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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
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Christians, How Do You Watch ‘Game of Thrones’?

If you watch the HBO fantasy drama series, I’m curious about how you personally handle the porn parts.
E. Stephen Burnett on Apr 1, 2019
3 comments

Here we go again with all the hype for Game of Thrones.

I haven’t seen any of this HBO fantasy drama myself. Written about it, though—and mostly negatively.

Of course, I can’t review the show, having not seen it. And I hope my earlier articles (most of them several years ago) always proceed with a tone that says, “I’m open to correction here, but here’s what I understand about this show.”

For example, by all accounts, it’s a plain fact that the show has porn in it.

Based on this, I think we should condemn the porn as (at best) inappropriate.

My friend Cap Stewart went further, and reminds us that these exploitative scenes aren’t just “awkward,” but violate the actors’ dignity. (More recently, Cap wrote this must-read series, When High Fantasy Becomes Porn Fantasy.)

So I’ve had a bit to say about this subject. But now that the show’s final season is due to debut, I keep hearing everyone getting crazy hyped.

I try not to judge. Rather, I find myself morbidly curious—and not about all these nasty, sin-compromising friends I have.

Instead, I trust my friends. I’m presuming that they already have natural temptation-resistance, or other methods, for resisting what would otherwise be the succulent allure of visual pornography.1

But then I get more curious about what those methods are. So I propose this poll. Anonymous replies are fine! But feel free to comment below, knowing that right now, it’s me who’s trying to learn from you.

Then perhaps later, you can ask me about my strategies for dealing with sexually exploitative moments in anime . . .

  1. Despite my optimism here, I think people still need to work through the arguments that Cap Stewart makes: that even if the show doesn’t cause them personal temptation, their fandom of the show can still result in actor exploitation. ↩
E. Stephen Burnett
E. Stephen Burnett creates sci-fi and fantasy novels as well as nonfiction, exploring fantastical stories for God’s glory as publisher of Lorehaven.com and cohost of the Fantastical Truth podcast. As the oldest of six, he enjoys connecting with his homeschool roots by speaking at conferences for Christian families and creators. Stephen is coauthor of The Pop Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ from New Growth Press (2020, with Ted Turnau and Dr. Jared Moore). Stephen and his wife, Lacy, live in the Austin area, where they help with foster parenting and serve as members of Southern Hills Baptist Church.
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  1. Autumn Grayson says:
    April 1, 2019 at 7:55 pm

    I haven’t seen it yet, but I might give it a shot some day. At that point…it’ll depend on how prevalent the porn seems to be. A lot of times I can be fine with looking away or fast forwarding, though the show has to actually be cool enough to justify that extra work, otherwise I’ll just stop watching it. Same goes for pretty much anything else I watch.

    That said, I avoid porn/nude scenes mainly for decency’s sake and because it’s kinda gross and awkward. People tend to report levels of temptation that seem to be a lot higher than mine, so it could be just that it’s not as much of a temptation for me in the first place.

    Anime’s a lot easier, since one can just stare at the subtitles instead of what’s unfolding in the scene itself 😛

    Reply
  2. E. Stephen Burnett says:
    April 2, 2019 at 6:47 am

    So far, two folks have voted, “The show’s porn parts don’t cause me temptation.”

    What’s your secret, friend?

    Reply
    • notleia says:
      April 3, 2019 at 10:21 pm

      Some of us don’t have hair triggers, lol.

      But a more serious answer is that it’s probably a combo of nature and nurture. Libido varies from person to person, and — I dunno how to express the nurture half. Should I say that some of us are desensitized, or is it because society has some of us primed to sexually overreact to nudity? (Especially female nudity.)

      Do you consider nonsexual nudity a Thing? Besides babies and kids, because obvious DO NOT WANT.

      Reply

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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
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