Pornography- Does it Corrupt Us or Free Us?

Well, believe it or not, though the voting was close, we HAD A MAJORITY IN FAVOUR OF LEGALISING COCAINE!

Though I must concede, there were two irregularities which mean that really, there was in fact a narrow minority AGAINST legalising. jmb accidentally voted the wrong way. And I voted, which normally doesn't matter, but in the event of a tie, it's only fair I remove my own vote.

But it was close, either way. I'm not sure this means that the law on drugs is going to change any time soon, just that you lot are- liberal.

Which is good.

Because this week's poll topic certainly involves an open mind.

Pornography.

What a catch all word...

And what a misused word.

It used basically to refer to graphic representation of sexual acts, whether perfectly normally or absolutely vile, whether in good artistic taste, or just pretty sick.
And I'm not sure the way we view porn is any more healthy than the way we view drugs. Just as we lump cannabis in with heroin, we lump anything that depicts sex in one great big bundle.

And I think we need to admit that the walls already have come tumbling down on pornography.
The question is, do we put them back up?

And yes, I think we most certainly DO need to have a wall somewhere, I don't think anyone would deny that, but where?

What SHOULD the boundaries of 'taste and decency' be?

First, let's look at facts.
Up until 1961, Lady Chatterley's Lover was considered pornography. I think most of now would say it was just badly written and sensationalist.
Carry on Sergeant had an X certificate when it came out because it was deemed a bit too rude.

Things have changed a lot in the last half century.

Mass communication have broken down these taboos.
And left us with a mass of contradictions and potential social dangers to deal with.

We have films such as 'Nine Songs', which are released as mainstream films but have actual sex acts within them.
We also have a thriving underground industry based on the sexual exploitation of children to provide images to satisfy the appetites of the truly sick.

Now we need to be realistic about this.
How ordinary people view seeing graphic images of actual sex acts has changed. It is no longer thought of as perverted to be aroused by watching other people have sex, rather, it is kind of accepted as normal.

We accept that sex, like eating, is one of those bodily functions that seeing it in action kind of raises those appetites.
Unlike say, going to the lavatory.

And of course, many more people now take it further. The fact is that there are many powerful aphrodisiacs, but actually seeing sex taking place is pretty much the most effective way to get a person sexually aroused.



Our culture is getting comfortable with the idea. Go and look at a site like Xtube or YouPorn. These sites are stocked with homemade video footage, made by people not ashamed to post videos of themselves having sex on the net. One wonders what percentage of the global population to date has happily posted videos of themselves engaged in sex acts for all the world to see to the end of time.

And will this percentage rise?

Twenty years down the line will university students trawl the net looking for pictures of their parents having sex with random strangers when they were younger?

Because every person who downloads a video to Xtube must be aware that that is not only a possibility, it is a fairly high probability.

And of course this has an effect on what is culturally acceptable. We've already had live sex on Big Brother, it's only a matter of time- certainly within the next ten years- when real, as opposed to simulated, sex acts appear on terrestial TV post watershed. Maybe it will be the TV premiere of Nine Songs, or maybe a controversial drama series, but it's coming.

Is this a cultural shift we should be appalled about?

I don't actually think so, no.

Sex isn't dirty. Our attitudes to its depiction make it so. I think it's a healthier situation we now have where the 'Adult film' is moving more towards the rest of films in terms of its societal perception and that the boundaries there are blurring. Many actresses who have made a career in adult films now view graduating on to serious films as a viable option.

Will this mean that one day preparedness to actually have sex in a movie is the new equivalent of preparedness to strip for a film?

Probably, yes.

But that's perhaps not a bad thing. I daresay greater ability to use real sex scenes will change film. To be sure, there will still be many films made which have no plot line to speak of and really are just sex films. But there are occasions when I can also see the artistic merits of genuine sex scenes in mainstream films.

What it will mean, is that we can erect the wall where it should be erected.

The sick side.

When we were in Amsterdam once, we noticed a small video shop in the red light district.
With covered windows.
Now this was puzzling, because the Colour Climax shop sits, windows full of adverts luring the passer by in, right along a main thoroughfare.
What could be so bad this shop needed to be covered?

We went in.
We looked around for about three minutes. Sleazy Dutch guy asks 'You want buy?'

I'm liberal, but I'm not that liberal.

No, I don't think films such as were sold in that shop should be permitted to be made or viewed.
None of them involved children, but unless you wanted a film involving people with animals, people and human waste, or people driving nails through their genitals, there was nothing in that shop to turn on a normal functioning member of the human race.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with human adults watching other human adults doing something that human adults with normally functioning human bodies like to do and like to do very much.
I see nothing wrong with such a basic human process being dragged out from under the carpet and reclaimed as being the perfectly normal and pleasurable activity that it is, and one that in fact forms a central part of human dynamics.

And I see nothing wrong with it being depicted and explored in mainstream art and media.
And really, I'm not overly fussed if the entire population of the globe decides to download videos of ourselves engaged in sex with multiple partners for the rest of the world to see.
And maybe one day we will. Maybe in a generation or two, people will see videos of themselves having sex as just another home movie. They'll be sitting chatting and say 'Want to see me having sex with Darren?'

And of course, with it being that normal, it just won't be a big deal any more. It won't be a billion dollar industry. It will just be- sex. Something people like to do and like to watch.



Because if you think about it, it's actually pretty strange that we'd rather have images of people being tortured and killed on our screens than people making love.

If the activity is legal and consensual, than I see no reason why its visual depiction should not be a perfectly accepted part of mainstream life.

And if it isn't, than the depiction of it is of course, evidence of a crime taking place, and those who view it should rightly be treated as accessories to that crime.

With of course the additional proviso that certain things, though legal, are still abhorrent to the majority, and the majority shouldn't have to accidentally stumble across them, and nor should, these things being accepted as deviant in the extreme, too much assistance be provided to those who want to get kicks out of those things.

I do not want to see the day when people can easily get hold of the sort of material I saw in that Amsterdam video shop.

The only way to stamp down on real perversion and real exploitation is for human culture to fully reclaim human sexuality and embrace the fact that in principle it isn't dirty.

We need to erect a new wall in the right place and welcome everything on this side of the wall into the mainstream.

And then do our damnedest to exterminate what's on the other side.

But anyway, I've said my piece.

Now it's your turn.

The poll is in the sidebar.

Have your say!