Porn
 

Did anyone see the recent investigation of the porn industry? This morning on my local radio station it was announced that porn stars that have contracted STDs are suing the industry because they are/were asked to perform without condoms. I have a great deal to say about this issue but want to first ask if one watches porn is it the same thing as supporting prostitution?:(

Re: Porn
 

This is a very very tough question. Hmmmm I do not think it is the same as prostitution but it is a very small line. How does one tell the difference? I think that in this industry there are people who have no health coverage and other stuff and this is probably the industry where they need it the most.

Sphinxpoet

interesting
 

Supporting pornography the same as prostitution? I can't say that, because if I watch Hannibal does that mean that I support cannibalism? Porn is exploitation, but is it exploitation by the consumer, or the industry studios? I saw a story on Nightline or 20/20 about some porn star girl who went from not having certain types of sex and not doing drugs to becoming known in the porn world for having weird sex and being high while doing it. When Diane Sawyer asked her why she smiled when she described the horrific details of some of the "situations" she's been in, she said because she tries to hide her true feelings of extreme self hate. Now, is this the consumer's fault, though she says that she does the extreme sex because that is what the fans want? But she chose to go into the industry, and the industry is a very ugly world. As long as young women will sell themselves for the money, it's hard to blame the market. No one forces these women to make movies, they maybe misguided and too young to make a decision like this, but sometimes we do have to own up to our decisions.
Blackatch!!!!!!

If you buy porn then you may as well support prostitution. Its the same thing. You're paying to watch and in some cases have interactive sex. I don't see the difference.

I was under the impression that prostitution was engaging in sexual acts in exchange for money. That is not the same thing as watching people have sex. Because we can take this to a higher level. There are people who enjoy swinging. They like to attend private orgies. Some of these people are simply there to WATCH. It's called voyeurism. So if you like to watch other people having sex, even if you have to pay to do it, how is that the same as supporting the SELL of sex? Does that mean that if you rent or buy the movies Friday or Half Baked, then you support the sell of marijuana and other drugs? :confused:

Call it what you will - but to clarify my sister, when you go into your local store to buy PORN it is just that. There is a big difference between renting a movie and the characters smoke a joint. Folk don't buy movies only to watch characters smoke weed but they buy porn for sexual gratification. In essence, when you BUY PORN you may as well be supporting the sell of sexual intercourse.

So does that go for Magazines such as Playboy and Hustler as well?

Sphinxpoet

A very fine line
 

I understand ideal08's points, because watch and participating can be seen as two different things. But as I think more about this topic, I wonder if the voyerism connotates support in that you pay to watch the sex acts, which is the bottom line when it comes to any commerce. If you put your money behind something, at least in the entertainment realm, you are at least participating in the increase of demand for the product. When we go to the movies, I often wonder, as a Christian, could I in good faith be entertained by the movie "Friday" for example. I did pay to see Friday when it came out (I think) and thought it was funny, in a base level type of way. But in paying money to see it, we show the industry that this type of thing sells. Even though I think that drug use in our community is a cancer, I supported the production of that image in paying to see the movie "Friday". Did I smoke weed? No, but the money, I think to a certain degree, implies support, at least for the entertainment value of the images.

As for porn, I think that there is also a conundrum, because we say it is wrong to support porn, because of its graphic depictions of sex, but we also support movies that have graphic depictions of violence and drug use as entertainment, and reason with ourselves by saying that I can separate fantasy from reality. From a morals perspective, if we say that watching porn is immoral and supports prostitution, then we have to call in to question what role does entertainment have in our lives. What is entertaining vs. what should be entertaining? While a freshman in college, porn videos were watched for their "entertainment" value by guys on our floor. I do not know how so many 18 year olds got so much porn, but it seems as though watching porn was like watching a football game with the fellas. We were popping jokes, commenting on the scenes, etc. These women were exploited, true enough, but let us think about our other forms of entertainment and the other types of entertainers as well. Football is a prime example. Football players are indeed exploited, though they are paid well, they put their bodies through torture to entertain fans every fall. We have our favorite teams, players and games. We crtitique the players, we are in awe of their talents, and critical of their performances. Some would say that the violence displayed in the games is immoral, while other would say football is an ugly sport and is very unforgiving. And the players choose to be exploited, just as any American chooses to sell their talents on the job market.

Now I am not saying that sex and football games are synonymous in their visual imagery nor their purposes in the lives of human beings, but I am saying that we have to really start being more critical on what we deem as entertainment. If we leave entertainment and "what is entertaining" to the whim of the consumer and his or her "tastes", then commenting on the support of pornography as synonymous with prostitution I think goes too far. But if we begin to place entertainment in the realm of an indicator of one's morality, then not only should we call porn into question, but movies, sports, music, and other forms of entertainment has to be considered as well.

Blackwatch!!!!!!

Is it not the same thing - or perhaps its just ok to read the articles and not view the pictures - lol

Yeah the articles thats it! :D ;) :p

Huh?

You don't see the difference between watching a movie and going out and paying someone for sex?

The only way your analogy would work is if you found a prostitue and some other person and paid them to have sex while you watched.

How do you have interactive sex with a porno? :confused: I mean maybe the porno makes you feel tingly and induces sex with someone else...but aren't there a lot of other aphrodisiacs as well? Is buying chocolate covered cherries also the same as supporting prostitution?

I am trying to find the logic...very difficult.

If you buy porn you are paying to see and maybe have sex. If you rent a movie you do so for the plot. If the two were the same then porn would receive nominations for the mainstream awards. Also, cum on - there is a difference between two industries.

what? :o

Bad moderator, bad moderator.

You know what I'm talking about... ;)

:D

:confused:

I think we can all agree that most pornography doesn't have Academy Award caliber talent or film making. What does this have to do with prostitution?

You are paying to see sex. You are paying to SEE sex. Okay...again...prostitution is paying someone to ENGAGE IN A SEXUAL ACT. Different!

I will again attempt to follow your logic. You buy a porn in an attempt to maybe get someone horny enough to have sex with you. You have not paid THAT person to have sex with you. THAT would be prostitution. You have purchased a movie. You might have purchased some hot oil. You might have purchased a Marvin Gaye CD. Okay? Soooo...does this make either one the same as prostitution? Really, I am trying to be enlightened.

Supporting exploitation vs. prostitution
 

Paying to see sex, while not prostitution, I think though could be problematic. Regardless of your intentions in the purchase of the porn video, the purchase of it supports an industry that has a track record of exploitation and hedonism. Some would say that most capitalistic enterprises are based on exploitation and hedonism (if hedoinism is people fulfilling their earthly desires). Is the issue here is whether or not the purchase and/or watching of pornography good or bad, or is it as bad as prostitution? Because I think that the former question is the one more worthy of debate. I think it opens up issues about what is entertaining, and/or useful in our lives. And even then can something seen as vile and disgusting as some of the acts that are portrayed in porn ever be edifying in our lives?

Blackwach!!!!!!

I do not think that watching porn is the same as participating in prositution but at the same time you are supporting people who have sex for money, which is the same as prositution so I have to agree with the Professor on this one. The argument about Hannibal and Friday is invalid because when people buy those movies, its understood that it is fiction and entertainment although it might happen in real life, those are actors and their actions aren't real. When you buy porn, they have real sex. People get pregnet, get STDs, and can die from it. Whats the difference between are a pron star on film and a prositute on film? Why is one legal and not when they both are doing the same thing?

Porn=Lust=Sin
 

Yes, I have seen some, and it vexes the Spirit inside of me.

God said through Paul that we should avoid sexual immorality and learn to control out bodies in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen.

Porn can easily take us away from these principles.

Conscience
 

Overall in this debate, I think that we also have to consider a seldom discussed concept in Christianity, the conscience. Bro. Jamal 5000 has brought some interesting scriptures into the debate, while I see the need to discuss them, I must curb my desire to do so, seeing as though I have a proclivity to become very long winded when discussing scripture (PM me Bruh!:D ) but I think we can get to the point where our entertainments have to become a matter of conscience. Paul discusses in I Corinthians chapters 8-10 the issue of food being offered up to idols and though he states that idols are nothing to those people who understand righteousness outside the law, it may still offend the consciencenes of those weaker believers who are weak because of their lack of knowledge. Now is porn similar to food offered up to idols ( in the since that it affects different people diferent ways)? It depends on how a person views porn.
The arguement was proposed that since they really have sex on film that watching porn is akin to prostitution. What about documentaries that show people in drug houses using crack, is this akin to you using crack? What about news broadcasts that show people being killed? Real depictions of real lifes situations are sometimes ugly reflections of our true humanity-both good and bad. If there is a sin here, I don't think it is the sex acts themselves. Does it indulge in a lustful desire as Jamal5000 states-of course it does. But these lustful desires aren't just piqued in porn, they are in our rap videos, other movies, spring break at Kappa Beach and our dearly departed freaknik, when we go to the club, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, Honey Magazine, beer and car commercials, the clothes that we find sexy (thongs and muscle shirts) etc. What I am saying here is that I think the popularity of porn speaks not about a few perverted men in sexshops, but a whole society that has devalued sex into a mere "drug" so to speak (an outlet to curb a physical desire) and a media that has marketed this "drug" to a society of "drug abusers". I sub sometimes in the public schools here and to see 13 and 14 year old girls wearing thongs to school and with words sprawled across their chests and behinds is utterly rediculous. Acording to some reports, AIDS is the number one killer of Black people ages 25 to 44 and the fastest growing segment of HIV infections is occuring with Black women. Porn is symptomatic and a deeper issue in our community, that of sex abuse-which is rampant in the whole country.
What does any of this have to do with conscienceness you ask? Well, the issue with the food offered up to idols was that it affected people because of their lack of knowledge, in other words, it wasn't really anything wrong with it, but since so many people were in the dark about it, it should be avoided. This speaks to relativity in sin, that not everything we percieve as sin is actually sin for everybody. Sex ouside of marriage is sin for everyone, no matter the context (presumably). But , for example , is me watching an R-rated movie- like "The Mack", is that sin? sure it has violence, drug use, sex, etc. But, if I can see a keen social message about the double conscienceness of a black man being trapped by a racist system and learn and grow from it, is it a sin for me? I was at a church conference on gangsta rap a while back and one of the men there stated that he had some Tupac in his truck. He could listen to Tupac and gleam from it passion and pain, and also recognize the mysogyny, hedonism, and materialism were symptomatic and not things that should be taken as truth. Now, the issue became whether a 15 year old could make those distinctions, probably not, so Tupac wouldn't be profitable for him to listen to, but other, more mature people probably would not be affected by tupac the same way. It is a matter of conscience-what you know about a situation, that determines whether it is profitable for you to do certain acts, in some instances. Is porn on this same level, I think so because some people who watch porn do come away thinking that this is really life, but others think it to be fantasy. Though it can lead to some sad ideas about sex, but I think our society already has sad ideas about sex, and it is not solely because of porn.
Blackwatch!!!!!!

Professor---------you are a umph mess!!!!!

I must say that I agree with Ideal08. It is not the same!!!!!!

P.S. They better not make it illegal or else someone will have to bail me out of jail. LOL

ROTFLMBO!!!