What's the first thing you see when you log onto Myspace?
A couple nights ago, I was reading an article about how American culture is permeating to other countries, and with it, the image of a "beautiful woman." I read that in the Philippines, billboards display provocatively-dressed girls. In Middle Eastern countries, women try to model the sexy figures they see in Hollywood-produced films and TV shows.
Several Muslims replied to the article, explaining that their religion does not tolerate such a sexual portrayal of women. That's why their women are dressed modestly. I am a Christian who believes similarly, that beauty is not seen with the eyes but the heart; by promoting such an unhealthy view of women, we develop filters around our eyes to only see them as bodies, as flesh.
On the same note, the pornography industry makes more money than football, baseball, basketball, and several other sports franchises combined. At my college, a bulletin board contained facts on the topic, and one conclusion was that with the rise of pornography, a social injustice has dramatically risen, too: Rape.
This returns me to my question. What do you see all throughout Myspace? I see advertisements. Half the time, they portray women in bikinis and suggestive poses. These pictures are fed into our generation and the generation after us. What will our country look like, our eyes blinded by these pictures?
I don't like stating problems without solutions. On an individual level, I think prayer is important. I constantly need help from God to cleanse my view of women, to restore it to a healthy one where I see them as not as bodies, but as people, as God's children.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
And again, we blame Hollywood. And the media... and everyone else. Who we emulate ultimately falls on US to decide; what we value and what we find to be attractive, acceptable, and everything else, all of these are decisions we have to make. Education is certainly a step in the right direction, but to place a blanket claim that Hollywood holds the keys to all of our subconscious thoughts and desires is ludicrous, not to mention worn out.
You like naked blonds with big breasts because you're male, not because Hollywood told you to. It is up to you to decide if you have the capacity to combine physical attraction with the other elements that make up a human. Also, I'd check your sources on the supposed link between pornography and rape: rape has been around since the dawn of time, and if anything, was even more prevalent in the past because women were seen as the 'spoils of war'.
Rape may be on the rise in the United States, but that doesn't mean the correlation is pornography. Rapists rape, and I don't think whether or not they can download Paris Hilton's latest video will change their persuasion.
PS: The reports of indecency in Muslim society have to be taken with a grain - no, a whole shaker - of salt. We called women promiscuous and 'whorish' during the liberation movement in the United States. It is quite likely that these reports of immodesty are merely the grumblings of the conservative element being faced with reform and personal liberty for women.
--Matt Corley
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/matthew-corley
Matt, thanks for your ideas. You're right that a rise in pornography does not necessarily explain the increase of rape. The point of my post still remains, that the influence of provocative images damages my view of women, and perhaps the vision of many more people.
I found some information from erasethedark.com: "In a study of convicted rapists, 86% of the rapists admitted to routine use of pornography, while 57% said that they would actually mimic specific pornographic scenes while raping a woman." Again, this does not necessarily mean pornography causes rape, but it leads me to ask, "What factors influence someone to commit such an act?" "Is pornography one of those factors?"
I like your idea that it is up to individuals to decide what TV channels we watch, or what websites we visit. It seems to me that the media often penetrate our choices. Billboards, commercials, and internet advertisements displaying these images - especially on television shows or websites unrelated to adult content - are almost impossible to avoid.