Do you ever read something and just feel tainted? I just read a supremely creepy article by Claire Hoffman in the LA Times about the dirt bag Girls Gone Wild founder. Here's the link to the article:
http://www.latimes.com/features/magazine/west/la-tm-gonewild32aug06,0,2664370.story?coll=la-home-headlines. Discretion is advised. It's deeply disturbing.
I know that many think that Girls Gone Wild (I confess to only ever seeing the commercials on late night TV for it) is relatively harmless and that the women and girls who get filmed are sort of "asking for it" or just joyfully expressing their sexuality, but when you read Hoffman's piece you are bound to have two reactions:
1. Mr. Girls Gone Wild is a sleaze ball
2. Claire Hoffman is an incredibly brave woman
3. Porn and adult entertainment is not harmless fun.
Joe Francis is a perfect example of how the porn industry objectifies women to the point that it sex becomes intertwined with violence and degradation. Mr. Francis is unable to deal with any woman who is outside of his notions of women as dumb exhibitionist sluts who just need a bit of encouragement (via liquor, promise of fame, and cheap gifts) to become pliant sex objects. I've become more and more dismayed at how mainstream porn is. The very title "adult entertainment" is a misnomer that attempts to mainstream the objectification of women as sex receptacles and sex as an arena for power, submission, and cheap thrills. Adults do not need to watch others have sex to be "entertained." Adult entertainment is a rock concert where the entire audience is singing along, feeding off the energy of a great band. Adult entertainment is a beach party where the beer is flowing freely, the waves are just high enough to have fun, the grill is giving off some fine scents and the volleyball games are hot as the sand beneath the party goers toes. Adult entertainment is sitting around a table with old friends, making wisecracks and inside jokes, with or without the props of card games, tobacco or alcohol. Adult entertainment is made and enjoyed by people who are secure in who they are and what station they are at in life and don't need the accoutrements of a fantasy world of some wacked out misogynist to have fun.
Please don't get me wrong. I have nothing against sex or sexuality. Sex is the greatest gift that the Creator gave to humanity. But porn is not fundamentally about sex, sexuality or the mysterious connection between two people that we all enjoy. It's sexual crack: a cheap thrill that is a mere shadow and shade of reality that inevitably leaves one worse off for the experience. It is about power and the reduction of women and men into mere animals engaged in a mere biological act of dominance and submission.
Peace to all
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3 comments:
nice post Jack. BUT...what next? Where does redemption intersect with the world of porn? The 'church' would like to see it just go away, but that is unlikely. I suspect that this is not what Jesus meant when he said "turn the other cheek." Check out XXX Church, a nonprofit ministry to the industry. Do you think you'd be able to go to a big porn convention in Las Vegas and love people? I think the time for the eunuch has returned.
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Good question. I think my major concern is that we're not totally convinced it's wrong or we say so for the wrong reasons. I'm a bit leery (personally especially) of engaging the porn world, but I wonder what would happen if we all committed to raising strong, empowered girls and were open and honest and real about sexuality.
... no, I don't think I'd be able to go to a porn convention and love people. I would inevitably become a eunuch in the mold of "if your (body part) causes you to sin, cut it off
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