Sex and the Internet

FOCUS:

In what way can it be argued that technology is redefining our sense of self and community? This is a broad and far reaching question. The test community I have chosen to evaluate this question on is young college age males. Particularly those from the ages of 18-22. Do be more definitive I was privileged to actually gain insight on this subject from some student right here in the Drew Forest. In the next pages I will examine the lifestyles of two Drew students both male and there stories of how internet pornography effects their image of self and how they interact with others. I am examining this question in the context of two paradigms or premises. The first premise that I will examine underneath is a theory that I call the Turklean model. This model is so named from my readings on Sherry Turkle and her book "Life On The Screen". Using this model I examine how the population views themselves. What do they see as their identity in this paradigm and how do they see others?. The second premise I would like to call the Civinian model. The Civinian model is taken from some of the theories and ideas that I cultivated from Michael Civin and his book "Male Female e-mail". This premise examines how the population gets involved in the cyber culture and the factors that contribute into the populations need to operate in that culture. The research done here shows the connection and the disconnection between both models. The attributes they share in common and those that are distinct. All data and assumptions in this analysis should be derived from these two models. In order to get a proper feel for this environment and it effects to the male psyche we will need to explore some of the anecdotal evidence as well.

BACKGROUND:

As I approach this topic of internet pornography I approach it with several presuppositions to examine. The first supposition in this examination is that when looking at the person that uses internet pornography we must examine it as Shelly Turkle would say from, "a second self". No more than on this topic do the ramifications of internet pornography ring true. Shelly Turkle once thought that, "the computer was a second self, an identity transforming relationship, one on one, a person and a machine" but this still holds to be true in this scenario of events.

First we must define source of topic. The internet is an electronic communications network that connects computer networks and organizational computer facilities around the world. The internet is a system architecture that has revolutionized communications and methods of commerce by allowing various computer networks around the world to interconnect. Sometimes referred to as a network of networks, the internet emerged in the United states in the 1970's but did not become visible to the general public until the early 1990s. By the beginning of the 21st century approximately 360 million people, or roughly 6 percent of the world's population, were estimated to have access to the Internet. It is widely assumed that at least half of the world's population will have some form of Internet access by 2010 and that wireless access will play a growing role. The Internet provides a capability so powerful and general that it can be used for almost any purpose that depends on information, and it is accessible by every individual who connects to one of its constituent networks. It supports human communication via electronic mail (e-mail), "chat rooms," newsgroups, and audio and video transmission and allows people to work collaboratively at many different locations. It supports access to digital information by many applications, including the World Wide Web. The Internet has proved to be a spawning ground for a large and growing number of "e-businesses" (including subsidiaries of traditional "brick-and-mortar" companies) that carry out most of their sales and services over the Internet. (See electronic commerce.) Many experts believe that the Internet will dramatically transform business as well as society (1).

As the definition describes the internet in of itself is not such a bad thing but when you add pornography to it, the two become a lethal cocktail for the psyche and its imagination. Pornography, material that depicts erotic behavior (as in pictures or writings) intended to cause sexual excitement. The porno industry is a $57 billion behemoth. This form of entertainment is by far the largest. It is larger than all of the revenues of professional sports like football, baseball, basketball, as well as ABC, CBS, and NBC combined. Internet porn is the fastest growing segment of the business with the most potential for growth and greatest return on equity. There are no manufacturing costs associated with internet porn. For a business it is simplistic, simply upload the video data into the internet and transmit. There are no shipping costs, manufacturing costs, storage costs or intensive labor costs associated with internet porn. The industry has grown to such proportions that Harvard MBA's are heavily recruited to run porno companies. It is truly big business in every sense of the word.

When it comes to the internet is becomes a huge chunk. $12 billion of the $57 billion of the industry is internet related. Porn makes up 25% of the total search engine requests, making it the number one requested topic. There are 4.5 pornographic emails for each email user sent each day. Twelve percent of the total internet websites are pornographic. There are over one hundred thousand websites that offer illegal child pornography that generate $3 billion annually. 90% of 8-16 year olds have viewed porn online (most while doing homework). The average age of first internet exposure to pornography is 11 years old. The largest consumer of internet pornography the 12-17 age groups. It also affects adults, 20% of men admit accessing pornography at work, while 13% of women admit accessing pornography at work. 53% of Promise Keeper men view pornography the previous week in one study. 10% of adults admit having internet sexual addiction. It also affects business productivity. 70 percent of all internet porn traffic occurs during the 9-to-5 workday. Nearly one out of three companies has terminated an employee for inappropriate web use. According to Internet Data Center research 30 to 40 percent of employee internet activity is non business-related, costing millions of dollars in productivity. This does not mean all the activity is porn related. There are also legal ramifications for business. Internet porn introduces the issue of a hostile work environment relative to internet use. Whereas lewd jokes, questionable bulletin board items or inappropriate