Tag: Porn

C.S. Lewis on Masturbation

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In the New Year, Matt and I will be discussing the chapter in “Mere Christianity” on the subject of sexual morality. In that episode, I intend to speak briefly about masturbation. C.S. Lewis doesn’t explicitly address the subject of masturbation in that work, but he does in a letter he wrote to the young American named Keith Masson:

“For me the real evil of masturbation would be that it takes an appetite which, in lawful use, leads the individual out of himself to complete (and correct) his own personality in that of another (and finally in children and even grandchildren) and turns it back; sends the man back into the prison of himself, there to keep a harem of imaginary brides. And this harem, once admitted, works against his ever getting out and really uniting with a real woman.

For the harem is always accessible, always subservient, calls for no sacrifices or adjustments, and can be endowed with erotic and psychological attractions which no woman can rival. Among those shadowy brides he is always adored, always the perfect lover; no demand is made on his unselfishness, no mortification ever imposed on his vanity.

In the end, they become merely the medium through which he increasingly adores himself. . . . After all, almost the main work of life is to come out of our selves, out of the little dark prison we are all born in. Masturbation is to be avoided as all things are to be avoided which retard this process. The danger is that of coming to love the prison.”

– Personal Letter From Lewis to Keith Masson (1956)
The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3

Sounds almost exactly like something Jason Evert or Matt Fradd would write today!

Bringing out the best in men

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Now, to be honest, I’m not much of a Vanity Fair magazine reader. I guess I’m not really part of their core demographic. After all, it’s not like their articles regularly reference Star Wars, martial arts, Catholic theology or computer programming languages. As such, typical Vanity Fair content is not really my thing.

However, the November issue of Vanity Fair features something that attracted my interest, an interview with Jennifer Lawrence, the star of the popular “Hunger Games” movies.

Katniss_peeta_train

As you may know, about a month ago Miss Lawrence’s iCloud account was hacked and nude photos found there were released onto the internet. In the Vanity Fair interview she spoke about this invasion of privacy and the trauma she experienced as a result. In the part where she spoke about the photos, she made a comment which I found no less revealing than the pictures themselves. Here’s what she said:

“I was in a loving, healthy, great relationship for four years. It was long distance, and either your boyfriend is going to look at porn or he’s going to look at you.”

I’m afraid to say that the sentiment expressed here is one which may well be felt by other women, which makes me very sad.

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TOT: The Reality of Porn

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Last week we had the final session of our Theology On Tap series here in San Diego. I had not encountered Theology on Tap (ToT) until I came to America so, in case you have not been exposed to it, it’s an outreach and catechesis initiative embraced by many Catholic dioceses as part of their Young Adult ministry.

Typically what happens at ToT is that the Catholic Young Adults from a diocese take over a bar or restaurant. They eat some food, drink a beer and then listen to a talk given by a speaker. The idea behind ToT is to give young Catholics an opportunity to hang out together (or if you want to be super-spiritual about it, “fellowship”) and learn about the faith in a relaxed, informal setting.

The talk was entitled: “The Reality Behind the Fantasy of Porn : An interview with an ex-porn star who shares her story”. The chap conducting the interview was Matt Fradd, a recent addition to the Catholic Answers team. He’s been involved in the area of chastity for some time and, in particular, helping men and women recover from pornography. Recently I went to the recording of his new DVD, The Man Talk.

During this final session of ToT, Matt interviewed his friend April, who was in the porn industry for some time, but who now works to help those who wish to get out of that life.

The porn industry is massive and, as the title of the talk suggests, the purpose of the interview is to show the reality of porn, rather than the fantasy which is so often sold to us. As Matt says in his talk Taking Down Goliath, the problem with porn is not that it shows too much, but that it shows too little, reducing a woman to a collection of body parts to be lusted after, rather than a person to be loved.

Main Talk (Download)

Q&A (Download)

(The intro/outro music is Public Domain and available here)

UPDATE: During the talk Matt mentions an interview he did with a girl who had recently become a stripper. The interview is available here on his blog.