I am currently teaching "Our Raunch Culture" in my composition courses, and the theme, has been a hit. Surprisingly, men have reacted favorably even more than the women. I have had so many guys say to me that they have totally re-thought their views on pornography and their role with it. There are no grand promises or "look at me, aren't I great" attitudes, but instead, I have had real, honest, complex conversations where men really seem to see the degradation to women, humanity--but just as importantly, to themselves--that porn causes.
My gratitude is huge to such leaders in the anti-porn movement as Dr. Robert Jensen, Dr. Gail Dines, and Dr. Rebecca Whisnant for their powerful slideshow presentation: "Who Wants to be a Porn Star" and also Media Education Foundation's The Price of Pleasure documentary. Both harrowing visuals really moved students and reached them at a profound level.
Pamela Paul's Pornified has been invaluable at illustrating that porn is not really a "free speech" issue afterall. It is a relationship issue. Relationship with self, with others, with humanity.
The internet is vast, endless. The porn that occupies it saturates all corners. The only way out of the dark spot we find ourselves in is through an understanding of what we want for ourselves and others. We control what goes in and what comes out.
5 comments:
She's back!
8^)
Looks like you've got some great stuff, K. I'm looking forward to reading all your new research on gender issues, particularly the effect of porn on men and women.
What a great post, as usual.
Welcome back. Good post McK. Agree on Porn. Disagree on control. But agree with Stella, as always.
K., So great to see you back!!
I was about to make a small post over at Wizard and thought to myself, "I so wish the iKonoclast was back up and returning to its original mission." I took a quick link and I'm thrilled to see this post!
The article I was going to post is Explicit lyrics linked to sex among teens: scientists
At the very least this article may have some value as you teach your class.
Key findings:
In an unusual piece of research, investigators at the University of Pittsburgh graded the sexual aggressiveness of lyrics, using songs by popular artists on the US Billboard chart.
The lyrics were graded from the least to the most sexually degrading.
They then asked 711 students aged 15 to 16 at three local high schools about their music preferences and their sexual behaviour.
Overall, 31 percent of the teens had had intercourse.
But the rate was only 20.6 percent among those who had been least exposed to sexually degrading lyrics but 44.6 percent among those highly exposed to the most degrading lyrics.
"These lyrics frequently portray aggressive males subduing submissive females, which may lead adolescents to incorporate this 'script' for sexual experience into their world view," he told AFP.
"Non-degrading" lyrics described sex in a non-specific way and as a mutually consensual act, while "degrading" lyrics described sexual acts as a purely physical, graphic and dominant act.
"Lyrics describing degrading sex tend to portray sex as expected, direct and uncomplicated," said the paper, which appeared last week in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
"Such descriptions may offer scripts that adolescents feel compelled to play out, whether they are cast in the role of either the female or the male partner."
Thanks, everyone, you are all so sweet. I seem to fail even when I try though. I thought I would make myself write each day, but three kids and piles of papers always gets in the way.
But I so appreciate your kind words.
K
The idea of "scripts we play out" Wizard is very very astute.
I actually think that although porn is obviously a masturbatory tool, its actually a way for men to feel more masculine in a an age where they question who they are.
We are used to the scripts... and going off of them scares us. So, often, we choose instead to play hard and fast within the feminized and masculinized roles.
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