pornography

[(SP)]

....ok this has little to do with asexuality........but i found these articles that sum up alot of how i feel about this subject(well to an extent, as it still talks about sex being 'normal',etc, but what do you expect), and just wanted to show them

I seem to have found 3 sort of versions, all similar.....one of them intertwines politics, and opinions on american miltarism, although i agree with a chunk of what it says, and have been and remain opposed to such things, I am aware some here think differently(rather vehemently so), so i so do not want to start a conversation about that, if anyone has comments , try to stick to the sexual aspect, though no one may have comments at all , and technically you're free to say anything , i just wouldn't want things to degenerate

http://www.zmag.org/jensenporn.htm

http://www.nthposition.com/politics_jensen8.html

http://www.feminista.com/v5n1/jensen.html

[Shadow]

I just looked at the first one, the one in zmag by Jensen.

I strongly disagree with Jensen. An essential part of his thesis seems to be that certain types of sexual desire are evil and should be repressed. I don't buy that. Sexual people are no more in control of what turns them on than asexual people are in control of what doesn't turn them on.

Of course, there are certain types of sexual desire that can't be acted upon without harming someone. If the person chooses to act on their desire in this case, then the act is evil.

The central question is that of harm to human beings. Is the pornography hurting anyone? Potentially yes, if people are being exploited in the making of it. This should be addressed, and the vulnerable should be protected.

However, assuming that no one has been harmed in the production of the porn, I absolutely support people's freedom to derive sexual satisfaction from watching it. Just because it's disgusting to me doesn't mean it's evil for someone else to get aroused by it. We do not choose what does or doesn't arouse us.

-Shadow

[bard of aven]

IMHO, the most telling connection between the three articles is the retelling of the tale of the same porn film.

IMHO, people who become fixated on such things to the point that they cannot stop writing/talking about them are often more interested in the tittilation of themselves and their audiences, consciously or subconsciously, than in any serious point they purport to be making. I make no such statement about the author of these articles, about whom I know nothing and whose motives may be as pure as the driven (not driven on!) snow. But the dodge of pretending to condemn a perceived vice in order to pander to it or make money off it is centuries old.

The moral force of the arguments in question, however one may feel about them, whould stand on their own much better without the, IMHO, puriently vivid description of one film over and over and over.

boa

[orderinchaos]

While not disagreeing with your main point - in this case, article 1 and article 2 were in fact the same one from what I could tell, and article 3 used cuts from article 1/2. So it was cut-and-pasted, not necessarily retold.

I think the guy had some valid points, even though the force of those arguments may have been somewhat lost by the scattering throughout the articles of references to action in the two porn films. I share Shadow's doubts about the problem being with masculinity generally.

with the pornography stuff, I guess I'm torn between two views. For one, I see his point about the people involved in making these films being exploited. He didn't make the point that often there are many takes and the sex scenes for a 40-50 minute film could in actuality last over 12 hours for those involved. In recent times there's even been reports of the guys being required to use Viagra to keep their performance levels up. In addition I find porn a turn-off - that is, when it's not hilariously funny (the plots are poor and the onscreen people come across as incredibly fake and plastic). I've had ex's show me porn to try and get me horny and it's had the opposite effect.

The opposing view is that the sort of guys likely to do this stuff may just find that the porn takes the edge off their need to actually go out there and do it. And if they can get off on a legal for-sale video with contracted "actors", rather than go out and rape and torture some poor woman or child or whatever, then it's a good thing I guess. However this does not apply for child porn - ANY exploitation for sexual pleasure of children, vicarious or otherwise, should be a hanging offence in my book.

[Pete]

The assumptions of the author's argument are that porn exploits women and children. I agree with Shadow that the actors are getting paid and as long as no one was hurt in the production process, etc. It all depends on whether people act on their fantasies, not that they have them.

But the author's examples simply deal with men's tastes. The author seems to believe that the supposed "violence" he sees in the porn material is something only present in "men's" porn. Women like porn too. So there's an equal opportunity to exploit everyone. And there are plenty of domanitrixs out there who like their sex and their porn violent, kinky and edgy.

Like the author, do I wish "masculinity" was different? In fact it IS different for each and every one of us.

I've never liked watching porn. I find it boring to disgusting. That's just me.

[Mordred]

I have got involved in some soft porn. Some of it was of the "educational" variety. You know the type of thing that they do to tell you how to improve your relationship by hanging from a chandelier or "doing it" in wet concrete.

My age will show now when I say they have the wrong way around that it would be better to forget the sex bit and work on other things instead.

I have to say from a production angle we generally have a great time. Lots of icky things and very worn out actors and actresses. It is rare to use porn stars in a major film or video release.

The voice over artists had us in stitches on one production. They got it right first time on virtually every section. To hear and see sensual moans and groans coming from a sound booth has to be seen.

The best pornography has a strong story line and emotional thread running through it. Of course we have the real junk that just shows the acts and the script was written by a 16 year old schoolboy.

What is interesting is with an internationally distributed film the number of different versions needed for various countries and with the USA we have to produce a number of versions to comply with the different states requirements.

Personally I have no worry about working on pornography or watching it. Albeit from a professional angle. As I have said most of it is junk and aimed at goodness knows who.

[JimDandy]

"The people I know who used to sit in the bathroom with pornography, now they sit in the bathroom with their IKEA furniture catalogue"

Chuck Palahniuk

-"Fight Club"

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I've read the first article and skimmed the second. The third listed came up 404.

So, what does pornography have to do with asexuality? More than one might think at first glance.

As all of you are no doubt well aware, we live in a highly sexually charged society. If you're living in the U.S., and you're not Amish, eventually you'll see some porn. You might find a copy of "Playboy" in your dads closet or laying discarded in an alley somewhere. Some kid you know at school might bring a deck of "nudie" playing cards. Your cable system might have a free preview week of the Spice Channel. Viewing pornography is as easy as logging onto the 'net. Sooner or later you'll run across a popup or banner ad; be redirected to a porn page, or otherwise have it show up while you're surfing.

Personally, I find porn about as interesting as watching the semi-regional curling championships on ESPN3 at 2am. (For those of you fortunate enough never to have seen the "sport" of curling, it involves a big rock, a hockey rink and a couple of brooms. Go figure. :roll: ) But these occassional brushes with poorly filmed coitus does cause me to react to them, just like any other visual stimui. And therefore it does has an impact, however negligable.

Because on the occassions where I have seen porn, I'm reminded that I really don't care about it. And by extension, if only for a moment, that reminds me that I'm asexual.

I imagine this is what gay people go through when running across straight porn. Like me, they have a visceral reaction to it; which I suppose could be anything from an indifferent shrug to a more negative "Yuck!" reaction. And, just like me, they are reminded once again that their sexuality is different from that of the majority of people.

Is this a big deal? No, not really. I know there's not a whole heck of alot anyone can do about it. It's just something to which you have to adjust. Find a coping mechanism and get on with your life. But still, I can't help imagining what it might be like in a world where I could go for a week or a month and not be reminded of this difference I have with the majority of my fellow human beings.

Is it a petty annoyance for me? Sure. But, like drivers who don't use their turn signals, it's one I could really do without. :lol: