazines—would be obscene and can be labeled pornographic and harmful. It is very hard to claim that the mentioned practices of sexual arousal can be performed with a partner.
3. Pornography ceases to be pornography once it comes from an artist. This hypothesis is fundamentally accepted today, of course with some significant reservations. It concerns the essence of defining pornography, its quality, and the purpose of depiction. The reservation applies in the sense that if artistic depiction presents lewdness, exhibitionism of children, exaggerated sexual aggression, sadism, or perversion, it is not an artwork; rather, it is considered pornography. In the generally accepted hypothesis that pornography is dangerous, it is hard to argue that the danger is reduced by the fact that the work was created by an artist. In general, in the porn industry most porn actors, directors, and screenwriters are considered artists. This statement is similar to saying that the atomic bomb is safe because it was created by experts in physics and chemistry.
4. Decent people come to immoral thoughts only after coming across pornography, because depicting “deviant” sexual behavior lures heterosexuals into deviant sexual practices. This hypothesis is followed by the question to what extent pornography is capable of pathologically influencing the sexual behavior of the examined subject. Research on the influence of pornography on human behavior is substantial. Ernst Boneman (1990) collected a large amount of empirical knowledge on pathological behavioral influence under pornography. In his conclusions, female and male sensitivity to erotic stimuli, whether through words or images, is identical and does not differ significantly. The differences found are attributed to libido strength, heredity, social upbringing, sexual practice, age, stress, and not least daytime versus nighttime conditions.

Pornographic materials were divided into:

• materials with erotic content that is non-aggressive—porno erotic material. It is perceived quite positively and is attributed a number of positive functions. According to sexologists, porno erotic materials can serve as a form of substitute for individuals who lack a natural partner. The positive influence of porno erotica is especially acknowledged among less sexually experienced individuals by encouraging them and alleviating fears about sexual life; it may also contribute to improving their sexual life. Cultivated porno erotica also has certain educational effects by acquainting certain segments of the population with the principles of so-called safe sex and AIDS prevention.
• aggressive pornography is a typical production of materials in which gross disrespect toward the person appears, containing a high degree of aggression and violence, presenting various levels of sexual perversions up to sadism (Chmelík, J., 2003).

Experts studying the phenomenon of pornography, however, agree:

• on the unequivocal prohibition of presenting sex with children in any form,
• as well as the need to prohibit sex with feces, with animals, and sex with unacceptable violence. These sexual practices are unequivocally marked as inappropriate and have no place in pornographic production. They need to be rooted out and prohibited because they demean human dignity.

In the 1950s and 1960s, courts began restricting pornography considered hard-core, because censoring all pornography would be easily challenged. In the 1980s, pornography became more accessible through the invention of video recorders and VHS tapes. Alliances then began to form lobbying for censorship. The year 1990 brought new concerns, as accessibility of pornography increased. The greatest change came with distribution of pornography through the internet. Pornography became easily available in greater quantities to virtually anyone, in private consumption at home, and often free of charge. This increased accessibility and consumption brought again the question of pornography’s influence on behavior, and particularly its availability to people younger than 18 (Ferguson and Hartley, 2009).

Pornography can today be unmistakably described as a society-wide phenomenon—both in Slovakia and beyond. With industrialization and technical progress, opportunities for dissemination and general availability of pornographic material also expanded. The internet opened unprecedented possibilities to the world, but also dangers in the spread of pornography. The rapid rise of the internet only confirmed pornography’s hegemony and the trend shows ongoing expansion.

Extensive debates on whether—and if so, how much—pornography benefits humanity are held at both lay and expert levels (Hupková, Z., 2016).

It is undeniable that morality is not a legal category but a moral, philosophical, and sociological one. Rules of morality are not fixed in law or codified. They are essentially determined by social contract and only partially overlap with behavioral rules regulated by legal order.

Definitions of pornography in this context are not helped by foreign-word dictionaries either, since definitions from authors who have addressed and continue to address this issue differ. Among experts—psychologists, sexologists, psychiatrists—there are diametrically opposed views on whether pornography is or is not a criminogenic factor.

Experts hold two views:

• A liberal approach emphasizes maximal individual freedom in deciding on sexual relationships and sees no reason to radically restrict and suppress pornography. A liberal position is not unusual (Johansson and Hammarén, 2007). As the authors further note, many young women look at pornography with contempt, though this is not true for all women. There are also those who view pornography positively or at least liberally and hold tolerant attitudes toward it.
• Conservatives, in contrast, identify pornography as a cause of promiscuous and pathologically sexual behavior of individuals who may commit immoral criminal sexual offenses (Chmelík, J., 2003).

Pornography is also a significant aid for sexological study and for medical science. Even in the psychiatric professional community, there is no consensus regarding possible influences of pornography on mental health.

Lawyers and doctors distinguish with regard to pornography between:

• eroticism, which they understand as a work without morbid content, and against which they do not have significant objections;- and pornography, which they judge should be prohibited as works aesthetically and morally inappropriate, in which disrespect for the human person appears, with a high degree of violence and sex involving children and animals.

To this overview of views on pornography, it is necessary to characterize the fundamental difference between pornography and so-called eroticism. Eroticism is an artistic form of work with intimate themes that evoke aesthetic experience, but without provocative to shocking stimuli. Erotic production may include poses of nude bodies of men and women, including depiction of genitals.

Even depiction of sexual intercourse can be classified as erotic if the following conditions are met:

• the depiction has a strong positive emotional tone;
• the depiction does not disrupt aesthetic feeling;
• sexual intercourse is the result of a natural impulse;
• the depiction respects the beauty of male and female bodies, charm, and uniqueness of the relationship;
• the depiction presents no violence, perversion, or anomaly in the sexual act (Chmelík, J., 2003).

The boundaries between eroticism and pornography are often and deliberately blurred. According to Rave (1985), eroticism means mutuality and mutual pleasure. A uniform definition of pornography does not exist. Several domestic and international authors agree on this: Haavio-Mannila and Kontula (2003); Ferguson and Hartley (2009); Chochola (2010); Uzel (2010); Máthé (2011); Ford and others (2012); Lambert and others (2012). The problem of studying pornography by different authors can be concluded by stating that it is quite appropriate to set certain rules and limits beyond which pornographic production should in no case go, in order not to endanger society and especially youth.

Another controversial issue among experts is the ban on the sale of pornographic works and the effectiveness of such a ban. Previous experience is not unequivocal and instead leads more to the conclusion that a sales ban makes this production attractive and more desired, and sales are displaced to the black market.

Some experts claim that depiction of the nude body or its intimate parts, displaying love scenes and sexual acts leads to moral criminality. It is very difficult to define pornography in a way that its designation would be unambiguous. From the above analysis, it can be stated with some certainty that pornography covers a natural human need as one of its basic life needs. In terms of satisfying these needs, pornography represents (except for exceptions) a negative phenomenon that is condemned and excluded by society. This claim, however, is not supported by empirical data or reliable studies, and so none of the views processed so far has offered a comprehensive perspective on pornography.

Child pornography

Basic norms of human behavior that were still widely valid a few decades ago have lost their validity. Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states the norm: “The family is the natural and fundamental unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state.” These value norms, customs, and laws were removed over the past forty years. Sexuality today attacks the most intimate moral structure of the person. The basic stance must be the conviction that this wonderful gift of sexuality needs cultivation so that it allows a person to have successful relationships and a successful life. On the contrary, unrefined indulgence of all drives destroys the person and culture. A person sexualized from childhood learns that it is good to use all drives without thinking and wrong to restrain them. Such a person uses their own body and the bodies of others to satisfy sexual drives rather than to express personal love (Gabriele Kuby, 2012).

Pornography is unquestionably harmful to the healthy and moral development of youth and for this reason should be considered a socio-pathological phenomenon. Since the mid-1980s, the issue of child sexual abuse and associated production and dissemination of child pornography has increasingly appeared in expert discussions. Child pornography is operated illegally and in secret.

Every click on the internet kills a child’s soul, and every image of child pornography on the internet shows a child being tortured. Child pornography results in especially severe forms of trauma for children, and dissociative disorders occur more often than in other forms of sexual violence. Children abused in this way are exposed to pathological disruption of personality development. Typical for child victims are feelings of deep confusion, disorientation, and alienation. The danger in child victims is also that they usually associate sexuality with violence and emotional dependency. Sexually abused children in adulthood are very susceptible to similarly deviant behavior and are potential perpetrators of moral criminal offenses (Chmelík, J., 2003).

Watching porn site content shortens childhood, awakens premature interest in sexuality for which children are unprepared and threatens their healthy psychological and physical development. Children and adolescents therefore often acquire a distorted idea not only of sex but especially of forming and maintaining intimate relationships between partners. In today’s hyper-sexualized age, there is a huge risk that a child will encounter pornographic content by accident, especially on the internet. In this case, parents must talk with them, explain the unreality of relationships portrayed in pornography, explain the deliberate nature of pornographic productions and their detachment from real life (Müllller, M., 2014).

The porn industry supports the sexualization of youth at schools because it gains future customers. Through watching porn, many people arrive at premature and premarital sex, which indirectly supports the business of contraceptives and abortion services. Above all, porn viewing stimulates sexual criminality such as rape, sexual abuse, pedophilia, human trafficking, and more. Pedophilia is professionally understood as a persistent or long-term attraction or reactivity with an erotic component directed predominantly or exclusively toward underage boys or girls.

With the liberalization of sexuality, pedophilia began to be considered a natural sexual orientation, just like homosexuality. At the beginning of last year, two Canadian psychologists declared that pedophilia is the same sexual orientation as homosexuality. Van Gijseghem, a psychologist and former university professor in Montreal, told members of parliament: “Pedophiles are not just people who commit wrongful acts in one way or another; they are simply pushed toward what they are pushed toward, just as people with homosexuality are.” Child abuse distorts understanding of social norms and morality. Abusers often consider pornography their means of subsistence, especially boys who publicly identify as homosexual without embarrassment.

The Agency for Fundamental Rights, founded in Vienna in 2007, promotes newly emerging human rights whose central themes are the struggle against homophobia and Islamophobia, that is, introducing into our lives especially trans-cultural influences that we cannot avoid (Muslims living in the EU).

Over the last twenty years, the top priority of policy at all levels has become the “gender agenda.” Many citizens have trouble dealing with this term and professional positions vary. The EU strategy is gender mainstreaming to achieve gender equality in all areas of public and private life. With gender mainstreaming, however, this is more than equalizing men and women. It is about establishing equality through deconstructing bipolar hierarchical gender relations and achieving sex diversity that is equally valuable and equally legitimate (Kuby Gabriele, 2012).

Consequences of consuming pornography

The primary desire and physical gratification in pornography is central, while courtship, commitment, and long-term relationships are absent. It is a world of fantasy in which women are permanently aroused, want sex with unknown men, and always achieve orgasm.

Pornography also brings into human sexual fantasy feelings such as anger and aggressiveness. People did not originally seek these feelings. They affect us so much that we lose ourselves. We usually do not realize that by watching porn, we ourselves contribute to the spread of filmed prostitution.

Using pornography can have positive and negative impact on the user. As with all pornography, there are individuals who will differ from each other in what they consider negative and what they consider positive within pornography and sexually explicit materials.

Psychologists today struggle with a drastic rise in dependency on porn. According to experts, every day the number of people consuming internet pornography rises. A person addicted to porn cannot help themselves and compulsively, in essence constantly, must watch materials with pornographic content. Pornography addiction negatively impacts sufferers’ lives. It affects their daily functioning, intimate partnership, employment relations, and social relationships.

Negative consequences of pornography: Although pornography was for a long time considered a diagnostic and therapeutic tool in sexual therapy (Wylie and Pace, 2011; Hald et al., 2014 in Landripet and Štulhofer, 2015), it is suggested that the epidemiological incidence of erectile dysfunction and a lack of a partner’s sexual interest may actually be caused by pornography consumption (Ley et al., 2014).

In the study by Short et al. (2012), some negative consequences associated with consuming internet pornography are reported: it disrupts relationships, financial and professional functioning, causes emotional problems, and causes sexual dissatisfaction. Pornophilia brings relationship breakdown, loss of trust, and painful breakups if it is not stopped in time. A dependent man eventually loses self-esteem and under the burden of guilt from a wrecked life usually falls to the bottom of existence—alcoholism, drugs, becoming homeless, and often also committing sexually motivated criminal conduct.

Pornography has two most serious problems on its conscience:

• through the arousal it brings, we quickly become dependent;
• according to pornography, which the adolescent generation consumes, its future sexual behavior develops accordingly.

Dr. Norman Doidge, a Canadian expert, describes in his renowned book The Brain That Changes Itself (2007) all lasting neuroplastic changes in the brain caused by pornography, just as by other similar addictions.

Precisely causing permanent and long-term changes in brain functioning is one of the most serious consequences of consuming porn. It is a gradual process in which prolonged and repeated viewing of erotic and pornographic materials combined with masturbation can very often also lead to chemical-biological brain damage.

According to another specialist on this issue, Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, harmful brain change is caused by atrophy/shrinking of the frontal lobe. This damage then creates anatomical and pathological changes that manifest in serious brain dysfunctions.

Another unwanted phenomenon brought by pornography consumption is the disruption of interpersonal relationships, especially of a romantic character. It is a weakening of the ability to love in a romantic sense. In the view of affected people, sex is completely separated from family and children, further weakening the link between sexual life and the roles of spouse and parent.

The most well-known effect is that consumers consider their physical sexual partners less attractive than virtual ones, and naturally, during intercourse they project previously seen erotic and pornographic images and scenes. Experts write about this factor as a serious negative.

Positive consequences of pornography

In comparison with negative consequences, positive ones are much fewer. And this is not because we do not strive to identify as many positive effects of consuming pornography as possible. Primarily, this is due to the lack of research focused on positive effects of porn consumption. Fortunately, we can say exceptions confirm the rule, and we managed to write a section on positive consequences of pornography consumption, which we present.

Positive consequences include:

• Women’s sexuality can, according to Bryant (2010), show overall improvement in sexual life and improvement in attitudes toward sex;
• Cross-cultural research suggests that greater availability of pornography may contribute to reducing deviant behavior;
• Expanded availability of pornography may play a role in reducing sexual criminality;
• Short et al. (2012) identify the following positive effects of consuming internet pornography: stress reduction, reduction of boredom, promotion of positive feelings, and increased level of sexual knowledge;
• Consuming pornography positively correlated with increased sexual self-confidence in both genders (Morrison et al., 2004);
• Playboy readers report that regular reading of the magazine serves as a source of information about sex and supports the development of a concept of sexual self-discovery (Beggan and Allison, 2003);
• A noteworthy result is the Playboy analysis itself, which shows a lack of correct information about women, sex, and relationships;
• It further emphasizes how pornography containing correct information can be educational (Beggan et al., 2000);
• In the book PornografiE or Provocative Nudity (Uzel, 2004), we read that non-violent pornography is routinely used by sex therapists, meaning explicit films are recommended to patients who do not understand certain sexual functions, or recommended to couples as support for sexual communication leading to improved sexual relationships;
• Another positive example is Scandinavia, where a liberal approach to pornography caused a visible decrease in sexual criminality.

Experts dealing with the treatment of pornography addiction know how strong an impact dependence on pornography can have on human lives. Some experts even hesitate to label pornography as an addiction, because they believe users get an excuse: “I cannot help it, I am addicted.” It may surprise no one that pornography consumption is addictive, similarly to drugs. Its effects are particularly compared with the effects of cocaine and heroin.

Despite controversies, many psychiatrists and clinical psychologists clearly favor the existence of a diagnosis of pornography addiction. Together with addictions to the internet, gaming, shopping, and work, these form a group of non-substance addictions (Šmídová, E., 2008).

Promotion of pedophilia

Legal regulation of pornography in the Slovak Republic

The operation and use of pornography in the Slovak Republic is not criminal. For criminal law purposes, pornography can be defined as any object, depiction, or presentation of sexual organs, sexual or other intercourse, which, when presented publicly in a way that humiliates human dignity and grossly interferes with good morals, usually provokes feelings of shame and disgust, emphasizes aggressiveness, and in an especially intense and intrusive way pathologically stimulates the sexual drive (Chmelík, J., 2003).

In the Slovak Republic, the criminal offense of endangering morality has been substantially amended several times, and emphasis is placed on protecting children from the influence of pornography. Criminal Code No. 300/2005 Z. z., in its second special part, in the ninth chapter titled “Crimes against other rights and freedoms,” regulates the production, dissemination, and possession of child pornography and endangering morality in these provisions. With the introduction of new legal acts, sanctions for crimes endangering moral education of youth have also increased significantly. The production and dissemination of child pornography, possession of child pornography, and participation in a child pornographic performance are also punished more severely.

Crimes related to child pornography

Under criminal activity related to child pornography, we understand the legal elements of production, dissemination, possession of child pornography, and participation in a child pornographic performance. Child pornography represents a serious violation of children’s basic rights to protection and care. Children’s rights are set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (2000).

In accordance with Directive of the European Parliament and Council of the EU No. 2011/92/EU of 13 December 2011 on the fight against the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and against child pornography, which replaces Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA of the Council, child pornography may be understood as “depictions recording sexual abuse of children by adults. It can also include depictions of children involved in clearly sexual conduct or depictions of their sexual organs when these depictions are used primarily for sexual purposes and exploited with or without the child’s awareness. The term child pornography also applies to realistic depictions of a child in which the child participates, or is shown participating, in clearly sexual conduct, primarily for sexual purposes” (Hullová, M., 2017).

On the basis of these documents, in the national context and in accordance with the criminal law system (within Criminal Code 300/2005 Z. z. in its currently valid wording—hereafter CC), the following offense provisions may be included among crimes related to child pornography to control this undesirable phenomenon in the Slovak Republic, provided that they are directly connected with child-pornography criminal activity: (Production of child pornography § 368 CC, Dissemination of child pornography § 368 CC; Possession of child pornography and participation in a child pornographic performance § 370 CC; Endangering morality § 372 CC; Human trafficking § 179 paras. 2–5 CC; Handing over a child to another’s control for the purpose of child labor or other purpose § 181 CC; Sexual abuse § 201a CC; Endangering moral upbringing of youth § 211 CC).

The problem of child pornography is truly very sensitive and to some extent taboo. It is nonetheless indisputably current and in any case requires focused societal attention for its resolution.

In the new Slovak legal framework, generality has disappeared and there is a strongly highlighted protection of children from pornography. Not through causal paths via the substantive elements alone, but through the manner in which the offense is committed. Therefore, one can attribute to Slovak legal regulation a certain progressiveness and timelessness, as it already allows for the prosecution of new methods of committing this crime.

Conclusion

In contemporary society, accessibility of pornography is easier than it was only a few years ago, even decades. Increased accessibility is influenced not only by cable television, but mainly by the internet. A large part of this is due to artistic works and music videos, which become more engaging the more of the female body is exposed, and to kinds of advertising, from which sexual material appears to literally jump off the television screen.

Pornography consumption is a society-wide problem. Almost every young person has encountered it directly or indirectly. Referring to various information and expert opinions in fields of morality, sexuality, pornography, which then lead to a legal view of these immoral acts that also must be prosecuted, cannot be ignored. They intrude into the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens. At the same time, this is a topic that continuously develops and changes.

Therefore, it is necessary to mention several approaches to successfully addressing it. At EU level, technical restriction of access to internet erotic and porn sites so that children cannot reach them would be technically possible through legislation. Similar solutions, however, are ineffective and technically unworkable, because servers offering pornographic content are located outside the EU and at the same time it is impossible to verify the age of a visitor to these sites. By blocking IP addresses, pages move to other addresses within a few hours. Operators create additional similar sites in a short time.

Parents protect children from inappropriate content in light of the emotional and mental development of the child and want to raise wise children. They should therefore also use technical tools known as parental locks through applications such as “parental control,” which are already part of several antivirus products (for example, ESET Parental Control: https://parentalcontrol.eset.com). They are also built into Microsoft operating systems through family management in “Family Safety Center” (https://account.microsoft.com/family/), where you create accounts for family members with corresponding permission settings. Apple’s macOS Sierra also has Parental Controls built in (https://support.apple.com/kb/ph25799?locale=en_US). Parents should raise younger children and fill their development with good and cultivated stimuli, and above all protect them. For adolescents, prohibitions and restrictions are short-term and myopic solutions, similar to turning off electricity or tying up young people’s hands. In this case, emphasis should be placed on trust and open, honest communication about this issue and its risks.

At the state level, legal measures must be taken to adopt regulations that make simple promotion and dissemination of erotic and pornographic materials in public spaces impossible. The relevant state authorities must prosecute perpetrators of sexually toned crimes, especially those endangering the moral upbringing of youth.

Within families, it is necessary to cultivate good and loving relationships between spouses and between parents and children. Children should be provided, at an appropriate time and age-appropriately, with the information they need so they can protect themselves from sexualization, harassment, and abuse when away from home. This requires active participation and care from parents.

Individuals must try not to fall into porn addiction; and if they already have and cannot get out of it, they should turn to communities that treat addictions.

Autor: Ing., Judr. Otília Hamacková

LIST OF USED LITERATURE

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