Today, I want to share a short, but powerful excerpt I recently came across from a conversation between Mike Tyson and Terry Crews. Terry Crews, an actor, bodybuilder, and former NFL player, is as outspoken as they come against pornography. A former porn addict himself , Crews has been featured sharing his testimony and giving his 5 keys to self-discipline. In today’s clip, which I’ve transcribed below, Crews eloquently captures how pornography use, and other similar vices, dehumanize and objectify women (and/or men).
The problem is when we create a habit of dehumanizing/objectifying other human beings, we open the door for all kinds of perversion. [Mike Tyson and Terry Crews analogized this process with slavery!] In addition, and perhaps most relevantly, it impairs our ability to form meaningful relationships, romantic and otherwise, with the real human beings in our life.
The problem is—men got mad at me—‘cause I put it out there. But the thing I said is, when men are like that—with porn or strip clubs or anything like that–women aren’t all the way human. This is what I mean. They’re only like 3/5ths human. As long as you just stay smiling, because it’s the fakest smile you’ve ever seen, but you don’t care. Just fake smile. Fake it, and do what you do. But the thing is that when somebody’s not human, you can do anything you want to them. It’s a fantasy.
Terry Crews
Embedded video and italicized transcript below.
For more, see the complete archive of articles on integrity.
Transcript [~3:45 to 5:04]:
Crews: When I say toxic. . Because you think, “I’m at the strip club. It’s natural.” This is what I said at the women’s conference. What happens is you see the girl, and she’s doing her thing, but then she starts talking. And you’re like, “Why are you talking? Shh. You’re ruining it.”
Don’t talk about your bills or your kids. “Hey, shut up. Shut up.” You know why? Because she’s becoming a human. The realization is that you are in love with an image. You are in love with something that’s not real. But once they start talking, it’s like, “Why is this irritating?”
The problem is—men got mad at me—‘cause I put it out there. But the thing I said is, when men are like that—with porn or strip clubs or anything like that–women aren’t all the way human. This is what I mean. They’re only like 3/5ths human. As long as you just stay smiling, because it’s the fakest smile you’ve ever seen, but you don’t care. Just fake smile. Fake it, and do what you do. But the thing is that when somebody’s not human, you can do anything you want to them. It’s a fantasy.
[For the complete archive of articles, click here. For the complete archive of transcripts, click here.]
