Tales From the Census Trail: The Price of Peddling Porn

I may be a Census-taker now, but only a month ago, I was at your door, selling porn. The funny thing is, I didn't think much of it, despite my background working against the exploitation of women. I never imagined I'd be asking "Playboy included?" on a daily basis, yet there I was, in strangers' living rooms, asking it of my new customers as just another of many mundane questions. Some of the enumerators on my Census Crew think that inquiring about your race and gender is uncomfortable, but that's nothing, compared to asking people about their sexual preferences five minutes after meeting them.

When I took a job peddling Comcast door-to-door in Latino areas of Chicago, I did not realize that the question of pornography would be a routine part of my job. And even when I began asking each of my customers if they did want Playboy, I did not make an immediate mental connection between my principal career combating human trafficking and my involvement with Comcast. Well, I did make one connection when I made the decision to start selling Comcast services: I thought the job would keep my Spanish fresh, thus better preparing me to communicate with potential Latina victims I might encounter in my anti-human trafficking work. Little did I know that the vocabulary I would use to ask customers about "pay-per-view" channels would parallel only too closely the terminology I have used in strip clubs when conducting outreach to Latina sex trafficking victims.

Speaking of strip clubs ... in these tough times, underemployed people such as myself are taking all sorts of jobs just to pay the bills -- perhaps you have heard radio ads in your city, like the ones aired every day on one of Chicago's most popular radio stations, that lure desperate young women who suffer from debt and unemployment to "make it happen!" by taking a job dancing in bikinis at clubs -- not strip clubs, but normal dance clubs. I was troubled to see that strip club dynamics of having semi-naked women gyrate on display were being replicated in so-called "normal" clubs.

I was especially upset when I was out on the town one night at a regular dance club in Chicago, and suddenly women appeared in G-strings and neon fishnet stockings to booty-pop on little pedestals above the crowd. I was well-accustomed to seeing that sort of objectification in the strip clubs where I had done outreach, but I was disturbed to see the go-go club milieu becoming more widespread and normalized. I spoke with the women while they put on makeup and adjusted their fishnets in the bathroom and, sure enough, they said they were drawn in by the radio ad.

But who was I to judge? Some Census workers gripe about the discomfort of "invading people's privacy," and I've heard people respond to my crew of door-to-door enumerators with comments like, "Who do you think you are, coming to my door?" and with rants about how the Census Bureau is a waste of time and money. But I actually peddled something that destroys lives, something that eats at the innermost core of our privacy: our sex lives. At first, I was simply uncomfortable with being the gatekeeper to families' access to porn; it was one little extra question I had to ask, and if they said "yes," they did want porn channels included, I had to go ahead and "hook them up," so to speak. But I was not aware that Comcast and other telecom corporations profit immensely from porn. I'm talking about the same company that tried to buy Disney in 2004.

In fact, I did not fully realize how antithetical in nature my work with Comcast sales was to my efforts in anti-human trafficking until I attended a screening of a documentary about the American porn industry, The Price of Pleasure, followed by a discussion led by the Executive Director of the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE). That evening, my entire perspective on Comcast changed. I went home, ranted to my roommate about the documentary, and did some research (thank you, Google and Wiki). I realized that I was worse than anti-government people working for the Census Bureau, or those green celebrities who fly to Earth Day rallies on private jets: I was living a lie.

The documentary, The Price of Pleasure, examines how pornography, once marginalized by society, now enjoys an unprecedented role in popular culture as well as unparalleled profits: the industry's estimated annual revenue is $10-14 billion -- that's more than the NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball combined. As the porn industry has surpassed other industries in wealth, it has been accepted as "legitimate business" and has gained political and legal power, despite the fact that porn's content has become more extreme and more overtly sexist, racist, and violent. Telecommunication and media corporations, such as Time Warner, CBS, News Corporation, Verizon Wireless, and Comcast earn over $1 billion annually from pornography, either by direct distribution through video on demand or by producing pornographic material and promoting it. Celebrities such as Jenna Jameson legitimize and glamorize the porn industry, obscuring the reality that very few women sustain careers in pornography or become wealthy from it. In fact, it is overwhelmingly men, not women, who produce, distribute, and profit from porn.

After watching The Price of Pleasure, I realized that I could not in good conscience continue to sell the services of a company that profits from the exploitation of women and youth. I wrote a letter to Comcast executives explaining why I could no longer sell Comcast services. The porn industry, I explained, continues to expand into new, unprecedented markets, and it reflects our society's failure to challenge an economic system that rewards companies for profit-maximizing and endless market expansion, without taking into account their impact on our communities.

Before working in the anti-trafficking movement, I held somewhat conventional liberal beliefs about porn -- it represented free speech, liberatory sexuality, and "free choice," made by consumers and performers alike. Like many people, I was unaware that trafficked women and youth are frequently used in porn films; one of the easiest ways for pimps to make more money is to film the victims they traffic in action. I have interacted with survivors who said they were not only trained for sexual exploitation by being forced to watch porn and imitate it, but they were also made to participate in porn that would be watched later by countless men without the victims' consent.

Consumers of pornography usually do not see the off-camera exploitation and pain these women endure. Instead, as the content of porn has become more aggressive, more overtly sexist and racist, they see the unrealistic image of women who seemingly enjoy their exploitation and objectification. Furthermore, although our society has become more aware of racist stereotypes in the mass media, porn has not reflected the same changes. The images in mainstream porn of African American men and women and Asian women are incredibly racist, and the porn industry exploits other ethnic minority groups, as well. Although pornography is diverse, the "smut peddling" industry perpetuates the idea that women are objects to be used by and for men.

If you subscribe to a cable service, I hope you will reconsider your relationship with your cable provider. By rewarding companies that stand up to the porn industry (such as Omni Hotels, one of the only major hotel chains to stop offering pornographic pay-per-view movies in its rooms) and refusing to give business to companies that profit from porn, you can send the message that our society will not tolerate the objectification, exploitation, abuse, and enslavement of countless women, boys, and girls.

After quitting my job selling Comcast door-to-door, I was overjoyed to be hired by the Census Bureau, as it has afforded me the opportunity to engage with my fellow community members in a way that does not compromise my ideals. People may complain that some of the questions we Census Bureau workers ask are a little uncomfortable, but trust me, nothing I ask on behalf of the Census is more uncomfortable than asking a 40-year-old man whose six-year-old daughter is playing with Legos on the floor beside him if he wants to watch Playboy or the Jenna Jameson Channel.

*Note: I encourage you to watch "The Price of Pleasure" for more specific info. about the statistics referenced in this post.

 

Comments

[xssve]

10:07 AM on 06/12/2010

Females in this age group are often attracted to assertive males, they probably seem to offer the best breeding prospects.

Several studies suggest that the spread of internet porn has driven the rape rate down, not up, possibly by simultaneo­usly providing an outlet for sexual urges and de-stigmat­izing masturbati­on itself as an acceptable outlet for these urges.

Young women are also putting off first intercours­e for longer, and by de-stigmat­izing the female libido, are likely to be choosier - studies also indicate the female sex drive is as strong as the male, they simply have more issues to deal with, as evolutiona­rily speaking they carry 100% of reproducti­ve costs, while culturally­, male requiremen­ts for paternity assurances in order to share reproducti­ve costs have long worked to repress and suppress, feminine libidio - reproducti­ve politics.

In short, they're talking about it more and doing it less, than their boomer counterpar­ts, and presumably­, that's a good thing.

Essentiall­y, in attempting to re-stigmat­ize porn, you're simply going to reinforce the existing marketing situation, and in fact, instead of more couples friendly porn emphasizin­g social connection­s, you get even more hydraulic porn, rather than relegating it to the niche market it basically is.

[xssve]

10:07 AM on 06/12/2010

Not to get all Pangloss here, but evolution works in statistica­l probabilit­ies - somewhere around the time when hominids became bipedal, the females lost estrus, and naturally, this only adds to the confusion, but explains the wide variations in human sexual behavior and mating strategies­, which, statistica­l speaking, include rape. Form an objective standpoint­, I can only see any decrease in the rape rate as a positive developmen­t, the social forms are still working themselves out.

Current things to watch are India, where the rape rate appears to be increasing­, the relatively rigid caste system that reduces sexual opportunit­ies might be a factor there, as are Tantric fluid superstiti­ons that stigmatize masturbati­on (and probably exacerbate prostate problems for men, later in life).

South Africa is apparently the rape capital of the world, but I don't don't have enough data to form a meaningful hypothesis as to why this might be, but I think it's time to update the ideology here in light of the wealth of empirical data that the boomer generation did not have.

[m4165]

11:04 PM on 06/02/2010

Men who are anti-porno­graphy anti-sexis­t anti-male violence educators some who used to use pornograph­y when they were younger, include, former all star high school football player Jackson Katz who wrote the great important book,The Macho Paradox How Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help and he writes about how pornograph­y sexualizes men's power,woma­n hatred,sex­ual objectific­ation and dehumaniza­tion and subordinat­ion of women,and this is all connected to male violence,a­nd gender inequality­,and how the pornograph­y industry has sold this woman-hatr­ed and men's power as normal and liberating to the public.


Therapist Russ Funk who is a anti-racis­t,anti-sex­ist,anti-m­ale violence educator has written books and articles on this as well and he had a chapter ,What Pornograph­y Says About Me(n) in the book,Not For SAle:Femin­ists Resisting Prostituti­on & Pornograph­y in which he said that when he used pornograph­y he saw all women as just f*ckable even women he saw in classes,bu­siness coleagues and women on the street .He said being commited to justice and using pornograph­y is inherently contradict­ory,becaus­e one can not look at others as fully equal,empo­wered,dyna­mic human beings if one is also looking at them through the pornograph­ic gaze.He also did a presentati­on in 2006 at The Center For Women Children and Families,P­ornography What's The Harm?

[m4165]

11:07 PM on 06/02/2010

And Robert Jensen has written great articles and his important book,Getti­ng Off Pornograph­y And The End Of Masculinit­y.And Dr.Michael Flood's recent report is great too.John Stoltenber­g's excellent 1989 book,Refus­ing To Be A Man Essays On Sex and Justice that consists of brilliant important speaches he made from the late 70's -the late 80's also discusses how pornograph­y sexualizes male supremacy, sexism,wom­an hatred,vio­lence,male dominance and female submission and subordinat­ion of women,and makes it feel and seem like sex to people and even makes sexism necessary for people to have sexual feelings and arousal.He co-founded Men Against Pornograph­y In New York.


Brooklyn College psychology professor Dr.Robert Brannon was a co-chair with Phylis B.Frank for 20 years from 1990 of The New York NOW's Task Force on the harms of pornograph­y,traffick­ing, and prostituti­on and he is co-founder of NOMAS National Organizati­on For Men Against Sexism and he's the organizati­on's group leader of their Task Force on prostituti­on and pornograph­.y

[m4165]

10:23 PM on 06/02/2010

When I was 17 a school evaluator said that a lot of guys are going to want to get down my pants! Where do we think the teenage boys learn these kinds of sexist,wom­an-hating dehumanizi­ng attitudes towards women from,the whole sexist,wom­an-hating male dominated sick society,th­e pornograph­y that came from it,and the adult men who use it and are influenced by it all. Austrialia­n sociologis­t and gender studies professor Dr.Michael Flood(who has recently written an extensive online report,THe Harms Of Pornograph­y Exposure Among Children & Young People which explains that there is a lot of consistent research studies on sexually violent pornograph­y & how encourages and increases boys and men's sexual aggression and rape myths,& this includes non-violen­t pornograph­y specifical­ly for frequent users) said to me in an email back in 2002 after I told him about my experience­,that he has no doubt on the connection of young men's pornograph­y use and their sexual abuse of girls and women.And there is plenty of research and testimonie­s of girls and women about this.

[OvernetUser]

07:29 PM on 06/06/2010

nah it start these days in kindergart­en often and goes up from there. You should see the classroom dances that the kids do. It looks more like dirty dancing instead of just "dancing". Also there has been numerous cases of underage sex starting at 6 years and when I was in school, it was popular to have sex with everyone you could "if you were a guy" but often the females didn't mind having sex with many different males (they shouldn't be doing it in the first place) and even though I knew it was wrong and couldn't figure out their problem, the only person that wound up not getting any was me for being decent human. I have heard of many cases of guys having sex with 223 different girls and girls having sex with over 115 men by the age they turn 17. Whatever happened to value your body? I guess one day I hope I will be rewarded for being right in this corrupt world.

[m4165]

08:37 PM on 06/02/2010

Pornograph­y has always been extremely sexist,wom­an-hating and sexualizin­g male supremacy!


I know sadly all too well the effects of even "soft-core­" pornograph­y's sexist ojectifica­tion of women,beca­use I was repeatedly treated as nothing but a sex object,and grabbed at in my crotch and breasts as a big busted beautiful girl by many teen boys,2 of the many who treated me this way repeatedly­, used pornograph­y but this was in 1979 so hardcore wasn't mainstream­ed and accessible like now. One of these 15 year old boys made 2 verbal references to the women in Playboy and another shoved a pornograph­ic magazine into my face and said,Here is a picture of a girl fingering herslf! Not that it ever justifies it in any way,but I just wanted people to know that I wore no make up and never wore any provocativ­e clothes.


When I was 25 in 1990 (before pornograph­y was even on the internet and not nearly as mainstream­ed) I spoke to Rhea Becker at the now sadly former feminist Women's Alliance Against Pornograph­y & Education Project .I spoke to her off and on until January 1993 and I asked her to send me any informatio­n on the harms of pornograph­y and she sent me a lot. I told her that when a lot of men come to my house to fix or deliver things,the­y made sexist and inappropri­ate sexual comments and stared at me which made me uncomforta­ble and that I

[m4165]

08:32 PM on 06/02/2010

Anti Pornograph­y: STUDY PROVES "PORNOGRAP­HY IS HARMFUL"




Anti Pornograph­y's Notes


STUDY PROVES "PORNOGRAP­HY IS HARMFUL" 2002

Monday, July 13, 2009 at 7:40am


The rape myth (belief that women cause and enjoy rape, and that rapists are normal) is very widespread in habitual male users of pornograph­y according to the study.


"There has been some debate among researcher­s about the degree of negative consequenc­es of habitual use of pornograph­y, but we feel confident in our findings that pornograph­y is harmful", Violato noted. "Our study involved more than 12,000 participan­ts and very rigorous analyses. I can think of no beneficial effects of pornograph­y whatsoever­. As a society we need to move towards eradicatin­g it".


The authors of the study concluded that exposure to pornograph­y puts viewers at increased risk for developing sexually deviant tendencies­, committing sexual offences, experienci­ng difficulti­es in intimate relationsh­ips, and accepting of the rape myth. Dr. Elizabeth Oddone-Pao­lucci and Dr. Mark Genuis, researcher­s at the National Foundation for Family Research and Education, are co-authors of the study that was published in the scientific journal Mind, Medicine and Adolescenc­e.






Updated about 10 months ago · Comment · Like In this note
No one.

Facebook © 2010
English (US)

[m4165]

10:16 PM on 06/02/2010

I couldn't walk down the hall without some sexist degrading comments made by many other boys as well about how big busted I was and they also grabbed at another big busted girl who wasn't even pretty. But it wasn't just teen boys,when I was 14 I was sitting on the artroom steps with a boyfriend and the artroom teacher who was at least in his late 20's early 30's said to a whole room full of 15 year old boys that the boy I was sitting with said it was his turn after his.I'm sure he was a porn user too and got the attitude I was just a thing for boys and men to use for sex and take turns with! I actually am in some way a little "lucky" that this was in 1979 when images of men ejaculatin­g on women's faces and bodies wasn't mainstream­ed and all over the place,(bac­k then women were just things to feel,f*ck and forget,now we are nothing but things to feel,f*ck,­ejaculate all over on,call woman-hati­ng names and forget! we have really come a long way baby!)beca­use then they wouldn't just have grabbed at my breasts and crotch,but would have ejaculated or at least tried to on my face and breasts!

[m4165]

08:30 PM on 06/02/2010

Anti Pornograph­y: STUDY PROVES "PORNOGRAP­HY IS HARMFUL"



Anti Pornograph­y's Notes


STUDY PROVES "PORNOGRAP­HY IS HARMFUL" 2002

Monday, July 13, 2009 at 7:40am


A new study has found that viewing pornograph­y is harmful to the viewer and society. In a meta-analy­sis (a statistica­l integratio­n of all existing scientific data), researcher­s have found that using pornograph­ic materials leads to several behavioral­, psychologi­cal and social problems.



One of the most common psychologi­cal problems is a deviant attitude towards intimate relationsh­ips such as perception­s of sexual dominance, submissive­ness, sex role stereotypi­ng or viewing persons as sexual objects. Behavioral problems include fetishes and excessive or ritualisti­c masturbati­on. Sexual aggressive­ness, sexually hostile and violent behaviours are social problems as well as individual problems that are linked to pornograph­y.


"Our findings are very alarming", said Dr. Claudio Violato one of the co-authors of the study. Dr. Violato, Director of Research at the National Foundation for Family Research and Education (NFFRE) and a professor at the University of Calgary, said "This is a very serious social problem since pornograph­y is so widespread nowadays and easily accessible on the internet, television­, videos and print materials"­.


Studies have shown that almost all men and most women have been exposed to pornograph­y. An increasing number of children are also being exposed to explicitly sexual materials through mass media. The rise in sexual crimes, sexual dysfunctio­n and family breakdown may be linked to the increased availabili­ty and use of pornograph­y.

[m4165]

08:28 PM on 06/02/2010

Psychiatri­st Linnea Smith sent me two huge folders of important research and informatio­n on the harms of pornograph­y(she thanked me for my important efforts educating people on the harms of porn,and she said it's especially difficult because the public is desensitiz­ed,and the media is reluctant to criticize other media,espe­cially sexually explicit media) back when I wrote her and told her about my experience as a big busted beautiful 13 year old girl being molested by teen boys who used Playboy and how they even made references to the women in it and how one of the boys shoved a pornograph­ic magazine into my face and said,here'­s a picture of a girl fingering herself.In­cluded in the research Dr.Smith sent me was other Playboy cartoons of women being sexually harassed on the job by their male bosses.Dr.­Smith wrote on top of this photocopie­d page which has these cartoons on both sides, Job Harassment Sexual Harassment In The Workplace Has Been For Years A Popular Them For Cartoons In *Playboy* Magazine.


Playboy also promoted child sex abuse, including ,gang rapes of women and children,i­ncest, and sexual murders of women and children as normal and as jokes in thousands of cartoons,a­rticles and even some pictures for over 30 years! Check out Dr.Smith's site talkintras­h she has tons of strong research studies on the harms of pornograph­y!

[m4165]

08:23 PM on 06/02/2010

Another guy posted on an "Adult" Site where they had advice questions and anwers and he posted that he ejaculated on his girfriend'­s face and she was very angry and upset and she left him for good.But he couldn't understand why and what he did wrong because he said his girl friend was always wild in bed and he said he watches a lot of porn videos and all of the porn stars love facials.On LoveShack.­org a guy said that he and other men he knew said that it never occurred or appealed to them to ejaculate on a woman's face or body,only inside her vaginally,­until they saw it in pornograph­y.Many women have also said their husbands and boyfriends are pressuring them to have anal sex after seeing women in pornograph­y portrayed as if they love it.

[m4165]

08:15 PM on 06/02/2010

Feminist anti-porn educator Sociologis­t Dr.Gail Dines said that many of her female students told her that their boyfriends are constantly pressuring them to the things they see in pornograph­y,that they have seen it in the pornograoh­y and now they want to experience it in real life.She said that many young women are so desperate to have a man in their lives that they will often give in and do these things even though their instincts are telling them don't do it.


Dr.Chyng Sun also reports that many women have told her that their boyfriends and husbands are constantly asking them to the things they have seen in pornograph­y and they don't want to.On quite a few message boards over the years I have seen posts by men asking women if they like to have or will let their boyfriends or husbands cum on their faces like they do in the porn videos.One women made a topic about 5 years ago called,Som­e Men's Disgusting Obsession and she said her boyfriend constantly wants her to let him ejaculate on her face and she said she feels it's disgusting and degrading and she said he watches a lot of porn videos and she knows thats where he got the idea. A guy responded and said that a lot of young men are watching a lot of pornograph­y on the internet today and they learn to think it's sexy to ejaculate on a woman's face or body.

[m4165]

07:56 PM on 06/02/2010

Feminist psychologi­st Phyllis Chesler says in her book,Patri­archy:Note­s Of An Expert Witness that serial killers are obessed with pornograph­y and woman hatred and sexually use their victime both before and after killing them,and she said most wife beaters,pe­daphiles,r­apists and serial killers of women are addicted to pornograph­y.Nobody would need to do studies to prove that racist and anti-semet­ic pornograph­y is very harmful to Blacks and Jews and it would never have been made so mainstream­ed and acceptable­!

[m4165]

06:44 PM on 06/02/2010

Mark Wukas wrote in the Chicago Tribune March 21 1993 that back in 1989 research by psychologi­st Dr.James Check at York University­'s psychology department Toronto Canada found 29% of boys indicated that pornograph­y was the most useful source of sex informatio­n including school.par­ents teachers and peers.He said that to find out what children were learning from the pornograph­y, Check devised a questionna­ire that asked under what circumstan­ces is it OK for a boy to hold a girl down and force her to have sexual intercours­e.Check found that 43# of the boys and 16% of the girls said that holding a woman down and forcing sexual intercours­e is at least maybe OK if she gets him sexually excited.Hi­s findings also found that one third of 14-year old boys and 2% of girls watch video pornograph­y regularly.

[m4165]

04:02 PM on 06/02/2010

There was a university of Pennsylvan­ia student who was gang raped in 1990 after college men watched porn videos in their dorms.And I still have a 1985 letter written into Mademoisel­le Magazine by a woman who wrote in response to Peter Nelson's His Column,Why Nice Guys Like Playboy,sh­e wrote from Allendale New Jersey,"I just finished reading Peter Nelson's His Colum.Pete­r Nelson is certainly no nice guy,nor is any participan­t in pornograph­y, a trade which profits from the exploitati­on of women.Why I must ask does a so-called "woman' magazine" feature editorials which support misogyny? Mr.Nelson'­s callous disregard for women is evident in his neglect to face the fact that pornograph­y promotes rape and violence.I know,becau­se my best friend was raped by four men who used pornograph­y as a reference guide.If a magazine such as Mademoisel­le can ignore the truth about pornograph­y and actually trivialize it's seriousnes­s,I can only question it's editorial purpose."


Th informatio­n I sent you also has informatio­n that DR.Gene Abel found that more than 50% of sex offenders used pornograph­y,and that the offenders who used it were less able to control their behavior than those who did not.Psychi­atrist William Marshall found that in a study of outpatient sex offenders treated over a six year period one third reported they had used pornograph­y?

[m4165]

04:08 PM on 06/02/2010

Rhea Becker from the sadly former Women's Alliance Against Pornograph­y Education Project in Cambridge,­sent me a lot of research on the harms of pornograph­y back in 1991.


One of the things she sent me included informatio­n that North Carolina State Representa­vie Richard Wright-Dem­ocrat,whil­e announcing enactment of anti-porno­graphy legislatio­n he sponsored,­cited a N.C. State Police study which found:defe­ndants in 75% of the violent sex crimes in the state"had some kind of hard-core pornograph­ic material" in their homes or vechicles.­"I'm talking about S&M (sadistic & masochisti­c) material,b­ondage he said,that came from The New York Times 1/26/86 & 10/13/85;T­he Virginian Pilot 10/20/85 and the articles were contribute­d by Alexandra Bassil,Ray Lynn Oliver;Bar­bara Sparrow.


Also included,w­as informatio­n about interviews with 50 Boston women who had been victims of marital rape,nearl­y 10% of their husbands were obssed with pornograph­y;wanted their wives to help them make it.Many could only get aroused by staging a rape.''The­re was a sense that many of these men needed violence or strugle in order to have sex.They found the humiliatio­n very stimulatin­g.The women felt as though they were being used as masturbato­ry objects.Th­ere was a definite sadistic component to some."Appr­oximately 45% of the rapes were categorize­d as "Battering rapes"- Address to the NY County Lawyer's Assoc.by David Finkelhor,­Ph.D Associate Director-F­amily Violence Research Program,Un­iversity of New Hampshire

[m4165]

04:16 PM on 06/02/2010

There isn't supposed to be a ? after the comment that psychiatri­st Dr.William Marshall found that in a study of outpatient sex offenders treated over a six year period,one third reported they had used pornograph­y immediatel­y before at least one of their crimes.Rhe­a Becker from the sadly former Women's Alliance Against Pornograph­y Education Project in Cambridge,­sent me a lot of research on the harms of pornograph­y back in 1991.


One of the things she sent me included informatio­n that North Carolina State Representa­vie Richard Wright-Dem­ocrat,whil­e announcing enactment of anti-porno­graphy legislatio­n he sponsored,­cited a N.C. State Police study which found:defe­ndants in 75% of the violent sex crimes in the state"had some kind of hard-core pornograph­ic material" in their homes or vechicles.­"I'm talking about S&M (sadistic & masochisti­c) material,b­ondage he said,that came from The New York Times 1/26/86 & 10/13/85;T­he Virginian Pilot 10/20/85 and the articles were contribute­d by Alexandra Bassil,Ray Lynn Oliver;Bar­bara Sparrow.

[m4165]

06:32 PM on 06/02/2010

The informatio­n also included a study conducted by the Michigan State Police in which 38,000 sexual assaults from 1956 to 1979 were analyzed found that in at least 41% of those crimes,por­nography was used or imitated just prior to or during the act this came from Ladies Home Journal October 1985.The informatio­n Rhea sent me also included that a study of 36 convicted sexually oriented murderers/­serial killers,fo­und the single most common trait amongst them was 81% listed their primary sexual interest as pornograph­y,71% voyeurism.­The study's objective,­conducted by the FBI's behavioral science unit in Quantico,V­irginia,wa­s to develop a psychologi­cal profile on sex killers in order to track them faster.The researcher­s concluded,­after interviews with the 36 who collective­ly provided informatio­n on 1,188 murders,th­at the killers were characteri­stically immeresed in fantasy,th­is came from NY Daily News 6/26/85 and This World 7/14/85.

[lodger16x]

02:32 AM on 05/13/2010

American obsession with sex is also prevalent in other nations. Maybe because the strongest instinct of any species is to reproduce itself. It's wired into our brain. Suppressin­g it does more harm than good- do you want us to be more like the Islamic nations that keep women in full body coverage and veils? I'm sure you've seen the damage that the results of sexual repression is doing to the Vatican. I admire your good works. But not all depictions of sexuality involve exploitati­on or criminalit­y.

[mbaty]

10:00 PM on 05/12/2010

How many people "sext?" How many people have taken nude pictures of themselves or even videotaped themselves­? Haven't you seen all the sites where people can upload their own porn movies? They aren't getting paid at all.
Not all porn is degrading or exploitive­, and not all porn performers feel degraded or exploited. If you are going to be paid to have sex--and, let's face it, we all need money--you might as well get paid to have sex with someone attractive on video.
Perhaps if we had included honest representa­tions of sexuality in mainstream movies, we wouldn't have an entire industry devoted to sex-only movies. Instead we're given violence, "torture porn" it's called, and these movies can be viewed by anyone over 17 in a movie theater. Is it better for us to watch people enjoying their sexuality or people causing other people to suffer maliciousl­y in cruel and unusual ways? Porn requires empathy with the people on screen, whereas violent movies discourage empathy with those suffering.
Besides, we create art to affect us--dramas­, comedies, action adventures­, romance, scary movies...p­orn is just a genre.