INFLUENCE OF PORNOGRAPHY FILMS ON YOUTHS IN NIGERIA
ABSTRACT
This study looked at the impact of pornographic films on Nigerian youth, with a focus on students at Lagos State University. The study investigated how pornographic materials have influenced young people’s moral behavior. A quantitative research design was used, with a cross-sectional survey method and a questionnaire as the data collection instrument.
According to the findings, pornographic films aimed at young people must be banned in order to prevent harm to society as a whole. This is due to the dramatic effect that film has on viewers. Instead of concentrating on their studies, the students spend the majority of their time watching pornographic films.
They would rather do it than their homework or assignments. It is therefore recommended that the National Film Censors Board, which is tasked with censoring films brought into the country, be reoriented and reactivated in order to monitor the quality of films brought into the country.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Study’s Background
According to Burton (2002), the media’s main power is that it can shape what we know about the world and serve as a primary source of ideas and opinions. Pornographic films, for the purposes of this study, are moving pictures that primarily aim to arouse sexual desire in the viewer (s). Soft-core pornography, Hardcore pornography, and Violent pornography are the three types of pornographic films.
Akoto (2014) assists us in defining these categories by citing the work of other authors. Soft-core pornography, she explains, is intended to sexually arouse men and women and typically features nude and semi-nude performers engaging in casual social nudity (Williams, 1999).
There are no explicit depictions of vaginal or anal penetration, cunnilingus, or ejaculation in soft-core pornography (Dubberley, 2005). Hardcore pornography, on the other hand, includes explicit depictions of sexual acts such as vaginal, anal, and/or oral intercourse, cunnilingus, anglings, ejaculation, and/or fetish play.
Hardcore pornography was widely prohibited in many countries until the second half of the twentieth century, when many countries began to allow some soft-core material to be distributed. The public display and advertising of extreme pornography, as well as its distribution to minors, are frequently prohibited (Campbell, 2003).
Violent pornography, on the other hand, is a disgustingly offensive sexual act. An obscene character who depicts an explicit and realistic act that causes or is likely to cause serious injury to a person’s anus, breasts, or genitals. It can also refer to any act that involves or appears to involve sexual contact with a human corpse.
Violent pornography can also refer to a person performing or appearing to perform an act of intercourse or oral sex with an animal, whether dead or alive, in such a way that a reasonable person viewing the image would believe that such a person or animal was real.
Pornographic films are now produced and distributed on a variety of media platforms, including DVDs, Internet downloads, podcasts, home videos, and cable television, among others.
Pornographic films, both foreign and locally produced, are becoming increasingly popular in Nigeria. The Internet has also made it very simple to obtain these films. The Nigerian film industry, which began with films about witchcraft, ritualism, and greed, has, in my opinion, strayed away from these themes, most likely in an attempt to mimic the western world.
Pornography is a highly contentious subject. Pornography, according to Wagner (1990), is the written or visual presentation in a realistic form of any genital or sexual behavior that is a deliberate violation of existing and widely accepted moral and social taboos (as cited in Harvey, 2004).
According to this definition of pornography, a material must violate existing and widely accepted and social taboos in addition to depicting genital or sexual behavior. Pornography, on the other hand, is defined by Harvey (2004), citing
Hunt (1996), as the explicit depiction of sexual organs and sexual practices with the intention of arousing sexual feelings. However, whether or not a material is pornographic is largely determined by an individual’s perception of what are acceptable social and moral taboos and whether or not the material violates them.
Pornographic films have been produced for a long time and are highly profitable, especially with the help of new technology (smartphones, tabs, and other handheld devices) and the Internet, according to statistics from a report by Adult Industry Medical Health Foundation (2004), which revealed that more than 11 million teenagers aged 12 to 17 years view pornography online.
There are 4.2 million pornographic websites, 420 million pornographic web pages, and 68 million daily search engine requests, according to the report. According to the report, 50 percent of men and 20 percent of women in the church watch porn on a regular basis.
54 percent of the 1351 pastors polled had viewed internet pornography in the previous year. According to Griffith, Mitchell, Hart, Adams, and Gu (2013), whether pornography is harmful to those who use it or not has become a morally debated social issue.
1.2 Formulation of the Problem
Film is a very powerful medium that can reach a large number of people, and as the study found, pornographic films can reach a large number of people via the Internet. Pornographic film is an audiovisual medium capable of eliciting the most raucous outbursts by depicting pornography, violence, and other immoral acts.
This means that pornographic films have the powerful characteristics described by Severin and Tankard, and as their popularity grows, we need to understand what exposure to them causes or does not cause. According to an article written about him in the Los Angeles Times (2007),
Ousmane Sembène, one of the greatest filmmakers to come out of Africa and also known as the “Father of African Cinema,” believed film is a tool or communicator of social change and culture.
Considering his definition of film, one wonders if pornographic film as a film genre is truly a tool for social change and culture.
The researcher was motivated to study and investigate the influence of pornographic films on the lifestyle of undergraduate students at the University of Lagos because of the need to understand how exposure to these films affects society and, more importantly, how it affects youths.
Pornography, according to MacKinnon (1993), is harmful to everyone involved. Nonetheless, despite its pervasiveness, people such as Strossen (1995) have suggested that pornography is not a problem but is being treated fairly (as cited in Akoto, 2014).
1.3 The Study’s Objectives
The primary goal of this research is to look into the impact of pornographic films on young people’s lifestyles. Other goals are as follows:
1. To investigate the impact of pornography on Nigerian youths.
2. To determine whether and to what extent pornographic films influence young people’s lifestyles.
3. To determine the extent to which young people are exposed to pornographic films.
4. To learn about young people’s attitudes toward pornographic films.
5. To discover why young people watch pornographic films.
1.4 Research Issues
The study specifically addressed the following questions:
1. Is there a significant influence of pornography on Nigerian youths?
2. How much exposure do young people have to pornographic films?
3. How do young people feel about pornographic films?
4. To what extent does exposure to pornographic films affect young people?
5. What factors contribute to the viewing of pornographic films?
1.5 Hypotheses for Research
Issuance I
Ho: Pornography has no significant influence on Nigerian youths.
Hi: Pornography has a significant influence on Nigerian youths.
Hypothesis No. 2
Ho: Pornographic exposure has no effect on the lifestyle of Nigerian youths.
Hi: Pornography has an impact on the lifestyle of Nigerian youths.
1.6 Importance of the Research
This study will benefit Nigerian society because it will help us understand if pornographic films have any influence on the lifestyle of young people. It will also reveal the factors that influence Nigerian youths’ viewing of pornographic films.
Furthermore, it will assist scholars, researchers, or writers who wish to conduct additional studies on the impact of pornographic films on youths, as well as provide useful suggestions and recommendations to other researchers conducting additional research in this area.
1.7 The Study’s Scope
The population for this study is undergraduate students at Lagos State University, and the survey research method was used because the study involves a population that would be too large to observe directly.
1.8 The Study’s Limitations
The researcher’s inability to carry out a broader and more thorough work on the topic was hampered by the researcher’s need to carry out other academic activities at the same time this study was conducted.
This study was hampered by financial constraints, which prevented adequate materials from being obtained.
1.9 Operational Terminology Definition
INFLUENCE: The action or process of exerting influence over the actions, behavior, and opinions of another or others.
PORNOGRAPHIC FILMS: Pornographic films are those that show naked people or sexual acts in a way that many other people find offensive.
LIFESTYLE: A person’s or a group of people’s way of living and working.
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS: These are full-time University of Lagos students.
YOUTH: The period in a person’s life when they are young, especially before they become adults; the period in a young person’s life when they have not yet become adults.
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