Russia: Pornography forensics assessment

The article’ author: Alexander Lazarus,

expert CNEAT www.cneat.ru, Russia, Samara city.

Ph. D. candidate, dissertation on “Artistic Environment as Personality Formation Factor” Deputy Head Philosophy Department, Povolzh’ye State Telecommunication  Academy https://www.psuti.ru/

The paper is presented at the International Scientific-Practical Conference "Theory and practice of forensic examination in modern conditions", Moscow State Law Academy, Moscow, 2007, the article is recommended by Professor E.P. Rossinskya for use in the forensic expert practice.

Conference: Russia, Eastern Europe, the Baltic States, Kazakhstan, etc. - USSR countries.

Translated by Ben Vladyko, Vyshny Volochok, Tver Provibce, RF. http://www.cneat.ru/porno.htm

-------

  Legal assessment of pornography is contained in article 242 of the Criminal Code of Russia. Here's how it sounds: "Illegal making for the purpose of distribution or advertising, distribution, advertising of pornographic materials or objects, as well as illegal trade in printed publications, films or videos, images or other items of pornographic nature - is punished by a fine of five hundred to eight hundred minimum wage or salary or other income for a period of five to eight months, or imprisonment for up to two years." But the legal assessment needs cultural studies examination. What kind of phenomenon is it, and what is considered as such, how dangerous is it?

  Pornography is an extremely complex phenomenon. Experts, trying to determine its nature, demon -strate diametrically opposing views: from outright ban of even a"hint" of nudity to "super tolerancy" of  the most explicit scenes of "mutual perversion." The parties' arguments get connected. The horror of pornography is that everything is open, all "doors"are broken, taboos demolished, everything is permitted. The advantage is in the same. The truth is naked, no hidden mysteries, no secrets. Down with the shame, all is natural. We have an open society. However, even Nietzsche wrote that "... maybe the truth is that woman having a reason to not let spy after her base?" But it's a subtle argument in the emotionally overexcited dispute.

  The sides’ verdicts converge only in the fact that this phenomenon is directed against public morals, destroying the aesthetic feelings of the people. But customs are different in every country, and often it depends on the state of society at a given historical stage. However, every man has his own sense of beauty. What may be considered pornography in Syria is not pornography in Turkey or the United States. Pornography of the 21st century is different from the 17th-century pornography.

  We’ll remind also about one important damage that plagues our modern world – it is unavoidable processes of globalization that restlessly invades every home, every family, and national culture. Rallies of anti-globalists which we see in developed countries are aimed at protecting not only the economic component, but first and foremost to protect the morals of national cultures, without which it is impossible to self-identify a man in a world without borders, with a free migration of working-age population following the change of the regime, and the change of pace of economic development. The struggle for markets of sales, economic wars of multinational companies use the union in a common economic and cultural space of various peoples and states. In Russia, on cinema screens they show the same films that are shown at the same time in other countries, earning millions of dollars in the box office on the pictures which are not of the best quality and the associated advertising. To make this possible, it is necessary to create a supra-national culture, which is often known to be lower and more primitive than the national one of the country and the region.

  National cultures were formed over a long period of time and ensured the survival of people in the Earth's climate zone with a population that had a certain temperament, national characteristics and national environment. As one of the consequences of globalization can be considered a devaluation of family values, fertility decline, followed by the extinction of the population in the territory. The threat to Russia's national security is real and everyone knows about it. In this globalist stupor pornography becomes also modernized. It becomes international (ie the same), casting off its national "burqa" and individual covers. However, the "votes against" the former have the same accent.

   When on the TV they show a low base film, parents tell their children in the US: "Turn off the movie! It is for the emigrants ". Similarly, in other countries -" It is for the drug addicts! "," It is for Christians "or, on the contrary -" It’s for the migrants, the Muslims, "" It is for the goyim "- allowing other statements that parents say to their children, so that they would identify themselves with the "higher culture." Good intention of parents leads to the growth of nationalist movements, that is, an attempt to isolate the child in this way does not solve the problem, and leads to even more serious consequences. 

  Unable to stop the globalist influence we can and must arrange the pens in the way of what is referred to as pornography. The way to solve the problem, apparently, is in the active application of Article 242 of the Criminal Code. It is necessary to really use the measures of criminal prosecution against the heads of mass media, so that they, as well as European TV channels, should censure  all subjects, movies and advertisements that are broadcast to the public.

  A babbitt, while referring an object to pornography, considers that the criterion is the demonstration of genitals and sexual intercourse. In fact, the issue is much broader and there are much more criteria. Moreover, to conceal pornography such a recording technique  is often used in which the sexual organs are not shown in the frame, which in turn allows you to still refer the object to pornography. To start with, let’s define what pornography?

 Pornography is –it’s a form of image portrayal related to sexuality and sexual sphere, characterized by extreme naturalism and cynicism in the image of sexual relations. 

 Cynicism is a demonstrative violation of cultural and historical existing rules and norms of morality and decency. 

  There are fundamental psychological differences of pornography from other forms of images of phenomena related to the sexual sphere (eg, erotic, erotic art),and  we conclude that:

-pornography is analytic, it captures the consumer's attention on the genitals, the manipulation of the genitals, the intercourse and its technology (the program "Engineering of sex" on the channel Muz TV requires legal assessment!);

-the portrayal of sexual image and sexuality in pornography is an end in itself, following which dilutes the sexual life of other components of sexual behavior (eg, aesthetic, communicative, etc.);

-pornography is not an expression of personal meaning of sexual behavior;
pornography is focused on the stimulation of sexual arousal;

-the latter is achieved due to the uniqueness of the image, creating the conditions for unambiguous rigidly deterministic interpretations depicted;
pornography exploits standard, stereotypical stimuli outside socially acceptable sexual behavior (group sex, sex with animals, sadism, homosexuality, etc.);

-violation of the deep cultural prescriptions stands as one of the main factors leading to sexual arousal;

-pornography depicts  alienated, dehumanized, socially or morally condemned forms of sexual contacts;

-purposeful mounting of sex scenes outside the art task with roughly naturalistic, cynical, obscene details;

-replacement characters with sex symbols;

-preferential use of close-up, straight-angle shooting while showing scenes of sexual intercourse;

-lack of plot, or the presence of pseudo-plot  serving as a formal link between the demonstration of sexual acts.

  The artistic value is a characteristic feature of the artistic image, concealed in the ability to assign it both to the sphere of social and cultural values, and to the scope of enduring personal values ​​and ideal possibilities of human existence.

  In the erotic art the content takes precedence over form, which is one of the conditions for the existence of its artistic value. In pornography form prevails over substance. Socio-cultural values, ingredients and personal meanings are absent in pornography, and that deprives it of its artistic value.

  The features of pornography are: deliberate exaggeration, hyper profiling of general plans, simulating orgasm through specific body movements, gestures brutal, hysterical sounds and groans, seeking to cause a physiological response. Not simply mirroring is important, but exaggerated reflectivity, which makes the subject not only exaggerated, but often primitive. The form of supernaturalism, which has the generic principles of the work, in this case, has one goal: to exaggerate the reality in order to change the normal reproductive vision, which is one of the most characteristic features of pornography. As one  eminent French sociologist wrote : "All this is too true, too close to be true. And this is just what charms: an excess of reality, the hyper reality of the thing. "

  At the same time to mask pornography "the directors and operators of" hide the genitals, make an attempt to introduce the subject sequence, tying some elements to some story. For example, in the pornographic film "Matrix 2" the story sort of follows the well-known movie "The Matrix." In reality, the whole plot layout has one goal: a permanent reproduction of sexual acts in a very visual and rigid procedure of objectification people gaining psychophysiological states of ecstasy and orgasm. In fact, the authors are playing on the popularity and interest in exploiting the inherent one of the most iconic films of our time. Deliberation is also seen in the combination of names, it intends to use the popularity of the cult film. In reality, this product is a particularly sophisticated form of pornographic influence on the population, a form which is trying  to overcome major formal common signs of pornography, makes a cult of brutality in a particularly perverse form of rough and emphasized market-oriented process of the sexual acts. The plot and the visual sequence, as such, are not available, a total triumph of obscene body is reproduced, until the complete erasure of the human face and the manifestation of any individuality. Such a video propagates priority of object attitude to person over subject one and is directed towards arousal of sexual excitement.

  Printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings. If the impact on the adult psyche is ambiguous and depends largely on the personality characteristics of the person, the impact on the psyche of minors is corrupting , its forms a neurotic personality. 

  From reference books it is known about the influence of "porno" category movies on the human psyche:

1. Less sexual partner seems to be less attractive. Viewing pornographic films with sham-passionate sex scenes lowers satisfaction with one’s own partner.

2. Grows tolerance to sexual contacts outside of marriage and the notion that a woman should be sexually trouble-free.

3. A man begins to perceive a woman first and foremost as a sexual object.

4.  It increases aggressiveness of men against women.

5. Pornography depicting sexual aggression as pleasant for the victims increases the likelihood of violence in actual sexual relations.

   

  Prosecutors deal with investigation of crimes under Article 242 of the Criminal Code. Offences are detected directly by the police and the prosecutor's office, as well as ordinary citizens, civil society, religious organizations and deputies (politicians).

  If a pornographic film (story) is shown in the media or on the Internet, it is recorded on a carrier and sent to the expert organization for culturological research. According to the study result "the expert conclusion" is drawn up the which, together with the object’s carrier and a statement of the citizen, is sent to the prosecutor. The prosecutor's office initiates criminal proceedings under article 242 of the Criminal Code and conducts an investigation, during which the court appoints a cultural studies expert  to research on the subject of video carrier. "Expert’s  conclusion" can be performed by the same expert who previously performed "Expert’s reference" - a preliminary study. This procedure complies with the requirements of the Criminal Procedural Code. 

Typical questions:

1. What is the content of records?

2. Do the video records presented for research have video artistic value, can they be referred to “porno”category?

3. What’s their influence on the human psyche? 

And so on. 

@2005 copyright, Russia, Samara city, reference to CNEAT and the page is obligatory http://www.cneat.ru/porno-for-en.html


   International Environmental Congress, International Scientific-Technical Conference, Russia, Samara, 2015:
The Chernobyl disaster was a terrorist attack. Article for special services
http://russ-history.blogspot.ru/2015/04/the-chernobyl-disaster-was-terrorist.html