Dude. I was in 4th grade when my friend and I found her dad's porn and whiskey stash under the tv room couch. Yes, she opened it. I don't remember much but from my now adult perspective that it was fairly hardcore. Not your average playboy stuff. I felt creepy around her dad from then on.

That's one of the reasons we don't subscribe to satellite TV anymore; I don't want to bring those images into my home. Like they said in priesthood session, there is pornography everywhere anymore.

Yeah, Val, but from everything I've heard, Switzerland is very bad about stuff like that. I know Ukraine was bad. I've heard that all of Europe has a much more relaxed attitude towards pornography, which is very unfortunate.

Everybody so far has been exposed to it. Interesting...

Living in Europe and serving a mission there is a little bit different.

Seems like you're thumbing your nose at men who may not lose control when they see a nude woman? And I don't think nudity=porn. What images "do" to different people differs just as their minds, thoughts and desires differ.

Cocobeem wrote:

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My sister lives in Sweden and they have mainly topless beaches. The LDSs are supposed to wear their bikini tops, from what I gather.

I think it's different in Europe, though. It's the human form, not just a stimulant. I've heard Europeans say they can always know the Americans because their tongues are hanging out... it's more conditioning than environment, maybe. There's just as much immorality/sex crime in the US, isn't there?

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 Of course their tongues hang out. They're not used to it. The Europeans are. That doesn't mean that they don't objectify the body. Every talk about porn I've heard has emphasized that the more you view it, the more desensitized you become, and the more hardcore stuff you need to see. The Europeans have become desensitized to simply seeing a naked body. They need more hardcore stuff.

Coco, which would you be more comfortable with, a doctor performing a physical examination on your daughter and giving her the chance to disrobe behind a privacy screen and put on a hospital gown, or a doctor telling your daughter "just take it all off, I've seen it all before"? In neither situation is the doctor likely to take advantage of the situation or even have improper thoughts. But you treat sacred things in a sacred manner.

Somethings some people just choose to not understand, I guess.

What I hate is ambush porn. I had a guy in highschool once tell me to check out something. As I looked over he had a naked lady playing card held up to my face. Then there's my uncle who on occassion will email a picture that is inappropriate to all his email contacts. He's older and on a lot of meds so I don't think he intentionally does it but I'm careful now after a couple of incidents. It used to be that you could walk into the barn or shop at some of the farms and see this smut on the walls but lawsuits have about ended it. The threat of getting slapped with a lawsuit for sexual harrassment has changed alot. It's so pervasive now that I cannot imagine someone going through life without seeing it at some point. I know that many people in the world see nothing wrong with it and many wives and girlfriends suffer because their husbands are addicted to the stuff yet the world says it is ok so they just feel cheapened. I've heard where some guys get so dessensitized to it that they can no longer become aroused by their wife or girlfriend because of the porn.

When I was a teen I started looking at the swimsuit and underwear ads that came with newspaper. I figured it was harmless because they were technically covered up and it was an advertisement that came with the newspaper so it couldn't be bad. Of course that mental justification didn't last long as I knew I wasn't looking at them because I was looking for a bargain on a french cut one piece swimsuit. So I stopped looking at the ad inserts altogether. I feel fortunate that I did because I don't know where that dabbling might have led to. Probably more justification for more hardcore stuff later on. It was easy because it was available (paper was delivered every day) and I didn't have to hide it. I almost tremble with the thought of how dangerous it was and what could have happened. I have wondered if that is how some young men may start. With the internet now it is even easier to get access to this stuff. On a couple of occassions over the years I've accidentally run across it on the web and have scrambled to get it off the screen. I've become very careful what I type into search engines anymore because so many things that sound harmless to me end up having some double meaning.

My SIL accidentally came up with a surefire way to make sure her son never looks at porn. Her son came home from 4th grade that day, very upset that he'd seen porn. Apparently there was a National Geographic in the classroom and he'd flipped through it after finishing his regular work. There were pictures of a native tribe and the women were topless.

While trying to explain why that wasn't porn, my SIL said, "that's just how they live. Porn would be, like, someone paying me to be in pictures like that." At the look on his face  when she suggested that someone like his mom might be the subject of porn, she realized she had just turned him off from porn for all time . . . .

It would be great if we could expand your bubble, Euphie.

It's been a few years since there were any accidental sightings that I am aware of at home, we have been pretty open and honestly about the way these issues arise... So far you trust has not been broken.

Our filters keep us from viewing a lot of the links that are posted here at Bountiful even. If there is an inappropriate word I can't even view an embedded YouTube Video... I am grateful they the filters work so well... Still a few years ago there was a hit that was sad... I think pretty much all of us got he email that made it trough our filters... Fortunately we were able to warn Son1 who was leaving a couple weeks later for the field...

We have very good family protections in place and avoid obvious issue areas...

btw, I think the talk in conference was given to diffuse the shock and steel the proper response to "ambush porn". The whole story of David is the perfect example of "How to get addicted to porn".

TT- Exactly.

Cat Herder wrote:

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For all intensive purposes though,

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This was AWESOME!    I had a flashback to Kelly Bundy... heehee  hoo ... hoooo..... oh, man.

You meant, For all intents and purposes, right?

The human body, of course, is not pornographic. You are right in that it is the sexualization of said body that causes problems. But we have rules of modesty because most of humanity is not perfect enough to just shrug off the viewing of exposed flesh.
Obviously, hopefully we will eventually become like Heavenly Father in all ways. One of His qualities is that, even though He knows everything, the bad stuff doesn't tempt Him. He knows the contents of every Playboy ever published, for instance, but it has no effect on Him other than to make Him sad. We need to achieve that level of righteousness. But until we reach that, the rules of modesty are a wonderful aid to us in working on our salvation
Remember, David began his fall from grace when he saw a naked woman. There was nothing sinful about her appearance. The sin was in watching her and having lustful thoughts. David could have avoided so much trouble by simply turning away and going back into his palace, instead of staying there and watching.
So I remain unconvinced that there is anything innocent, natural, or even proper about the relaxed European attitude towards nudity.

Well, I like to think that the natural reaction can be overcome. For instance, I fervently hope that male gynecologists do not have a reaction when practicing their trade. But I think that Jason is right that it is there to begin with, and needs to be brought under control. "Overcoming the natural man" and all that.

Michaelangelos David... Is it art or is it porn?

--Ray

I don't know, but the David lightswitch cover always makes me blush.

Ewww.

I think this stuff affects men and women differently also. Men are generally very visually stimulated. I'll admit if I see a good looking woman showing a little too much skin the natural reactions come into play. If I was a doctor perhaps I could turn on the mechanical aspect of the human body as a machine. Heck they've taken bodies apart and put them back together so many times it is a wonder that they don't start looking at us as big meat puppets. Sometimes the knowledge of the mechanics can make one see things more clinically. I can butcher an animal and not think twice about it because I've done it so many times. I guess with medical training I could see the human body like that too. I like to have the full hot blooded American male reaction though. That way when my wife bends over to pick up some laundry I can feel the full biochemical reaction. Which brings up another point.

Biochemical reaction would be a great name for a metal band.

I think that one has been used already.

"I know it when I see it" - Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart defining pornography in an obscenity case.

Arbi, how come there isn't a question about robots in your survey?

Cat's request for keeping things gospel-centered got me thinking about the applicability of a gospel definition.  If we base our definition strictly on the teaching of  Jesus, "But I say unto you that whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath commited adultery already in his heart" (Matt 5:28, 3N 12:28), then the definition is subjective and limited in applicability.  For example:  A man with a foot fetish sees a woman trying on shoes in JC Penny, becomes aroused, takes home a sales flyer, and engages in sexual fantasy.  Gospel definition--porn.  Community definition--not porn.  A gay man sees part of a video of a nude sorority party and is not aroused (or even interested) in the least.  Gospel definition--not porn. Community definition--porn. I think that's what Justice Stewart was driving at--the difficulty of definition.  We've seen that on this very thread.

The good thing about the gospel definition is that if one's reaction is to immediately turn away and discipline one's thoughts, the ambush porn doesn't really count.