A Church in Crisis: Pornography and Patriarchy by R. Kotz

A Church in Crisis: Pornography and Patriarchy by R. Kotz

(Link): A Church in Crisis: Pornography and Patriarchy by R. Kotz

Excerpts:

by R. Kotz, August 9, 2016

Our character as human beings is determined by what we do when no one is watching. When no one is watching, many in the church are watching porn.

Pornography has been declared a “public health crisis” by political officials.

At least a third of US men self-identify as being addicted to it.¹ In April, (Link): Time magazine featured a front-page article exposing the harmful impact of porn on society.

Despite this, two-thirds of practicing Christians feel no guilt about their porn use.² What does this extreme level of consumption (and lack of guilt about it) say about the condition of the church as a whole?

What’s Wrong With PreMarital Sex, Cohabitation and Watching Porn? Apologist Sean McDowell Answers – Critique: Some Christians Marketing Sexual Abstinence as “Purity in Jesus”

What’s Wrong With PreMarital Sex, Cohabitation and Watching Porn? Apologist Sean McDowell Answers – Critique: Some Christians Marketing Sexual Abstinence as “Purity in Jesus”

I have a lot of commentary to make below this long article, because one of the topics I discuss below is one aspect that bugs me when reading how Christians have been addressing the topic of sexual abstinence and fornication for the past decade or so:

(Link): What’s Wrong With PreMarital Sex, Cohabitation and Watching Porn? Apologist Sean McDowell Answers

By Nicole Alcindor, December 20, 2021

While many Christians are taught that premarital sex and cohabitation aren’t advisable for many reasons, a growing number of single believers are following secular society’s model instead of the biblical model. 

In the most recent episode of “Challenging Conversations” on the edifi podcast network, host Jason Jimenez, who’s also a pastor and founder of Stand Strong Ministries, was joined by apologist Sean McDowell to discuss why some 60% of professing Christians believe cohabitation and sex outside of marriage are OK.

Jimenez said he and McDowell, who hosts classes on premarital sex and marriage at Summit Ministries, wanted to speak truth in love, as Ephesians 4:15 says, and began the discussion by reading what the Biblical Counseling Coalition says about sex outside of marriage:

[P]remarital cohabitation has become common in the Church because many Christians have made today’s secular values their own. Our society cherishes ‘trying before buying,’ convenience at any cost, sex without rules, companionship without commitment, and relationship without responsibility — everything premarital cohabitation provides. Instead of questioning such values — if not downright opposing them — countless Christians have adopted them. It’s no wonder so many of them are living together before tying the knot.

Speaking about the saturation of unbiblical ideas about sex, pornography and relationships that Gen Zers and youth are exposed to, McDowell noted that, unlike the 1980s and ’90s when exposure was limited to select movies, MTV and a few other sources, today, youth have easy access to porn and are inundated with unhealthy messages.  

Disturbing Sites Use AI to Non-Consensually Digitally Remove Clothing of Clothed People (Usually of Women) To Make Them Appear Nude

Disturbing Sites Use AI to Non-Consensually Digitally Remove Clothing of Clothed People (Usually of Women) to Make Them Appear Nude

(Link): A Powerful New Deepfake Tool Has Digitally Undressed Thousands Of Women

The AI-generated nudes, which look horrifyingly realistic, are sweeping the web.

The website promises to make “men’s dreams come true.” Users upload a photo of a fully clothed woman of their choice, and in seconds, the site undresses them for free. With that one feature, it has exploded into one of the most popular “deepfake” tools ever created.

…Launched in 2020, the site boasts that it developed its own “state of the art” deep-learning image translation algorithms to “nudify” female bodies, and that the technology is so powerful there is not a woman in the world, regardless of race or nationality, who is safe from being “nudified.” But it doesn’t work on men. When fed a photo of a cisgender man’s clothed body, the site gave him breasts and a vulva.

…The website’s stunning success lays bare the grim and increasingly dangerous reality of being a woman on the internet as malicious deepfake technology continues to advance undeterred.

Women were already being digitally (Link): inserted into porn and stripped naked against their will via similar, less powerful deepfake tools. But the problem is spiraling out of control, with the technology becoming ever more accessible and the imagery becoming ever more believable.

…The victims of deepfake porn, who are almost exclusively women and girls, are often left with little to no legal recourse as their lives are turned upside down.

Inconsistent, Disappointing, and Cavalier Attitude Towards Sexism by Some Conservatives – Re: Woman Says A Man Groped Her Avatar in a Simulation

Inconsistent, Disappointing, and Cavalier Attitude Towards Sexism by Some Conservatives – Re: Woman Says A Man Groped Her Avatar in a Simulation

Most conservatives don’t support biological men being allowed into women’s only spaces, even if those men “identify as women.”  Most conservatives recognize how that is bad news for biological girls and biological women. (As a conservative myself, I agree!)

I often see male conservatives infuriated, alarmed, or incredulous over things like Democrats wanting to pass legislation to get women drafted into the military, or with biological men who identify as women (transwomen) getting spaces on women’s teams.

But so many conservative men, and a smattering of conservative women, often act dismissive of other forms of sexism.

Earlier today, I was on Twitter, I saw (Link): this Tweet by (Link): Seth Dillon, who I believe is a conservative (and possibly a Christian?).

Dillon was “quote Tweeting” a headline by the New York Post which reads, “Woman Claims She Was Virtually ‘Groped’ in Meta VR Platform.” Here is the link to the article itself on the Post.

Here is how part of that article, by Hannah Sparks, reads:

A beta tester has claimed she was virtually “groped” in the metaverse VR platform Horizon Worlds from Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook.

Meta revealed the incident on Dec. 1, saying it occurred on Nov. 26. The woman had reported the assault on the Horizon Worlds beta testing Facebook group.

“Sexual harassment is no joke on the regular internet, but being in VR adds another layer that makes the event more intense,” she wrote, according to the Verge. “Not only was I groped last night, but there were other people there who supported this behavior, which made me feel isolated in the Plaza,” the virtual environment’s central gathering space.

“Severe” encounters of online harassment — including physical threats, stalking and “repeated” harassment — are on the rise, according to a 2020 Pew Research poll, with the percentage of users reporting such incidents jumping from 15% in 2014 to 25% today. While much of it takes place on social media, VR is still nascent and already an apparent venue for harassment.

…Sexual harassment in virtual reality is sexual harassment in real life, full stop, experts have said.

“At the end of the day, the nature of virtual-reality spaces is such that it is designed to trick the user into thinking they are physically in a certain space, that their every bodily action is occurring in a 3-D environment,” Katherine Cross, a Ph.D. student researcher of online harassment at the University of Washington, told Technology Review.

“It’s part of the reason why emotional reactions can be stronger in that space, and why VR triggers the same internal nervous-system and psychological responses,” she added.
— end excerpt —

I am a conservative, not a woke-ster far leftist.

I don’t know how it is that so many conservatives are fine opposing sexism in some forms – such as biological men who claim to be women wanting entrance to women’s only bathrooms and so forth – but then turn around and mock a woman who discusses being sexually harassed in a virtual arena.

Serial Sexual Predator Running High School Scholarship

Serial Sexual Predator Running High School Scholarship

(Link):  Serial Sexual Predator Running High School Scholarship

Excerpts:

…But despite the still-ongoing legal investigations into his predatory behaviour, Sobash is operating a scholarship aimed at young “future doctors.” The domain for his scholarship was registered in June, just two months before he lost his license.

In addition to a scholarship, Sobash announced in an October press release that he has created a mentorship program for the young prospective medical students.

Pop Singer Billie Eilish Calls Porn A ‘Disgrace’ To Women, Says It ‘Destroyed’ Her Brain

Pop Singer Billie Eilish Calls Porn A ‘Disgrace’ To Women, Says It ‘Destroyed’ Her Brain

(Link):  Billie Eilish says watching porn from age 11 ‘really destroyed my brain’

Excerpts:

Grammy-winning singer Billie Eilish has spoken about an addiction to watching pornography, starting at age 11, and how it gave her nightmares and messed her up when she started dating.

Eilish, who turns 20 on Saturday, was speaking on “The Howard Stern Show” on Sirius XM radio on Monday.

“I think porn is a disgrace. I used to watch a lot of porn, to be honest. I started watching porn when I was, like, 11,” the “Bad Guy” singer said, saying it helped her feel as if she were cool and “one of the guys.”

“I think it really destroyed my brain and I feel incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn,” she added, saying she suffered nightmares because some of the content she watched was so violent and abusive.

Eilish, who was homeschooled in Los Angeles and has seven Grammy Awards, is known for her often dark lyrics.

(Link):  Billie Eilish Talked About How The First Few Times She Had Sex Were Negatively Impacted From Watching Porn At A Young Age

(Link): Billie Eilish Calls Porn A ‘Disgrace’ To Women, Says It ‘Destroyed’ Her Brain

Dec 14, 2021
By Madeline Osburn

The 19-year-old Grammy award-winning singer Billie Eilish said pornography warped her views of sex and relationships after she began watching it when she was just 11 years old. “It destroyed my brain,” she said on “The Howard Stern Show” on Monday.

It’s Time For Gays And Lesbians To Stand Up And Reject The Perverts Abusing Our Cause by J. Slocum

It’s Time For Gays And Lesbians To Stand Up And Reject The Perverts Abusing Our Cause by Joshua Slocum

(Link): It’s Time For Gays And Lesbians To Stand Up And Reject The Perverts Abusing Our Cause by Joshua Slocum

While the gay and lesbian community was proudly welcoming anyone who claimed to be part of our cause, predators and perverts infiltrated our ranks.

[Editorial opens with explanation of book entitled “Gender Queer,” a book for minors in a public library showing illustrations of one girl performing oral sex on a dildo worn by another girl.
A parent reported this book to local police, who refused to intervene, saying the book did not meet the criteria for laws in the area deeming what is harmful to minors]

That, apparently, is that. The sacred caste of trans people and any effort to support their cause can do no wrong. It’s not pornography, it’s “stunning and brave.”

This indulgence has brought society to a place where people are fired and shunned for not referring to men as women. Worse, it has normalized the symptoms of mental illness that frequently occur in children who have been sexually, physically, or emotionally abused.

Trans activism has also destroyed the gay community. What I call “original recipe homosexuals” like me are low on the totem pole beneath men and women claiming to be the opposite sex.

Gay men are hounded by trans ideologues if we won’t date the slight and obviously female “trans men.”

Lesbian bars have all but disappeared.

Lesbians can’t say no to men in dresses without being called bigots at best or threatened with rape or murder at worst.

Christian Reality Star Josh Duggar Found Guilty in Child Sex Abuse Imagery Case, Downloaded Porn of Three Month Old Being Sexually Assaulted

Christian Reality Star Josh Duggar Found Guilty in Child Sex Abuse Imagery Case, Downloaded Porn of Three Month Old Being Sexually Assaulted

(Link):  Josh Duggar found guilty of child pornography

December 9, 2021

A jury on Thursday found reality TV star Josh Duggar guilty of receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography, according to the judgement filed in the United States District Court Western District of Arkansas Fayetteville Division.

…Duggar was arrested on April 29 and arraigned on April 30 on federal charges of receipt and possession of child pornography, according to the US Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Arkansas.

He allegedly downloaded material that depicted the sexual abuse of children under the age of 12, the US attorney’s office said in a statement. He has pleaded not guilty to the two charges.

(Link): Josh Duggar downloaded video of 3-month-old being sexually abused: DOJ

Dec 3, 2021
by Andrew Court

A DOJ agent alleges Josh Duggar downloaded a horrific video showing a “3-month-old baby being tortured and sexually abused.”

Biological Male Amazon Driver in Blonde Wig Filmed Naked Girls in Women’s Bathroom with Pen Camera, Police Say

Biological Male Amazon Driver in Blonde Wig Filmed Naked Girls in Women’s Bathroom with Pen Camera, Police Say 

Nothing but disaster ensues when biological men are permitted into women’s spaces. And by women, I of course mean natal women – people who are born with XX chromosomes. Not people who “identify” as women.

It’s much easier now for biological male perverts to enter women’s only spaces to sexually harass or rape women now – we all have leftists, trans rights activists, and intersectional feminists to thank for this.

(Link): Police: Woonsocket man disguised as woman took videos of girls in bathroom

(Link): Amazon Driver Charged With Child Porn After Allegedly Wearing Wig, Taking Pictures In Wrentham Outlets Bathroom

WRENTHAM (CBS) – An Amazon driver is facing serious charges after Wrentham Police say he took pictures of women and girls in a bathroom at the Wrentham Outlets. His arrest follows an investigation that started this summer.

…“A mother and daughter reported there was a person acting strange, a man dressed as a woman wearing a wig,” said Wrentham Police Chief Bill McGrath.

When Wrentham Police responded to the outlets in August, where women reported a man behaving suspiciously in a women’s bathroom, an investigation began that would uncover far more sinister evidence.

A witness photo showed what appeared to be pen cameras – recording devices – laced into the man’s sneakers.

Christlike or Pornlike? A Christian Woman’s Role in Marriage

Christlike or Pornlike?  A Christian Woman’s Role in Marriage by Andrew J. Bauman and Taylor May

(Link): Christlike or Pornlike?  A Christian Woman’s Role in Marriage

Excerpts:

by Andrew J. Bauman

I am proud to be writing this article in partnership with Taylor May, a survivor of emotional and spiritual abuse. She has boldly shared her own story about what it was like to be married to someone who had a Pornographic Style of Relating, (PSR) and what it felt like to be used by him with her Church’s consent.

*Trigger warning for those who have suffered this type of betrayal trauma.

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I’ve written about the pornographic style of relating here (PSR), but today we will hear from the perspective of a woman who has lived on the other side of this dynamic.

Many people have been talking about this with the release of this new book [Married Sex: A Christian Couple’s Guide to Reimagining Your Love Life by Gary Thomas] and some of its disturbing implications.

How can we talk about what these women are experiencing, and what can we learn from them?

Taylor May has offered her story and her experience below. My hope is that this can begin to clear up the muddy waters of what it means to live a Christlike marriage in a deeply pornified world.

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by Taylor May

I didn’t realize how a pornographic style of relating was so deeply embedded into my first marriage until I was firmly planted into my second marriage.

That’s when I began to see the impact my first husband’s issue with lust had on my new, much healthier relationship.

Let me tell you my story, and how I and countless other women feel when our significant others lust for other women, on-screen or off.

Those of us who grew up in the evangelical Church have been told that we are responsible for men’s lust issues. This lie has been perpetrated by the church for far too long.

Many men are leading our church conversations with 90% of pastors being men, and considering that nearly 50% of those pastors self-report having used pornography, it would make sense that they would try to gaslight women by minimizing the destructive nature of porn use.

One way they do this is by framing it as a women’s issue or a sex issue, rather than the objectification of women/sin issue–one that stems from the person doing the objectifying.

Why Sex-Positive Feminism is Falling Out of Fashion

Why Sex-Positive Feminism is Falling Out of Fashion

(Link): Why Sex-Positive Feminism is Falling Out of Fashion

Sept 24, 2021
by Sarah Greenberg

…But sex positivity now seems to be fading from fashion among younger people, failing to speak to their longings and frustrations just as anti-porn feminism failed to speak to those of an earlier generation.

It’s no longer radical, or even really necessary, to proclaim that women take pleasure in sex.

If anything, taking pleasure in sex seems, to some, vaguely obligatory.

In a July BuzzFeed News article headlined, “These Gen Z Women Think Sex Positivity Is Overrated,” one 23-year-old woman said, “It feels like we were tricked into exploiting ourselves.”

In San Diego, Porn Star Preaches Message ‘For Sinners By Sinners’ (Practicing Porn Star Active in Her Husband’s Church, Defends Porn)

In San Diego, Porn Star Preaches Message ‘For Sinners By Sinners’ (Practicing Porn Star Active in Her Husband’s Church, Defends Porn) – story via The Roys Report

I’ve been saying at this blog for a good, long while that most churches and Christians stopped teaching or defending the concept of sexual purity years ago.

The church of today does not support “purity culture,” (and has not supported it for many years), contrary to what all the progressive feminists, or ex-Christians who rant against it, on Twitter say.

Many churches want to appear cool, hip, and trendy, in part, I think, to attract people who normally may not want to attend church. One thing they do to appeal to the non-churched is to brazenly advertise “pro sex” type of sermon series.

Churches today, and even many marriage-promoting Christian and “nuclear family” groups, no longer defend celibacy or virginity-until-marriage.

Some churches even hire and utilize known pedophiles to lead their “sexual purity” classes at and during church.
Some Christian couples openly engage in “swinging,” in which they allow their spouse to have sex with the spouse of someone else.
Yet other self professing Christians have been saying for years now that the God of the Bible is supposedly accepting of sex outside of marriage (no, the God of the Bible is not okay with pre-marital, or extra-marital sex).
(Seriously. For examples of this insanity, please see the links at the bottom of this post under “Related Posts.”)

Also, let this following report go to show, that contrary to a lot of assumptions of Baptists and evangelical Christians, married people are not more godly or ethical than single adults.

There has been a long-standing assumption by many Christians that (Link): all single adults are fornicating horn dogs who can’t keep their pants zipped up, but that all married couples are above sexual sin. Not so.

This story also goes to put a huge dent in a lot of the Christian “dating advice” type literature I read when younger, which said if you don’t have a spouse by a certain age, it’s because God is actively with-holding marriage from you, because you’re not “clean” or “godly” enough.

That perverts like the people in the story below are married goes to blow a hole through that teaching. You obviously don’t have to be very godly, or mature, responsible, or a good person to “merit” a spouse.

So far has the contemporary church sunk regarding sexual ethics, we now apparently have a preacher’s wife (with his knowledge and blessing) still working in, on, or for pornographic sites or movies while also working at her husband’s church (if I am understanding the news story correctly) and declaring herself a Christian:

(Link):  In San Diego, Porn Star Preaches Message ‘For Sinners By Sinners’ by Sarah Einselen

Excerpts:

Angela Dela Cruz is a porn star, making a living from an industry widely considered evil and predatory. She’s also a pastor of Living Faith Church, a new church plant in downtown San Diego.

Angela and her husband, Stephen Dela Cruz, launched the church plant this summer, advertising it as “a church for sinners by sinners.” The church website further explains that the church’s leaders are “the biggest sinners, and this is the most non-judgmental church around!”

While the church website doesn’t identify its pastors, the couple has been open on social media about Angela’s involvement in adult entertainment and her role in the church.