OT: Porno & Morality

[Chopper]

this is way off the beaten path but what do you all think of pornography?  does anyone find it amoral? degrading to women?  or are you cool with it?  i'm just curious and want to get a consensus of this smart, b-movie lovin' board.

"yes i believe your little turkey shoot will become well appreciated in all the right quarters." -Escape 2000

[BeyondTheGrave]

I dont find anything really wrong with porn. I never had a problem with nudity or sex before. I dont think it degrading  women either because well a women wants to show her body and is comfortable with it let her.  maybe because I am a man I have this opinion.



Post Edited (12-12-04 20:10)

[peter johnson]

Depends on the product --
Some people have suffered and been exploited to produce some of this stuff, and others, like Ginger Lynn, seem to enjoy it and own the rights and the profits to their own products.
Then there is the boredom issue -- really, I don't think that most of the folks on this board are your quintessential porno fans as I don't think it can hold our attention spans long enough -- not unless it involves visible nylon strings attached to the jaw of a giant spider or bad UFO footage amongst the standard money shots.
peter johnson/denny crane

[mr. henry]

porno runs such a gammut that you cannot lump it into "porn" only these days...people spitting into each others mouths, fluids dispersed into eye cavities, the drinking and eating of bodily refuse and WORSE WORSE WORSE...if you don't know who MAX is, then you definitely don't want to know........

- mr. henry
www.310am.com

REOPEN THE COBAIN CASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ask me about it at alienstepin@hotmail.com
or read TOM GRANT's website!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"When the pigs try to get at ya
Park it like it's hot
Park it like it's hot
Park it like it's hot"
- S N double-o P, D O double-G

"why do you want to shoot squirrels?"
"because they're gay"
-cabin fever

"to be is to do" - Socrates
"to do is to be" - Jean-Paul Sartre
"do be do be do" - Frank Sinatra
- kurt vonnegut

"there is truth in your fiction and fiction in your truth" - ANIMATRIX

[dean]

I recently did a subject at uni which was on media and morality, and we studied various different perceptions of violence and sex in the media [particularly cinema] and we studied feminist porn for part of it.  If ever you think that porn is just for men, made by men and catering exclusively towards men, watch the work of Catherine Briellet [I think thats how its spelt!]

Feminist porn such as this is quite a different departure from the normal bunch.  What is perhaps most interesting is how all this is treated by censorship boards: movies such as Romance and Baise Moi caused many problems in getting the ratings; whilst these films may show actual sex, they aren't merely porn films.  It is said that the underlying problem that the censors supposedly had with such films was not that it had sexual violence or actual sex in these films, but were challenging because women were in control, I guess, and challenged the main ideal that porn and sex is mainly a male domain.

It's worth a look into the topic if interested in porno and morality.

[Brother Ragnarok]

By UNI, do you mean University of Northern Iowa, and if so, do you live in Cedar Falls?
To address the subject at hand, I do like me some porn.  As for degrading to women, that's complete bulls**t.  My girlfriend likes porn more than I do.

[Spiffy Niffy]

PORN IS AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ulthar]

Brother Ragnarok wrote:

>   As for
> degrading to women, that's complete bulls**t.  My girlfriend
> likes porn more than I do.
>

Just because your girlfriend, and other women, like to watch porn (or even star in it) does not itself mean it's not degrading to women.  It cannot be argued that SOME PORN is, in fact, degrading to women.

I recently read an article essentially on the subject of 'what's wrong with porn.'  I found it interesting, because it had some arguements that were generally new to me.

The gist of it was basically that porn depicts completely unrealistic sexual attitudes, especially in women.  The article was geared more toward porn addiction than 'casual' use, and suggested the following:

(a) porn depicts all woman (in the movies) as not only sexually compliant, but also willing and eager.  This is hardly realistic.  No one is 'in the mood' 100% of the time.

(b) mainstream porn (that not specifically made to cater to women) is very, very male centric.  That is, everything in the scenes is about male pleasure (and, if you want to take it that far, male power and domination), culminating with the male orgasm(s).  There is no 'cuddling' or even any semblance of 'relationship' depicting 'real life sex' afterward.  Guy(s) come, scene over.

(c) The things the women do in porn are also not representative of 'real life.'  This is especially true of the shock genre, where the gross-out is king.  Studies have shown that most people don't do all the stuff shown in porn (though they may in fact fantasize about it).

(d) porn strongly emphasizes sex with strangers.  This too, is unrealistic.  Most people just don't behave this way.

Okay, so now you are probably saying, 'that's right, porn is fantasy, not real life.'  True enough.  The problem arises when folks (men, married men, for example) view porn and ask "why does MY WIFE not do that, or act that way?"  There is very easily, especially in the genres that depict so-called real people in real situations, a transferance from 'fantasy porn' to 'my real life.'

Porn addiction is a real problem for many people.  These issues are not trivial.  They may not apply to anyone on this board (I certainly hope not), but it is naive to say that there is NOTHING wrong with porn.

I also read another article a long time ago that stated it quite simply:  porn makes you think about sex with someone other than your partner.  Again, as fantasy (especially together), that may be harmless.  But, to many people, that is a path that once trodden, may well lead to the hell of divorce, broken families, custody battles and ultimately lonliness.

[Scott H.]

My girlfriend has a HUGE issue with porn. She argues it is the only part of our society that serves no purpose. Even war serves some purpose as to protect our needs (not this war), but porn is degrading to everyone it involves. The people in the industry get screwed over so many times (literally and figuratively) that there is no winner. Lives are ruined, and there is no escaping.

All of these are valid points, but I think porn is just too deeply rooted in our society to be contested. I mean, it's not like we're the only society in the world that has ever had a pornographic industry. Rome, Egypt, India, the Rennaissance. It isn't new. But it does have a new wind beneath it's sails called the internet that promotes porn to a whole new level.

After all, wasn't the internet invented for porn?

No.

Scott H.

[lester1/2jr]

porn serves a purpose for me

[Master Blaster]

I wouldnt say it's that far off the path. Many exploitation films were at a time considered pornogrophy.

Personally as long as nobody is being forced to make it, nobody is being forced to watch it, everybody is an adult, and everybody takes a shower, who gives a damn.

[Chopper]

i see, everyone has some interesting points, especially the feminist perspective.

and i see how it could be a threat to someone who is married and reads to deep into it.  i think a lot of porn is hilarious just how bad the acting is and the implausibility of it all.  so i don't see how anyone could take it that seriously beyond the surface.  but then again i love films like Jack Frost and Escape 2000, perhaps i'm jaded to bad taste.

but i think what it comes down to is if you're mature enough to make sound decisions and don't take it seriously than you're straight (on the right path).  last weekend i rented a porn, only my second one, pretty impressive for 24 huh?!  i live in a town where most of the women don't like military guys, there's a low population, and the only place to meet a women is at church or any of the local meat shacks.  so i don't see the problem with lonely guys renting the stuff.  and if some hidy-tidy moral crusader points their finger at me: then i guess that's their bag.

[mr. henry]

ok...so nobody picked up on my MAX H. reference (i won't spell out the whole name, this is a family website) but when "porn" turns into women with speculums holding their privates open while a man urinates into the oriface while said woman drinks her own urine from a length of tube, we have gone from porn to utter and complete desolation.................................we ain't talking playboy or even penthouse urination fetishism....

- mr. henry
www.310am.com

REOPEN THE COBAIN CASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ask me about it at alienstepin@hotmail.com
or read TOM GRANT's website!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"When the pigs try to get at ya
Park it like it's hot
Park it like it's hot
Park it like it's hot"
- S N double-o P, D O double-G

"why do you want to shoot squirrels?"
"because they're gay"
-cabin fever

"to be is to do" - Socrates
"to do is to be" - Jean-Paul Sartre
"do be do be do" - Frank Sinatra
- kurt vonnegut

"there is truth in your fiction and fiction in your truth" - ANIMATRIX

"i own the holy grail of rock and roll" - courtney "the killer" cobain...guess she can now buy all those high end lexus's that kurt made her return before his "demise"

[ulthar]

Some of the stuff marketed as 'adult' is not porn (ie, sexual) at all.  And some is, in fact, very degrading to all concerned (including the women).  Personally, I just cannot for the life of me figure out why some of those people do some of the things they do; the money ain't THAT GREAT, and even if it were, money ain't everything.

Sheesh.  It truly takes all kinds to make the world go 'round.

Thanks, Mr. H, for that visual image...

[Chopper]

so do we have a few memberships Mr. Henry? ;) geez! and i thought i had some wierd fantasies. i guess if you're ever feeling too sleazy just take a trip through the degenerate e-world of real off-the-beaten-path sexual deviations, then you'll feel better!