“It [pornography] immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world.” (CCC #2354.)
In an earlier blog: http://www.josephsciambra.com/2014/01/porn-immerses-all-who-are-involved.htmlI covered the principle that pornography immerses those who are drawn into its grasp. But, in addition, it also represents a world of phantasms that can quickly bewilder the mind and set-up a false reality of make-believe. St. Augustine, in his masterpiece, “The Confessions,” explained this phenomena accurately:
“But there yet live in my memory (whereof I have much spoken) the images of such things as my ill custom there fixed; which haunt me, strengthless when I am awake: but in sleep, not only so as to give pleasure, but even to obtain assent, and what is very like reality. Yea, so far prevails the illusion of the image, in my soul and in my flesh, that, when asleep, false visions persuade to that which when waking, the true cannot.”
Even after his conversion to the true Faith, Augustine was still plagued by the ghosts of his past: the specters of sexual pleasure and debauchery. This becomes possible, because evil, especially in the material form of the sensual body, can take on a marble-like solidity of complete materiality. Of course, in the time of Augustine, the technology of the entertainment media was at its most essential level, yet, he did admit to attending licentious plays and public gladiatorial spectacles. This was an early form of live-porn. That illusion of unrestricted indulgence seeped into his personal life and he began to act out in the real world. Although, the vehicle on which porn is delivered has changed, the process remains much the same: an illusion is presented, the mind accepts it, physical arousal occurs, pleasure is released, and then there is a desire for more.
Because the body and the mind receive gratification, the illusion takes on a material form: the words in the book, the picture in the magazine or the actress on the screen becomes tangible. Marilyn Monroe, the biggest sex symbol of all time, experienced this, she once said: “That's the trouble, a sex symbol becomes a thing…People feel fame gives them some kind of privilege to walk up to you and say anything to you, of any kind of nature — and it won't hurt your feelings — like it's happening to your clothing.” This occurred to Monroe because, even at this early stage in the history of modern porn, viewers associated her sexually aggressive on-screen personae with the real person; hence, when she went out in public – they saw the illusionary image, not the living breathing individual. In the end, Monroe herself could not break away from the illusion that she created; and she succumbed to it: ending her life in a whirl of tawdry sexual liaisons; all through the haze of sleeping pills and alcohol.
The men who grew up watching the blonde bombshells, revolted as teenagers and young adults in the 1960s. They wanted a world that more reflected the sexual liberation that they witnessed on screen: the introduction of “the pill,” the legalization of abortion, and the rise of the homosexual movement - all followed. Because this political and social revolution was based on an illusion, it ended badly: the rise in cohabitation and unwanted pregnancies, the use of abortion as a form of birth control, and the eventual spread of AIDS. Yet, sadly, the deception goes on: in porn, over the internet, streams an endless delusion of healthy and happy couples “making love” in front of the camera. When, in reality, it’s a window into hell itself. I will never forget being on the “set” of a cheap porn film: the place stunk of body odor and feces, there was a pile of used enema bottles in the bathroom, and towels strewn about streaked with blood. I thought to myself: “This is really glamorous.”