HE EFFECTS OF PORNOGRAPHY AND HOMOSEXUALITY ON SOCIETY

By Michael Mumisa
				The literal meaning of pornography is "writing about prostitutes." It also means relating information about sexual actions of one's self or about others, to those who feel delighted in absorbing such information, or who, as a consequence, are drawn to it. From time immemorial, lewdness and shamelessness are present in human nature if they are not properly controlled. In the Bible, Torah and the Qur'ân, we come to know about Qawm Lût, the people of Prophet Lût (Lot), who were involved in perverted sexual activities which attracted Allah's wrath. All these great scriptures have preached towards regulated sexual activities and procreation. Sexual activities began with the creation of man. Human sexual intercourse was portrayed in a sandstone engraving as early as 7000 BC. Art from Peruvian ceramic funerary pots dating to about 1500 BC included portrayals of explicit sexual behaviour, and "anal coitus is one of the most common behaviours depicted". Phallic imagery was prominent on Grecian urns and cups, which were decorated with explicit scenes of both hetero- and homosexual activity. Ancient written works such as the Indian Kama Sutra provided sexual instruction, and other explicit works were often "published openly and legally, including Poggio's Facetiarum liber in 1470 and Cynthio Degli Fabritti's Orignie delle Volgair Proverbi in 1526. Chinese novels dating from about 1610 under the Ming Dynasty depicted explicit scenes of sexuality. Su Wo P'Ien or The Lady of the Moon provides the framework for introducing illustrations of positions for sexual intercourse. Most such works were destroyed when the Emperor observed limitless moral decay and ordered the country rid of "incestuous and other immoral works" (Brewer, 1982, p. 319). The Jahiliyyah Arabs before the advent of Islam practised adultery through limitless polygamy. The Jahiliyyah poets wrote poems describing sexual parts of the human body.Continued