I agree, in general, with both Huolong and Triarius. In general, what we choose to view or create is generally simply a mirror of what we're already thinking. It can be a quite healthy thing to create "dark" images, if by so doing one vents such feelings in a pretty harmless fashion. In fact, repressing such thoughts on a regular basis can be downright unhealthy - I had to talk a 14-year-old out of suicide once, because he was convinced that his sexual thoughts made him monstrous. This was not a fun thing. I encouraged him to write down his thoughts, and while reading them was really disturbing them for me, it also really helped him calm down and get a handle on the difference between fantasy and reality. ... which brings me to the other side of the coin: there are some people, perhaps many people, for whom the line between fantasy and reality is somewhat blurry. I've seen people convince themselves that someone 'must' love them, because that reflects their fantasy - and such people sometimes become stalkers. For every 10,000 people out there that look at a disturbing image, there's going to be that one person who thinks it is, or should be, real. It doesn't just happen with Playboy or S&M imagery; some people have fixated on the Bible or portions thereof, with equally sickening results. Just recently, a woman became convinced that she had to stone her children to death, a horrifying development. Is the Bible responsible? Are preachers of the Bible responsible? Are people who read the Bible desensitizing themselves to violence? I suspect most people would answer "no". But one should always be aware that when someone lacks that essential knowledge of where to draw the line between what you think about and what you do, anything violent may spark an idea of violence - and the world is full of violence. It's a complicated issue, as human issues tend to be. My personal approach is that people should go ahead and express even their darker thoughts, but should themselves remember, and remind others if they share that expression, that these are thoughts alone, and any intention to shift those towards deeds should merit immediate psychological and/or law-enforcement attention. :) This pushes people away from developing the sort of "groupthink" described by some concerned citizens above, wherein people sharing such thoughts among themselves can weaken the societal messages that Doing This Is Bad. I could only wish more violent action movies came with such disclaimers...