Ask and you shall receive.
- Among all internet websites, 4.2 million of those (12%) are pornographic
- On a daily basis 25% or 68 million of all search engine requests are for porn
- Every month 1.5 billion pornographic videos are downloaded
- Average age a young man views his first hardcore pornographic act--11 years old
- US Revenue each year for pornography: $13 Billion (compared to only $9 Billion for mainstream Hollywood films)
- 89.8% of all scenes (250 top rentals/top purchases) contained scenes of verbal/physical aggression and violence
- 94.4 of the above acts were targeted at women
All the stats and facts above can be found in Miguel Picker and Chyung Sun's important documentary, The Price of Pleasure. View the documentary for free on the Media Education Foundation site.
See the preview here.
The documentary is 56 minutes in length. Everyone has 56 minutes to learn what pornography really costs.
12 comments:
Almost everyone has 56 minutes to learn about how much pornography really costs. I don't have that much time. For that matter, porn has never really cost me anything. I always knew where to find it for free, and because I never felt denied access to it, I never felt the need to consume (if that's the right word) it. Therefore, you could say, porn never cost me any wasted time, either. Brought my children up in a similar laissez-faire manner and they all turned out pretty wholesome.
What is really worrisome to me is campaigns against porn. One man's porn is bound to be another man's art. Blurring the definitions & distinctions between pornography and sensuality in art would be really costly, has really been costly.
Now, if you're a high school teacher and coming from that professional perspective, that's entirely a different set of apples and oranges. Perhaps it is, anyways. Perhaps not.
I taught high school for a quarter of a century. The first 10 years of that dubiously-chosen career was spent trying to teach English. Censorship by idiot parents and panicked administration sucked the life out of me and my students. I remember almost getting fired for trying to show the movie, Ordinary People in my classes. Can you imagine that? There were many, many other examples. That to me is your net cost of policing the lines between Puritanism and pornography. You and I know there's a big difference between the two, but not on the front lines of secondary education.
In the end, I eased out of the English department by teaching creative writing by the use of word-processing. I let the students create their own content. I never judged; just enabled. That to me, is the answer to pornography; the antidote to porn is art. What is denied becomes all the more coveted. The true and courageous teacher doesn't prohibit; true teaching involves presenting alternatives.
Down the walls. Open the windows. On the lights. Hear the music.
Vig,
We can have a conversation after you watch the documentary. If not, you have no real clue what I am talking about.
I teach at a University actually. And I have had the honor of teaching this theme to 70 students this quarter and most were blown away by what they did not even know or realize. And THEY have grown up on this Raunch Culture.
We looked at and discussed everything (who ever said I shut down anything?) and those who came and heard/saw everything were truly moved.
You are the one denying or to use your word "prohibiting" yourself from knowing the full story. If you do not buy what I am selling, watch the video. Watch the video.
And, I am not in any way anti-sensuality, anti-sex, or even anti-erotica... I am against anything which harms others. The so-called "blurring lines" between art and porn. Um, its not really that hard to see the difference between a film with artistic intent and a film where women are having their heads flushed in toliets after men use every orifice.
If we were discussing something that harmed people of a certain race, you would not spew all this "censorship" talk. Or I doubt it anyway.
When it comes to women, often we just do not see. Its too ingrained. You want to prove me wrong? Spend 56 minutes. You easily do that reading blogs in a given day.
And, one last thing, the amazing thing my classes walked away with is that Porn is not just damaging to women and children. It damages men, the way they think of themselves, what they need sexually, and the relationships they strive for. And no where did we talk about censorship--the internet is too vast to control. It was about choices and people learning what they want for their own sexuality.
Need proof of that? Read Pamela Paul's Pornified or Robert Jensen's "Getting Off."
But do not sit with the same warehouse of verbage without opening YOUR mind to the layered, nuanced "other sides". You have no idea what is out there and what the state of porn is becoming unless you watch this documentary.
But maybe you really do not care... and that was sorta my whole point to begin with my post from the other day.
I do appreciate you reading me, though. It seems you are the only one right now.
K
You have personal passion, McK, and you write eloquently and unabashedly in its behalf. That is enough to get me to read your stuff. I am currently over-extended in five ways to Sunday. 56 minutes is hard to come by.
Thanks, Vig.
Just promise me you will remember its always here to watch when you get the chance.
I KNOW it will make you reel.
K
K., I actually stopped by within minutes of your posting of this essay. The statistics you submit are compelling (and appalling). But I did not reply that night because I only have dial-up here at home and watching the video was not an option. I'll be at a broadband location tomorrow and I promise to watch the video.
On a tangentally related theme I am discussing the hit televison series The Secret Life of the American Teenager over on my website. If you've not seen it, it is about a pregnant 14 year old and the very tough choices she faces.
And I compare the Hollywood treatment of the fictional Amy Juergens with the media and blogosphere's treatment of very real life Bristol Palin.
You may disagree with much or all that I have to say, but I would value your opinions in the discussion.
Thanks, Wizard. When I get a chance, I will stop by and look into it. I have heard of the show, but have no idea what I think of it as I have not seen it.
You would be suprised what I would think about Bristol Palin. I am a true bleeding heart liberal, and my heart goes out to her. You'd also be surprised by what I think of the "octomom".
We'll talk more soon. And, please, do keep your word and view the film.
K
K., I've viewed the film this morning and had a little difficulty with the streaming.
The film makes some good points, but I often felt it overreached, making points that were tenious at best.
I fear it is becuase I see some of these issues differently because I am a man. I'm not sure I am actually able to fully identify with the objectification and degredation women must see and feel each day.
To me, rightly or wrongly, it comes back to empowerment and self image (and self worth). I'm not sure all women agree with you or this film. The question is why? Is it ignorance or is it power?
I also watched Dreamworlds 3, which I found considerably more compelling and more relevent.
I'll rely on Wizard's judicious conclusions.
Dreamworlds is very powerful.
I had rooms full of university students 3 times, and the message I hear back from the men and the women is that they find the film terribly important.
See, the film allows the producers and consumers of porn to talk. And then the filmmakers deftly show the irony and hypocrisy and real cruelty with a huge smack right in the face.
It shows the state of where we have been, where we are now, and where we are gonna be if things do not change. If people do not make conscious choices to change what they view and what they do.
Many women would not want to find this film, um, "true"... what woman wants to face how we are currently viewed? Its really easy to sit and watch and say, "I would never do this... its their fault for doing it." However, with a culture that breeds younger and younger women and girls to only find their relevance and value in how "hot" they are, and as our culture gets more and more raunchy and everywhere we look porn is legitimized and seen as "cool," females will continue to make these "choices" because they do not really even see them as choices at all.
I wonder if your streaming issue hurt your viewing. I have not met one person who has seen this film and not been terribly moved. I have had some shaken and angry at the images and sounds, but no one has said, "its a faulty argument."
The argument is simple... porn has a price. The price is a dehumanized, cold, cruel culture and treatment of women and ourselves. They proved it in spades.
Thanks for watching it. Everyone should, for themselves (Emily)! :)
K
Vig: I will not watch any exhibition of porn, because it degrades both women and men, and I do not want to have the memory of it in my mind.
I do not watch it for the same reason that I will not watch animal shows, which usually show somewhere at least a reference to cruelty or danger. Having gone to rodeos as a child, before I knew better, my mind is still filled with pictures of injury, cruelty, or death--pictures which I can never get out of my mind.
As in all other thing, Lil'Bill, we are in agreement.
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