MIAMI—Money is usually considered to be the main culprit leading to domestic disputes. But according to Huffington Post Miami, porn is also a constant cause. The assertion was made in an article posted Tuesday about a woman in Hobe Sound, Florida, who got upset when her cable service was shut off because of $400 worth of unpaid porn videos rented by her live-in boyfriend, with the ensuing dispute eventually leading to her arrest.
From the article, however, which references a local news report on the story, there is no indication whether the woman was enraged by the porn or the unpaid bill. The local report includes copies of the arrest report, which also fails to clarify the specific cause of the woman's ire.
But the unattributed Huffington Post writer knows.
"Pornography," s/he wrote, "both online and on TV, is a constant source of domestic strife—particularly in Florida and the neighboring states."
Three linked examples are included to support the rather broad contention. The first, from July 2011, was initially reported by New Port Richey Patch.
"According to a Pasco County complaint affidavit," the original article stated, "the suspect and his girlfriend got into a fight around 9:30 p.m. July 19 over the man’s 'porn activity on the computer.'
"The girlfriend, deputies said, was yelling at the suspect when he asked where his gun was. The woman, the affidavit said, had hidden the weapon in the bedroom earlier in the day. At this point, the man got up, went into the bedroom and shut the door. The women then became afraid the man would hurt himself so she tried to break down the bedroom door with a hammer.
"The man held the door while the woman was hitting it, the report said. He then opened the door and grabbed the hammer as the woman fell to the ground. While the woman was on the ground, the man stomped on her right hand three or four times,” the report said. “Realizing the woman had a cell phone, the man also stomped on it."
The man was arrested, but the details of the story indicate that the porn was more likely a manifestation of issues rather than the cause of them. Otherwise, why would the woman have hidden the guy's gun earlier in the day, and become so concerned about him finding it that "she tried to break down the bedroom door with a hammer." Trying to place the blame for all of that on the porn is a bit of a stretch.
The second supporting story took place in Georgia in November 2011, and was reported by Dacula Patch. In it, porn is also a player but probably minor compared with the "drinking throughout the day" by the husband who "found himself in hot water with his wife after she discovered him using her computer to look at pornography."
The original article continues, "The husband denied using the computer to look at porn. The man told police he was visiting a Mustang website when a virus caused pornography to pop up on the screen. The husband said he knocked over the mop bucket and dropped a glass of wine on the basement floor. The report made no mention of whether or not the husband admitted to punching the television."
The current HuffPo also says this last story took place "recently," which is a stretch considering it happened six months ago, and more than a little disingenuous if you're trying to make a case for "constant" porn-inspired domestic disputes. In fact, all of the noted examples took place in 2011.
But the last example, which took place in October 2011 in Naples, Florida, really takes the cake in terms of exaggerating the porn angle. Porn is certainly a factor in the incident, but again, the underlying home environment mentioned in the original Naples Daily News article suggests more profound domestic issues.
"Edward Michale Beall, 49, and Corey Basil Whittaker, 21, both of the 9200 block of Pineapple Road, were arrested Thursday by Lee deputies at their home and each are facing battery charges," the article stated.
"Whittaker told deputies that about 6:20 p.m. his mother’s boyfriend, Beall, began a verbal altercation with him over porn that had been viewed on the computer.
"According to Whittaker, Beall grabbed him by the neck and pushed him into the wall. Beall told deputies that Whittaker punched and pushed him in the chest. Beall also advised them he recently had surgery on his shoulder and neck, which is still bothering him.
"While at the scene," the article concluded, "reports say Whittaker was cursing at deputies and that both men were very upset and demanding each one of them go to jail. Whittaker’s mother also decided to verbally abuse deputies when both men were arrested and taken away."
Porn is indeed mentioned in each of these stories, and one could, as the HuffPo has done, tie them together with a subtextual storyline that says porn was the "source" of the domestic disputes, but a far more discerning explanation for the violence visited by these people upon one another would include factors present in those families long before someone decided to look at some porn.
In other words, porn, like money, is as often used by people as an excuse to act out, and is misdiagnosed as a cause rather than a symptom of the real problems at play. It's not as sexy a diagnosis as the one HuffPo would presumably prefer, but it more accurately addresses the actual issues that too often lead to acts of domestic violence.
