Human beings have always been fascinated with the power that secrecy brings, and it is one of the reasons why Internet porn is so alluring.
The theme of secrecy and invisibility is as “old as the hills.”
Plato’s Republic speaks of a the legend of Gyges, a humble shepherd who finds a magic ring that renders him invisible when he wears it. Intoxicated with his new power, he uses the ring to steal his way into the palace, seduce the queen, assassinate the king, and take over the kingdom.
In H.G. Wells’ book, The Invisible Man, the character Griffin uses a potion to render himself invisible. Griffin is eventually driven mad by the power he feels: violence, arson, burglarizing shops and homes, and proclaiming a “reign of terror” he plans to bring about.
These fictional accounts demonstrate the human attraction to anonymity: if I could render myself invisible in some arena, with no accountability, no possibility of getting caught, what would stop me from unselfishly taking anything I wanted?
This is the theme I develop in my article on The Gospel Coalition. Read, “Sexy Pics and Secrecy.”
There is a word for this:
‘Voyeurism’ is called the compulsion to seek sexual excitement by secretively (www.danwegner.net/secrecy.htm) looking at others when they are naked and/or engaged in sexual activity — or by looking at pornography: visual material containing the explicit display of sexual organs or activity (from Greek ‘porno-graphos’: “writing about prostitutes”, pictures of prostitution); broadly: the habit of seeking sexual stimulation by visual means. It is a specific way of thinking and behaving that has developed over time through repetition.
One further complicating factor in all this is that some obsessive thinkers mistake feelings of anxiety (a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease) for feelings of sexual arousal. The two are actually physiologically similar in some ways.
Thanks!
Forget your “virtues,” remember your sins!