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From Object to Icon: The Struggle for Spiritual Vision in a Pornographic World
Introduction
—Former porn star1
Pornography has become such an acknowledged problem in global Westernized society that there are now available myriad books, websites, support groups, and other resources aimed at helping people who have found themselves unable to control their pornography use. These include Covenant Eyes, Fight the New Drug, Strength to Fight, and, of course, twelve-step programs. 2 Such resources contain much that is helpful for all who find themselves involved with pornography, including ways of conceptualizing the problem to help overcome the vicious circle of shame, practical steps such as finding accountability partners, and setting up a daily routine that helps avoid the spirals that lead down to pornography use.
Some resources also include wider discussions on the influence of pornography on society in general, particularly in terms of our understanding and expectations relating to sexuality and intimate relationships. Even those of us who might think we don’t have any connection with pornography need to take a closer look. Our modern globalized society has increasingly “pornified” its media and advertising. “Sex sells” has been a catchphrase since the 1950s, and this applies as much to social media, art, and cinema as it does to advertising. None of us who live and work in such a society every day can remain untouched. We all need to be aware of what we are seeing, what we are unconsciously consuming, and how to address it and talk about it.
Pornography is a problem for us too in our daily lives as Orthodox Christians. In our churches and our families, some of us have an ongoing struggle with habitual pornography use, and some of us have already given up the struggle and accepted it as part of our lives. However, for Orthodox Christians, there are additional perspectives we can take on pornography, including, in particular, the perspective our iconographic tradition brings us. This tradition gives us a unique perspective on the nature of the image and the use of images that can cast light on the whole phenomenon and provide clues toward finding the freedom to live without the need to indulge addictive or habitual pornography use.
We also, of course, have our tradition of asceticism, which in recent times people have come to describe as Orthodox psychotherapy. 3 This tradition focuses on prayer, repentance, and purification through ongoing spiritual, mental, and physical struggle. One of the best-known aspects of asceticism is fasting. The path of the ascetics, largely overlooked in the West, provides a way of ordering our lives that is inimical to pornography use and teaches us how to strengthen our ability to resist these kinds of temptations. Thus, working through Orthodox classics that focus on this daily ascetic struggle, such as The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John Climacus, Unseen Warfare by St. Theophan the Recluse, or Ignatius Brianchaninov’s The Arena, may be productive for all of us. Drawing on these resources, the Finding the Freedom to Live podcast on Ancient Faith Radio includes a series of four episodes called “Pathways out of Addiction,” with accompanying materials on the website Finding the Freedom to Live in the Image of God (ftftl.org).
However, I contend that deeper healing for our struggles with pornography—and the debased use of imagery in general—will come only when we understand exactly what we are doing any time we look at another person, or indeed anything in God’s creation— whether in their physical presence or in the presence of their image. Learning how to be in the presence of God in creation and how to be in the presence of any image of God will illuminate the contrast between that and the pornified gaze. Ultimately, we will find deep healing only in this transformation of the eye and the heart—and this is true for all of us, acknowledged “porn users” or not. Pornography affects all of us, directly or indirectly, and we have been taught the appetitive, objectifying way of seeing throughout our lives. Turning to the icon is where we all can find the grace of healing.4
In the following chapters we will:
• come to understand how the veneration of holy icons illuminates the nature of pornography and a materialist way of looking at the world;
• explore how and why pornography use might be considered an addiction, how the struggle arises and develops, and how an Orthodox way of life illuminates this issue and provides a context for finding freedom; and
• discover how we can pursue a life in Christ even in the context of our modern pornified and sexualized society.
This book is divided into four parts. The first part, “Iconography and Pornography,” comprises two chapters. The first looks at iconography and our life in Christ, contrasting what we know about the holy use of images with the way people view and understand images in pornography, and setting the scene for considering pornography as shadows in the light of the holy images. The second examines the pervasiveness of pornography in our society, how the internet has contributed to this problem, how society reacts to the issue, and what secular research shows about the effects pornography has on the lives of those who use it.
The subsequent three parts deal with the way we view the world and each other from the different perspectives of masks (part 2), veils (part 3), and finally, faces (part 4). These parts investigate what each perspective tells us about our approach to pornographic imagery and to the icon, and what supports we have at our disposal to move from a pornified way of life into an iconographic one. In “Masks,” we consider how, in our fallen world, we fail to perceive God through His creation. “Veils” describes the iconographic way of seeing the world and each other, wherein everything has a meaning beyond its superficial appearance and potentially links us to a deeper spiritual reality. And in “Faces,” we look at how we prepare for a time when all the masks and veils are stripped away and we gain eyes to see the fullness of truth.
All the parts of the book show how our aim as Orthodox Christians is to think about the world, each other, and our experience of relationships iconologically. To do this, we use our experience of the veneration of icons as a way of understanding ourselves, our relationships, and the world as a whole. Our aim is to see the whole created world iconographically —to view the world as an icon God draws in creation.
This book is about the way we see—thus it focuses on the consumers of pornography and how a “pornified” way of looking at the world affects all of us. Whenever we speak about pornography, however, it is essential also to keep in mind those people (mostly women and girls, but also many men and boys) whom the investors, creators, and producers of pornography most directly exploit. Participation in the production of pornography is usually anything but a free choice. Many people are manipulated or coerced into appearing in it. Probably the best-known example of this is “revenge porn,” in which people post compromising material such as explicit photos of former intimate partners on the web or social media. But coercion goes far beyond this. The pornography industry is built through taking advantage of people in vulnerable situations related to issues such as poverty and past abuse, and there is an established link between pornography and human trafficking. Organizations now fighting for the voices of these people to be heard include Exodus Cry, Trafficking Hub, and Collective Shout.
Even those who are not directly involved in the production of pornography are still implicated in this exploitation when they use it. In pornography, we as human beings take other vulnerable human beings and use their images to feed our baser appetites in a manner that precludes any real encounter with them. In iconography, conversely, we encounter human beings in their images, and through meeting them, we meet God. The saints in the icons are those who, rather than appropriating power over others, have poured themselves out for others, sharing in God’s own willingness to make Himself vulnerable and pour Himself out for the life of the world. In this, their weakness and vulnerability become their strength, and God glorifies them.
In chapter 1 we will explore how God gives their images to us as a source of healing and sanctification, and as a means of uniting ourselves to the source of eternal life.
1 From a discussion with a former porn actor in an internet chat forum. Anonymous, “Ask a semi-retired porn star.”
2 Covenant Eyes is a US business that produces apps, toolkits, programs, and e-books targeted at a mainly Christian audience. Fight the New Drug is an explicitly non-religious US nonprofit that aims to raise awareness of the negative effects of pornography based on education and research; they also supply an app/toolkit called Fortify. Strength to Fight is a Canadian campaigning group that also links to other resources. There are a variety of twelve-step programs (including some that are explicitly religious) that either focus on issues related to pornography or include pornography among other sexrelated issues.
3 A book of this name by Metropolitan Hierotheos appeared in English in 1994. Copyright ©2023 by Andrew Williams
4 “From Thine ikon we receive the grace of healing,” stichera for Vespers on the Sunday of Orthodoxy. Triodion, 300.
