Broadcast pornography

Satellite sex shows
Television porn

Incidence

France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Holland all broadcast pornographic television programmes, many of which can be accessed by special decoders. In 1993, the British government initiated a ban on one Dutch broadcast, which had previously aired in the UK. According to the report, an estimated 25,000 people in the UK had purchased decoders to view the late-night sex shows. In reaction to the ban, the Dutch company doubled the amount of its broadcasts to 18 hours per week.

Claim

Pornography in any form is dehumanizing and degrading. Its new technological availability in the home is particularly disturbing, as children and teenagers will undoubtedly become aware of the means to its access. The prospect of broadcast pornography in private homes only invites moral decay of some who may be too young to choose it for themselves.

The demand for broadcast pornography suggests not a sound reason for its existence, but an existential void and destructive boredom in the lives of individuals.

Counter-claim

Every adult has the right to purchase pornography, whether it is found in a magazine shop or transmitted by television. Broadcast pornography offers an individual complete privacy of purchase and enjoyment. Desire for the erotic is as human as the desire for food and drink.