Pornography on the web

[_Sethbag]

Well said Runtu. But in a capitalist driven society, what can you expect? We're taught from the cradle to the grave to treat others as commodities. Everything can be bought or sold. People are simply commercial chattels.

Yeah, to your employer you're just "headcount", a warm body, a "human resource". But there's no dehumanization in just being called a resource (iron ore is a resource) and tossed into a beige 6'x6' cubicle, is there?

As to the porn, I don't look at porn, but I know a lot of people (outside the church) who do, and I wouldn't go so far as to judge them as evil for doing so, or as having trouble in their relationships. I think whatever trouble we have in our relationships with other people is affected far more by other direct factors like personality and character traits and our interpersonal skills.

I do agree, however, that porn involving children is an abomination because of the exploitive nature and the destruction of innocence of a child who is in the care of those who should know better. And that even young adult actresses who get involved in porn are probably exploited by those who make the porn and reap most of the rewards. But then, as said, that's capitalism, and who can deny that the young adults working at McDonalds aren't also exploited for cheap labor to the extent that such businesses can get away with it?

As to the topic of an .xxx domain, I'm a bit leery of it because of the implication of government control over the web, not because it'll make the porn any more or less easy to find. But if they do do it, I think if they literally can drive all the porn over to .xxx, it'll definitely make it easier for people who wish not to have access to that material on their computer to filter it out. I think the argument against it based on making it easier to find is laughable. Give me a break. I suspect that the people who are seriously arguing this are in reality thinking that if they create a .xxx domain for porn they're somehow condoning it, and they don't want the government appearing to condone porn.

[_Seven]

But you do not know if the person was sick in the head and that is one of the things that were sought out by the already damaged mind was porn. It cannot be proven that porn was the destroyer of the marriage. As has been pointed out, millions of people have watched porn and then proceed to do absolutely nothing wrong. My bet still goes on the person would have behaved in the exact same way (adultery) without the porn "addiction."

If you had known the men I did that destroyed their families from porn addiction, they were the last people I would have ever predicted. I knew one guy since he was a child, and he was a very devout LDS, with very high morals. It was shocking to hear he couldn't give up the porn. He has since remarried and given up all porn, but his first family was torn apart by it.
I know several other men that said how addicting it is when they thought dabbling in it would be easy to control.

By the way, As far as your computer and the pop ups, I think you'll find someone has been using your computer looking for porn.

No, nobody else has used my computer but me unless they are breaking into it. (it has happened at work also) I have never viewed porn, but have accidentally clicked on a site once or twice. I have the anti spyware program.

I know a guy who was caught viewing porn at work and his boss walked by.....he is no longer employed there.

[_Yoda]

No, nobody else has used my computer but me unless they are breaking into it. (it has happened at work also) I have never viewed porn, but have accidentally clicked on a site once or twice. I have the anti spyware program.

I know a guy who was caught viewing porn at work and his boss walked by.....he is no longer employed there.

Go to http://www.spybot.com

This is a great program to run and weed out Trojans and malware that might be affecting your computer. The program is free. I run it on my system about three times a week. That should help clean out the garbage.

What anti-virus program are you using? You may want to try Avast. It is also free for home use and can be downloaded at http://www.avast.com

[_Coggins7]

Well said Runtu. But in a capitalist driven society, what can you expect? We're taught from the cradle to the grave to treat others as commodities. Everything can be bought or sold. People are simply commercial chattels.

You see folks, if you just give someone like Fort enough rope and sufficient time, they will dangle and sway eventually, one way or another, despite all attempts to play the dispassionate intellectual interlocutor free of personal bias. Despite all of Fort's stoic and sanctimonious pose to the contrary, his position on AGW is purely a matter of ideology, precisely the sin of sins he has repeatedly accused me and the scientific sources to which I linked of harboring, and which is always claimed by those within the cult of Environmentalism of biasing their data or positions.

Like most environmentalists, Fort is essentially a Marxist with a green exterior: a watermelon. AGW is, for him, the great white hope for Socialism now that very few people outside the North American academy or the media take socialist economic and social theory seriously as economic and social theory. Fort, like the rest of the Left, needs a looming apocalypse the justify the societal transformations he seeks, as few take seriously the idea that such transformations are justified on the merits of socialist theory alone.

I knew if I waited long enough Fort would play his well hidden card.

Well and good, as now things are a bit more front and center, ideologically, so to speak.

Although not apropos to this thread, and I won't belabor the point, I couldn't help but mention that Fort has finally done here what he wouldn't do on the AGW threads: be intellectually honest about his own biases.

Commodification indeed.

[_christopher]

Maybe kind of a silly question here, but how is prostitution against the law, but getting paid to have sex in front of a camera not illegal. I mean if I hire a local whore to sex me or a friend up, but have a camera rolling while we the deed is done, is it no longer illegal?


Chris <><

[_Mr. Coffee]

I do agree with having all of the porn sites have .xxx at the end of the URL because I think that we should avoid having kids stumble across this stuff unnecessarily. That being said, though...I don't think that kids should have carte blanche access to the Internet, anyway.

I can get behind that. Making porn sites register domains that end in something that explicitely tells the browse that the site's content is just by looking at the URL would be a good thing. Kind or like Gun Registration, but for porn.

My kids access the computer in a public room. If a pop-up does happen, their Dad or I am there to see it and help get rid of it if necessary. This can also become a teaching opportunity to talk with your kids about sex, porn, etc.

My sons bother have their own PC's in their rooms, but their internet access goes through my system. I can monitor what they're looking at and restrict access to certain sites from there.

And yeah, talking to your child about sex is a good idea. Something that pisses me off to no end are parents whose idea of sexual education is telling their kids "just say no". That didn't work for Nancy Reagan with drugs, it's not going to work with sex either. Even worse, that sort of "sweep it under the rug and hope it goes away till they're married" idea only serves to produce young adults who have an unhealthy view of sex.



Oh, Liz, just noticed the new AV and sig. Nice. You get props for class on that.

[_Jersey Girl]

My biggest problem with porn is that it turns people into objects and dehumanizes them. Yeah, I know that many of you disagree, but I believe that it does damage to our ability to form interpersonal relationships when we begin to see others as merely objects to be used for our gratification.

What Runtu said.

Jersey Girl

[_maklelan]

My biggest problem with porn is that it turns people into objects and dehumanizes them. Yeah, I know that many of you disagree, but I believe that it does damage to our ability to form interpersonal relationships when we begin to see others as merely objects to be used for our gratification.

First, allow me to say that this is an apologetic thread about pornography, so I'm kind of annoyed with the hypocrisy displayed by those who whine about "apologetics" and then start threads like this. Second, I agree with you Runtu, and your point makes up the basis for my argument over in the consequences thread. Pornography is not the only thing that damages relationship-building capacities. Third, I'm also a little surprised at the use of a government funded study as the basis for the OP. I know I am making a huge assumption when I say that most of the people in here probably don't trust any government funded scientific research, but it's the vibe I get off of most here (not necessarily you, Runtu). Do you all automatically accept a government funded study, or only when it supports your cause?

The following article is an exceptional introduction (and mentions the politically charged nature of the debate, so gov. funded research may be suspect):

Simon Hardy, "Reading pornography," Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and Learning 4.1 (April, 2004): 3–18.

This article explains how and why internet pornography causes huge problems:

Mark Griffiths, "Excessive Internet Use: Implications for Sexual Behavior," CyberPsychology & Behavior 3.4 (Aug., 2000): 537 -552.

This article explores the relationship that exists between preoccupation with sex and use of sex as a coping method in adolescence (why do so many people say masturbation is helpful?), and sexual abuse:

Franca Cortoni and William L. Marshall, "Sex As a Coping Strategy and Its Relationship to Juvenile Sexual History and Intimacy in Sexual Offenders," Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment 13.1 (Jan., 2001): 27–43.

[_why me]

Most people who watch pornography have no clue just how a movie is made, nor do they have a clue, just what pressure a performer may be under to perform the acts that the viewer is watching. Porn has morphed into something that is unrecognizable from the 1970's when it was 'enjoyed' by men in trenchcoats in porn threaters. In the good old days, the movies were sort of high quality and the number of actors and actresses were small. In fact, everyone knew eachother and trusted one another. Of course, this was before the aids scare. But the business, although successful was the the giant octopus that it is today. And women were not so heavily expoited as now. The business had a insider control.

Today, if one ever sneaks a peak at the kind of movies being made, they would suddenly come to understand that the normal is no longer valued, but the abnormal is. Women are expected to do things that seem more and more extreme. And if they refuse, they don't get the part and since the business is very competitive, most porn women do not feel free to refuse. Also, the business varies according to porn company. Some treat women better than others but the general rule is that women are meat and used as such.

Plus, the making of the movie is not as glamorous as the film portrays. To watch a porn movie being made can be very boring. What makes the movie exciting are the camera angles and camera shots but in real life, the movie making can be real sleeper with many cuts in the action. Not at all exciting. Plus, one can see the actors and actresses as real people with all their emotional flaws, whereas in the movie, one sees no emotional flaws but pure undefiled lust. And the actresses dress as such.

Yes, porn is exploitive but I can also understand what can turn people on. The actresses and actors are superhuman in the sexual act, at least the movie makes them out as such, but reality is different. But still what the women do and the 'enjoyment' of it can be very addicting for the male watcher. The women do what most men would not consider their wives to do. And here lies the attraction.

However, one must ask: Why do so many men and women go into the business? The amount of porn actresses is enormous. There is never an end to the supply and many of the women are beautifully made up and are attractive.

[_Pokatator]

Most people who watch pornography have no clue just how a movie is made, nor do they have a clue, just what pressure a performer may be under to perform the acts that the viewer is watching. Porn has morphed into something that is unrecognizable from the 1970's when it was 'enjoyed' by men in trenchcoats in porn threaters. In the good old days, the movies were sort of high quality and the number of actors and actresses were small. In fact, everyone knew eachother and trusted one another. Of course, this was before the aids scare. But the business, although successful was the the giant octopus that it is today. And women were not so heavily expoited as now. The business had a insider control.

Today, if one ever sneaks a peak at the kind of movies being made, they would suddenly come to understand that the normal is no longer valued, but the abnormal is. Women are expected to do things that seem more and more extreme. And if they refuse, they don't get the part and since the business is very competitive, most porn women do not feel free to refuse. Also, the business varies according to porn company. Some treat women better than others but the general rule is that women are meat and used as such.

Plus, the making of the movie is not as glamorous as the film portrays. To watch a porn movie being made can be very boring. What makes the movie exciting are the camera angles and camera shots but in real life, the movie making can be real sleeper with many cuts in the action. Not at all exciting. Plus, one can see the actors and actresses as real people with all their emotional flaws, whereas in the movie, one sees no emotional flaws but pure undefiled lust. And the actresses dress as such.

Yes, porn is exploitive but I can also understand what can turn people on. The actresses and actors are superhuman in the sexual act, at least the movie makes them out as such, but reality is different. But still what the women do and the 'enjoyment' of it can be very addicting for the male watcher. The women do what most men would not consider their wives to do. And here lies the attraction.

However, one must ask: Why do so many men and women go into the business? The amount of porn actresses is enormous. There is never an end to the supply and many of the women are beautifully made up and are attractive.

Wow, Why Me, you are a fountain of knowledge.

Are you still in the industry?