Experts have studied the effects of pornography, the changing climate of "violence" in pornography and the ever-eclipsing nature of titillation. Most research groups are helmed by women, the studies are of a wide-range of pornography, and the data is categorized into qualitative categories such as "degrading" or humiliating. Nearly every study I've read reveals interesting points of view, but agendas as well. I've heard arguments on every side of the pornography war and everyone is wrong and everyone is right.
Let me elaborate. The landscape of pornography is very different today than people believe it is. The majority of "mainstream" images depict women like Jenna Jameson, Sasha Grey, and Jenna Haze, polished and pretty girls who would never appear in degrading pornography. But the fact remains that a lot of pornography depicts acts that are unflattering. These remain out of the main-stream, however, but are watched a great deal. Pornography experts claim that what can be filmed has reached it's limits and new things must be invented to titillate the audience. Sociologist would have you believe that this is a reflection of what people truly want. The religious right wants to say pornography is abhorrent and corporate America wants to shield you from the fact that CBS and Telecom make BILLIONS each year off pornography. That's right. Billions.
Such evidence fractures the message. Who is right? Who do I believe? Does it belong in my home? Should a married man stop watching pornography because it "offends" his wife? Should we monetize what certain acts of sex are worth on the screen? Who is culpable for the present state of affairs in the modern culture that romanticizes and celebrates the "depravity" of human sexuality for profit.
Let me try to direct your attention to what I see as a formidable answer to almost any question of "how did this happen?" Imagine you are a 40-year old married male, two kids, a tiring job, a mortgage, and a semi-stable marriage. Not an impossible scenario in 21st century America by any stretch. Well. Except the job. Who works? The husband and wife feel estranged from one another. The kids are in high school and the husband has perhaps two hours of personal "me" time to himself each week. His escape into the world of pornography has nothing, I repeat, NOTHING to do with sexual gratification or release. It is about powerlessness. And I think I speak from an educated point of view when I say the feelings of powerlessness for a woman and very very different from those of a man's. The modern taboo of the effeminate male having to adhere to political correctness, a changing working landscape, and a media that is beyond pro-woman. There avenues of masculine escape have dwindled. Entire books have been written on this, so I don't need to repeat it all here.
So. One can argue, the male in this scenario watches images of depraved or kinky pornography as an escape and perhaps to derive some semblance of power in a life devoid of power. Still don't think I'm onto something. Okay. Allow me this analogy.
Person X is in debt for 10,000 dollars. Bills are piling up, interest rates spiral the debt further away from reality, banks suck, etc. Not an impossible scenario, correct? None of this debt is secured. It's credit cards and so on. The only thing a collection company can do is scare you with threats of a "bad credit rating." If your credit rating matters to you, this is a terrifying prospect. Powerlessness creeps in. Decision-making stems from a stressful place and Person X finds himself unable to escape this every-escalating interest-rate hell. As an adult, the power to say NO, I'm not paying this rests entire with you to say, "go screw." Find a reasonable payment structure or you're not getting anything. But this feeling of powerlessness pervades. Instead of taking control, Person X makes poor decisions to get out of debt, takes another mortgage, makes minimum payments, and so on. Now that the powerlessness is financial, we have a different perspective, but the fact remains the person in this scenario feels as though they've been rendered helpless and as such, they perhaps indulge in alcohol, abusive behavior, divorce, and so on.
Which bring us back to the hook upon which all these theories hang their proverbial hats. What are we worth? What is your body worth? Why is capitalism right? Why is the notion of a market-prices for every commodity, including the human body, not something that bio-ethicists challenge more often (maybe they do, and I just don't read enough journals from ethicists)? If all human vices are available because America is free why is prostitution still illegal? But if I film it and sell it on the internet it's not? Why is marijuana illegal unless it's to cure my poor eye-sight. Where do the spirit of the law and value of human life intersect? I think when we explore the issue of pornography in a vacuum we will always come up empty-handed in a maze of diacritic noise. But when we explore the value of human life, in every context, we can assert certain values to what we consider happiness and freedom and from there equivocate, "Those who want porn can have it. But Jenna Jameson can never appear on MTV and so on." Whatever our value on human life, the present capitalist condition of helplessness in a mire of market capital gains and keeping up with the Joneses will continue to endanger any change for a valuable discussion on the topics of why a man or a woman would ever HAVE to choose between a rewarding career and a job selling sex to people troubled enough to sit at home, watching porn as an escape from a reality, as they continue to create a divide in their own life between reality and fantasy, widening the chasm of despondency in their everyday life, and affirming their inability to develop emotional connection to the person in the other room. And when we can look across the aisle and say to our neighbor, I care. I am worried about you. You matter and I don't want you feeling alone and hopeless… when that happens… the stranglehold of capitalism will fade and the value of human life can finally be measured.
Let me elaborate. The landscape of pornography is very different today than people believe it is. The majority of "mainstream" images depict women like Jenna Jameson, Sasha Grey, and Jenna Haze, polished and pretty girls who would never appear in degrading pornography. But the fact remains that a lot of pornography depicts acts that are unflattering. These remain out of the main-stream, however, but are watched a great deal. Pornography experts claim that what can be filmed has reached it's limits and new things must be invented to titillate the audience. Sociologist would have you believe that this is a reflection of what people truly want. The religious right wants to say pornography is abhorrent and corporate America wants to shield you from the fact that CBS and Telecom make BILLIONS each year off pornography. That's right. Billions.
Such evidence fractures the message. Who is right? Who do I believe? Does it belong in my home? Should a married man stop watching pornography because it "offends" his wife? Should we monetize what certain acts of sex are worth on the screen? Who is culpable for the present state of affairs in the modern culture that romanticizes and celebrates the "depravity" of human sexuality for profit.
Let me try to direct your attention to what I see as a formidable answer to almost any question of "how did this happen?" Imagine you are a 40-year old married male, two kids, a tiring job, a mortgage, and a semi-stable marriage. Not an impossible scenario in 21st century America by any stretch. Well. Except the job. Who works? The husband and wife feel estranged from one another. The kids are in high school and the husband has perhaps two hours of personal "me" time to himself each week. His escape into the world of pornography has nothing, I repeat, NOTHING to do with sexual gratification or release. It is about powerlessness. And I think I speak from an educated point of view when I say the feelings of powerlessness for a woman and very very different from those of a man's. The modern taboo of the effeminate male having to adhere to political correctness, a changing working landscape, and a media that is beyond pro-woman. There avenues of masculine escape have dwindled. Entire books have been written on this, so I don't need to repeat it all here.
So. One can argue, the male in this scenario watches images of depraved or kinky pornography as an escape and perhaps to derive some semblance of power in a life devoid of power. Still don't think I'm onto something. Okay. Allow me this analogy.
Person X is in debt for 10,000 dollars. Bills are piling up, interest rates spiral the debt further away from reality, banks suck, etc. Not an impossible scenario, correct? None of this debt is secured. It's credit cards and so on. The only thing a collection company can do is scare you with threats of a "bad credit rating." If your credit rating matters to you, this is a terrifying prospect. Powerlessness creeps in. Decision-making stems from a stressful place and Person X finds himself unable to escape this every-escalating interest-rate hell. As an adult, the power to say NO, I'm not paying this rests entire with you to say, "go screw." Find a reasonable payment structure or you're not getting anything. But this feeling of powerlessness pervades. Instead of taking control, Person X makes poor decisions to get out of debt, takes another mortgage, makes minimum payments, and so on. Now that the powerlessness is financial, we have a different perspective, but the fact remains the person in this scenario feels as though they've been rendered helpless and as such, they perhaps indulge in alcohol, abusive behavior, divorce, and so on.
Which bring us back to the hook upon which all these theories hang their proverbial hats. What are we worth? What is your body worth? Why is capitalism right? Why is the notion of a market-prices for every commodity, including the human body, not something that bio-ethicists challenge more often (maybe they do, and I just don't read enough journals from ethicists)? If all human vices are available because America is free why is prostitution still illegal? But if I film it and sell it on the internet it's not? Why is marijuana illegal unless it's to cure my poor eye-sight. Where do the spirit of the law and value of human life intersect? I think when we explore the issue of pornography in a vacuum we will always come up empty-handed in a maze of diacritic noise. But when we explore the value of human life, in every context, we can assert certain values to what we consider happiness and freedom and from there equivocate, "Those who want porn can have it. But Jenna Jameson can never appear on MTV and so on." Whatever our value on human life, the present capitalist condition of helplessness in a mire of market capital gains and keeping up with the Joneses will continue to endanger any change for a valuable discussion on the topics of why a man or a woman would ever HAVE to choose between a rewarding career and a job selling sex to people troubled enough to sit at home, watching porn as an escape from a reality, as they continue to create a divide in their own life between reality and fantasy, widening the chasm of despondency in their everyday life, and affirming their inability to develop emotional connection to the person in the other room. And when we can look across the aisle and say to our neighbor, I care. I am worried about you. You matter and I don't want you feeling alone and hopeless… when that happens… the stranglehold of capitalism will fade and the value of human life can finally be measured.





























