Q&A: Difference Between a Screen and Reality
Difference Between a Screen and Reality
Question
Is there a difference regarding guarding one’s eyes in the “real” world versus the virtual world? In other words, we see that many people, thank God, are careful about guarding their eyes in public spaces, but it seems that apparently most people have no problem being exposed to leisure culture in movies and TV series in which immodest things appear—things they would not dare risk seeing on the street. Aside from the concern of seclusion and sexual relations that exists in the outside world, are there other halakhic differences between something genuinely immodest and something immodest on a screen?
Answer
Whatever arouses forbidden thoughts is forbidden. However, when it comes to seeing covered parts of a person that are halakhically prohibited, there may be room to view this as a formal prohibition (not only when and if it leads to forbidden thoughts), and then only seeing an actual person would be prohibited (like seeing hair or hearing a voice when it does not lead to forbidden thoughts). See the Ritva at the end of tractate Kiddushin, who wrote that everything is prohibited only because it leads to forbidden thoughts, and it depends on each individual.
As for watching films, as with walking in the street, there is the rule of “it is unavoidable and one does not intend it,” and I already touched on this here in the past. See, for example, here: