Defining Pornography

       I found lecture three to be very appealing for it made me think if there really is no definition for pornography.  If you think about it teenagers and young adults’ perceptions of pornography are far different that middle aged people or the elderly.  Even within the same age group of teenagers pornography varies.  As stated in the lecture it is because it is so subjective, but everything in life can be considered subjective.  If that is the case then can anything really be defined?  I feel that pornography does not have a concrete definition for the simple fact that one person could feel that the movie, Eyes Wide Shut, is an example of porn while another feels it is a sex scene in a motion picture.  Anything that involves sex is a touchy and controversial topic in this country and most people walk on egg shells when discussing it for a fear of offending someone whose values are different. 

            After trying to think of a definition for pornography I found myself hitting the backspace key several times for I was stumped.  The lecture said pornography is, “I know it when I see it.”  It all depends on the situation, the context, and if I feel offended by it.  If it is something that I would feel uncomfortable watching with my parents or if it catches me by surprise then I would call it a porno.  Pornography is like sushi for some people love it while others despise it (OK so I could have come up with a better analogy).  Either way I feel that one is not right over the other for they have their personal opinion.  This is why I feel it is so subjective because of opinion and freedom of thought.  Without it this country and world would be boring.

            The Calvin Klein ad dealing with the children in underwear is definitely not considered pornography in my mind nor should it be in anyone else’s.  I bet every person who owns a television has seen a commercial for Pampers diapers or Johnson & Johnson’s baby shampoo.  Most of their commercials deal with a baby and their naked butt.  These Calvin Klein ads are not showing as much skin as these commercials, but no one would say that the adorable baby would be an example of pornography.  Granted the children in the magazine ad are a bit older they still are not in any seductive or raunchy poses.  They merely look as if they are having fun with each other playing in their underwear, which many young children do.  It is natural to them and if parents let their children so often play with fewer clothes on then why is this topic up for debate?  Until the children in the Calvin Klein ads are touching each other inappropriately or wearing thongs, then there should be no problem with these ads.

Women and Romantic Novels

        I recently read a blog post concerning “Romance Novels” and how the majority of the readers are women for the pure nature of the novels.  Most women are not like men who can simply settle for sex.  Of course women like sex, but would rather think of it in a romantic way rather than two individuals throwing themselves at each other like animals in a distasteful way.  Women are in most ways by human nature more sophisticated than men.  They do not want to read a book just about sex, but want a storyline to go with it.  They want to fantasize about the perfect man and falling in love with him.  They want to read that the man loves her before having passionate sex and that it is not just merely a “hook up.”       

     In some ways women are still treated like they are below men when involving sex.   When a man has several sex partners his same sex peers respect him, but a woman would be called a slut for the same acts.  In the blog that I read it is stated that romantic novels allow women to explore their fantasies discretely. This is definitely true, but isn’t this statement keeping women inferior to men?  In history women have always been depicted to be in the shadows of men often having their husbands speak for them.  It sometimes seemed as if women were not allowed to speak out for themselves or even have a personality.  If women are so liberated in the present day, then why do they enjoy their sexual fantasies so discretely?  I understand that women are not as gutsy as men when it comes to this subject, but women should not feel like they have to hide their sexual inhibitions more so than men.

     Yes, it is true that women give into men’s sexual desires in pornographic films, but those roles could easily be reversed.  There are probably pornographies where women are in charge and men are subject to their rules and instructions for sex.  Nevertheless, men direct the majority of pornographies.  Men would rather have a woman be submissive to them.  So until the population of pornographic directors leans more towards the side of women I feel that there should be no discussion to women being inferior to men or controlled by men.  In anything artistic, especially film, it is the interpretation of the director and if a man does not feel that a women should be the dominant one in thebedroom, then that film cannot be natural or perceived as the best work that the director could produce. 

    Women are no different than men when it comes to sex.  They enjoy it just as much as men, but in a more discrete way.  I just do not think it is fair to ridicule that women are being portrayed in a bad light in pornographies verses romantic novels.  Women are perceived as submissive in pornographies and are depicted as the heroine in romantic novels.  That is just the nature of the two genres and it should be left at that.

Porn: The social stigma

Besides the intro blog this will be my very first blog ever.  During this course I will more than likely seem very contradictory when expressing my opinions through blogging.  This is not because I cannot decide which side to take on pornography concerning different issues, it is because I look at both sides of the argument that I may be viewing and decide, which is more interesting to write about rather than which one I favor or agree with.

            After reading the first chapter in the text I realized how much pornography and sex alone are part of our everyday lives whether we consciously know it or not.  The article by Jonathan Coopersmith shows how society has changed as a result of pornography.  VCRs became so popular as a result of porn for it helped to deter the costs of production of adult videos as well as the cost for viewing them.  Now lovers of porn could watch it in the privacy of their own home and not in some skuzzy, shady theatre that no matter how many times the floors were mopped will never appear to be clean.  VRCs gave rise to DVDs, which are a necessity to our everyday lives in the present time.  So one could say that we have DVD players partially as a result to the popularity of porn.

            One cannot doubt that pornography is one of the most popular pastimes of the present day American.  Whether Americans are willing to admit this is another story.   Coppersmith states that on the first day of the Penthouse website there were 802,000 hits and that the revenue for online pornography in 1998 was $750 million to $1 billion.  These two statistics alone can say how popular pornography has been.  What gets me is that so many people put a social stigma on porn.  Humans were put on this earth to reproduce and the only natural way of this occurring is sex.  Of course many people would like to keep sex inside closed doors and only share it with the person they are engaging in sex with, but humans have primal instincts for sex.  Sex hormones are ranging and seeping throughout the body from the time of puberty to who knows when?  Every person at least one time in their life has had some kind of sexual fantasy and pornography is just one of those fantasies brought to life.

            It makes me angry when people say that porn is degrading to women and that it takes away from the integrity and meaning of sex.  Sex is sex and there is no way around it.  Sex is defined by each individual like many things in life and people are entitled to their opinions, but it makes no sense to point fingers and say that porn is degrading.  It is part of our society that will not seem to be going away anytime soon.  It is just another one of those things in our country like high gas prices, George Bush, and taxes that do not always settle right in our stomachs.  There is no way to beat these things so why not just live with it and stop trying to fight it.  Porn is something that Americans like so we should just accept it and move on.

Intro

Hello all,

 My name is Chris Bagneschi and I am a sophomore at UB.  My intended major is anthropology and I currently reside in the not-so-nice city of Niagara Falls about 20 minutes north of the North Campus.  What interested me in this class was that it was online and it fit into my schedule so that I did not have to go to class everyday.  The topics of the class seem interesting, but it was not the intent of registering for this class.

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