Pornography

I always wonder about the social impact of censure and control of pornographic materials on the general public. In Japan pornographic materials are within easy reach, as even local convenience stores carry hordes of softporn manga and magazines. When I tell my friends here in Japan about how closed the society is in Malaysia and Singapore, I often get raised eyebrows from them. Pornography is outlawed in those countries. Anyone caught in possession of pornographic materials there can be fined. But the internet is changing all that. The once exclusive distribution channels for porn has been evolving so much so that anyone with a hand phone may be deluged with indecent and suggestive materials almost daily. And if you have an internet connection and an innate adventurous spirit of the unknown, you too will soon discover the world of porn. Just be careful of trojan horses, malware and spamwares. If unsure, always use your friends computer to surf for porn.

I don't want to go into issues regarding pornography and sexual related crimes here, but from casual observation it seems that there maybe an inverse relationship between the two. I am sure more thorough investigations may come up with actual numbers. But, let's digress and talk about some thing I find really funny. In Malaysia recent news about social politicing have again reach the lime light. There are suggestions by religious leaders that 'Mat Skodengs' and 'chastity belts' be enforced to lower sexual crime. How backward in thinking can these people be. This must be the epitome of moral policing being taken to the hilarious levels it sounds like some kind of mental-illness. Are you going to tell an adult how to behave? And for how long can one keep this up? Although I think that sexual crime and abuse is nothing to laugh about, there must be a better way to deal with erosion of morality and sexual criminals. What do you think?

I may be wrong, but why is it that the religious leaders are the ones most vocal on subject of this nature. Could it be that they are the ones needing the most help, and not the other way around. Or maybe they have figured out what pornography producers knew all along. Sex sells!