I voted "once a week" since that is about how often I... get in the mood. I don't rent videos, just because I don't care for porn that much, it just depends on my... mood. I hop on the net, do the deed, then I'm done with porn.
However, this has become an ethical discussion, so I will comment on the different aspects of pornography, and hopefully clearly outline what is my own personal moral code as it applies to pornography. (I've already thought about all of these things... usually while I'm lying in bed trying to fall asleep.)
Is porn right/wrong? Short answer: No, except for porn that depicts people having non-concentual sex. For a full explanation please read on.
Originally posted by Gil
Those of you who think it's just dandy, follow me thru this mind game.
Imagine your mother or sister.
Imagine her naked with some man you've never seen before, doing the things that they do in porno mags and films.
Imagine ALL your friends viewing it. And discussing it with you. Remember every woman in those magazines and films is someone's sister, daughter, mom, etc.
Now that you've done that...Is porn good or bad?
Okay... didn't need the mental image of my mother naked, but I get your point.
There are 2 issues to this, the actual idea of your sister/mother being in a porno, and the ability to find better friends who wouldn't do that to you.
As for your mom/sis being in a porn, they're both grown ups. Their decisions are their decisions. I wouldn't *like* it if my sister or my mom were in a porno, but it's their freedom to do so. Your wife/significant other is also someone's sister and someone's daughter (someone's mother?), and think of all the things you've done with her. True, it's (most likely) in private, but imagine that her father/brother(/son?) was watching you... you kinda see my point don't you?
As long as my sister/mother isn't FORCED (raped) then there's nothing wrong with them being in a porno. (As for my daughter... I dont know what I would do if it was my daughter as I don't have one, but read the end of the post for an idea of how I would feel about that.)
I'll go more into "exploitation" later.
As for the "porn changes people's wants and desires" arguement:
Originally posted by DGB454
The exploitation isn't only happening to the actors or models in the magazines and movies. It's happening to every woman (or man). We start thinking of women (or men) like we see them in the movies magazines, etc...
If you don't believe me then look back to what society viewed as an attractive woman before the media started playing up women like Marilyn Monroe.
Even though we want to think we are able to seperate ourselves from what we view it isn't that easy to do.
If we see something on the screen that sexually stimulates us (wheather that thing is a Woman or a sexual act) we begin to desire it.
IMO that degrades women and men and the act of sex.
I don't think this is really an example of "exploitation"... more an example of the "porn industry is shaping my mind!" arguement.
Okay, this is getting quasi economical. Porn isn't produced to change people's desires.
Porn is produced to MAKE MONEY. They make what sells, period, end of story. They put whatever fetish/fantasy/stereotype sells the best. If every man wanted to be dominated by a woman, all you would see is women dominating men in porn.
With this in mind, it isn't the porn industry's fault that males (and some females) are so sick minded and twisted that they enjoy some of the nasty crap that they make porn out of. They're just making what they can sell.
It's the fault of the persons who buy that crap.
But if you're looking for something that has changed the view of the "perfect woman" I think a better candidate would be Barbie. (MM and Barbie showed up at around the same time didn't they?)
Barbie is a better candidate because I feel that to expose such young girls with a toy that has the perfect body (err... sorta... not anatomically correct... I know, I checked when I was like 7 or eight
) would have a much stronger impact on that generation of women than seeing a real woman in the movies or on TV.
In short I can sum it all up in this:
"If we see something on the screen that sexually stimulates us (wheather that thing is a Woman or a sexual act) we begin to desire it. "
If you become sexually stimulated, don't you
already desire it? And if that type of porn doesn't sexually stimulate you, wouldn't you find some other kind of porn?
Originally posted by Der Alta speaking of the possibility of his sister-in-law being exploited
That makes porn bad, as it took advantage of her situation in life to make money from her degredation.
First of all, I couldn't imagine being in your situation. I couldn't possibly know how I would feel about the issue if I were in your shoes, but from my perspective, it doesn't make the porn industry bad, it just makes the person(s) who knowingly took advantage of her situation bad.
Also, did your sister-in-law have anything to do with her downward spiral that would put her in that situation? Yes, she did. She put herself in that situation through actions that were made of her own free will. Even *if* she was on drugs for the ENTIRE year, and thus was not of sound mind when she did some of the things she did, was she of sound mind when she first started doing drugs? Then if she knew that drugs had the ability to impede her judgement then she still acted according to her own free will, and therefore in the court-of-law anyone who did not rape her, blackmail her, or otherwise force her in front of a camera to perform acts of sexual degregation did nothing that was illegal.
However, that is not to mean that they didn't do something WRONG by taking advantage of her situation. Any person who takes advantage of someone who is under the influence of drugs/alcohol should be drug out into the street and beaten, shot, and damned to Hell for all eternity in my opinion. Rapists deserve worse punishment. They should be drug out into the street and beaten, burned, flayed, racked, stretched, stoned, beaten some more, burned again, and then left to die in the gutter like the scum they are... in my opinion even that's not bad enough... I could get real creative but I think you guys have gotten the picture. (I've known a few girls who have been the victims of sexual abuse... and it's always the sweetest ones it seems
)
Well, on to:
Originally posted by rjenson11
I dunno, kinda stuck in a struggle. Ethics tell me it's wrong, so I shouldn't,
The only porn that is wrong is porn that is forcing women to have sex. (Rape, snuff, voyeurism, etc) But if a person willingly puts themselves into that situation then porn is not wrong. At least according to my ethic. (My ethical principles closely relate to a cross between Immanuel Kant and John Locke)
Even with all this in mind, the pornography in general is not "bad" or "wrong", but I believe that they are MANY MANY bad
PEOPLE in the porn industry.
Now onto the second aspect of the original topic, children and porn. I would let my son watch HBO/Playboy porn probably around the age of 10. Hustler/Real Porn around 15-16. I would not *provide* him with any mags, but I wouldn't confiscate them if they fit within these parameters. Also as long as my wife A: agreed with me on the issue B: Didn't know about it. Basically I would NEVER let my son blatently leave porn laying around the house, or discuss it in front of his mother.
Daughters are a whole different story. I would never let my daughter wear anything that was at all sexually appealling
No low-cut BS, or jeans with the color known as "tight blue"--mmm tight blue is a good color for jeans... she can't wear them though-- nothing that shows off any cleavage, no belly shirts, nothing that shows her armpit, no shorts that come 4 inches above her knees while sitting, etc..
She would definately NOT be allowed to view any kind of sexual content WHAT-SO-EVER for as long as I have control over it. She will only be allowed to watch 50's re-runs on Nick At Night.
Yes I know it is unlikely that I will succeed in keeping my daughter from wearing anything other than a human-sized potato sack or be able to shelter her from pornography, but dammit I can try. I want my daughter to be and stay innocent and unaware of how dirty, nasty, mean, and evil the world is for as long as possible.
That's my 1000 cents.
Oh, I voted "once a week" by the way, figure you may have forgotten since the beginning of this extremely long post.
This post went through several revisions/editions/edits as I was writing it and explaining my opinion more in-depth, and I feel that I have explained - to the best of my ability - my opinion of the matter from every angle I can think of.
Now it's time to play Gran Turismo 3 some more...
--Jaster
Edit: I just printed this out in case I need it for an ethics/philosophy class or something, and it turns out to be FOUR PAGES LONG. Damn...