Much like the frog that doesn't realize it is being boiled to death in a pot of water that slowly becomes hotter and hotter, Americans have been slowly poisoned to the point of unconsciousness when it comes to pornography. The erosion of our nation's moral compass has been increasing incrementally as well as exponentially. In the last few years, the lines between what is considered disgusting, and simply indecent, or "within normal limits of acceptability" have blurred to the point that no one says a word against the tremendous constant onslaught of pornographic content embedded in every form of media, leveled against, particularly, but not exclusively, females.
Take, for example, a recent ad campaign for the latest Sherlock Holmes film. An nude actor sits tied to a bed, with a pillow in front of his genitals. Is there no boundary of decency followed when advertising a film? Why is it acceptable to have a scene as part of the ad that displays a naked man, in an age when there is ever-increasing awareness of the far-reaching perpetration and ramifications of child sexual abuse? Why is there no outcry about the subliminal message sent by this, one that implies a grown man naked on a bed, exposed (almost) to anyone???
Isn't it time that we, as a culture, take a fresh look at the obscenity that surrounds us, labeled variously as freedom of speech, and art, when what these images and portrayals really do is pollute and pervert the minds that view them and put at risk the most vulnerable members of this society?
