Westminster College, a private school in Salt Lake City, is offering an entire class for the new academic year that will require students to watch pornographic videos in order to assess the content's impact on society.
"I'm pleased to see that a course is encouraging students to think critically about pornography's social impact, because no doubt about it -- pornography has a profound, and I would argue profoundly negative, impact on society which does need to be discussed and critiqued, especially among young people," responds Lily Moric of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE).
However, she goes on to point out that that can be accomplished without viewing the hardcore material.
"We have cascades of scientific research that's been conducted already proving the negative effects of pornography," Moric says. "Why can't this class simply focus on reading and discussing that research instead of exposing the students to the imagery that's already proven so harmful?"
Pornography, she adds, often prompts viewers, especially men, to become more sexually aggressive. It has also proved to be an unhealthy factor for relationships, namely marriages.
