Pornography leads to lack of real emotion

In generations past, pornography was a dirty magazine in a brown paper bag. The Internet revolution has turned every computer into a discreet paper bag, making pornography more accessible and removing the stigma once attached to it.\nBetween 1998 and 2003, there was an 1,800 percent increase in the number of Web sites offering pornography, according to the N2H2/Secure Computing Corp. With the increase in availability, it can only be assumed that an increase in use follows. This increase includes a disturbing 37 percent of 18- to 24-year-old males who admit to visiting pornographic Web sites, according to a poll by Zogby International. \nIt is obvious that Internet pornography is a selfish and solitary pursuit. The antithesis of this is a relationship with a live, flesh-and-blood human being. Any relationship, romantic or otherwise, requires a level of selflessness on the part of both parties involved; it is judged that companionship is worth the compromise necessary to gain it. The romantic relationship is perhaps the most selfless of all. This selflessness is generally unnatural at first, but a few thousand years of human experience seem to indicate that most of the species think it's worth the effort.\nPornography divorces the selflessness of a romantic relationship from the sexual fulfillment found therein. It wraps the most intense of human passions and emotions in the package of a self-serving sexual rush and nullifies the most powerful impetus drawing men and women together. The man who can solitarily satisfy himself with airbrushed photos has no need for a real relationship with a real woman. Pornography trains the user to be comfortable and satisfied while unplugged from reality.\nPornography leaves the user with an unrealistic view of how relationships should work and ultimately contributes to unstable relationships and marriages. Since many people meet their spouses while at college, pornography use at IU must be recognized as the lurking menace that it is.