Fun Stuff > CHATTER

The Great Porn Debate

<< < (11/51) > >>

tania:
the areas where prostitution is worst, though (by "worst" i mean involving the aforementioned cases where women somehow end up in that career as a last resort) are areas where it's illegal, because these women have no protection by the law and are at risk of abuse from clients and pimps. they also have to turn over virtually everything they make to pimps and thus are essentially slaves. there aren't a lot of complaints in areas where prostitution is legal from women who work for and support themselves and really enjoy their line of work. i don't know anything at all about the legality of pornographic media but maybe it's similar in ways.

RedLion:
I'm not so sure that's true. I think that regulated and limited prostitution should be legalized, but there's no evidence that it makes the prostitutes themselves safer. Look at the Netherlands. In Amsterdam, prostitution is actually incredibely dangerous, and the pimps are incredibely violent. Because it's legalized, human traffickers bring in women from Romania, Bulgaria and other Eastern European countries, as well as impoverished Asian nations like Nepal and Cambodia and basically use them as slaves, paying them little or nothing and so increasing their own profits. It's becoming an increasingly common phenomenon in Amsterdam and other cities and countries where prostitution is either legalized or winked at.

Further, even though it's legalized in Amsterdam, it's not regular and watched over, so it still continues to operate in the dark, even though the process itself is standing in open daylight for all to see.

Violence against prostitutes has become so endemic in Amsterdam that the city has begun to shut down a large number of brothels and independent sex-selling pimps in the city. It's basically attempting to abolish the red-light district because the crime and violence in and around it have become such a blight on the city in recent years.

tania:
ah, i didn't know any of that stuff about amsterdam. i read an article really recently about illegal prostitution in new york and the anthropologist was basically arguing how all these terrible problems would be solved if prostitution was legalized. i guess one article is not enough to base an argument on.

i would probably argue that male directors dod function a lot like pimps, but there's still a lot of grey area. are all male directors misogynists simply because they're men? what about female directors who also cast women in submissive roles, are they exempt because they're women profiting from other women? similarly, doesn't porn also place guys in a position where they are getting paid to have sex on video? i actually don't have arguments for any of these questions because i still find most porn creepy as hell but it would be interesting to hear what other people think.

jhocking:
At this point in the debate I'm getting a little confused about what people are discussing. Like, I kinda want to respond to points here and there, but I'm not sure what exactly you're getting at. For instance, tommy are you arguing for some specific change in the status of pornography in society, or are you just explaining your personal distaste? Some people seem to be arguing that porn should or should not be made illegal, while others seem to just be explaining why they do or do not watch porn, and it isn't clear to me who is saying what.

BrittanyMarie:
For me, the whole topic of porn is a giant grey area. I think I've watched one porn ever in my life, and it was lesbian. That's what you get when you tell your guy friends you've never seen any.

I do think porn has the potential to be extremely empowering for any sex, with a sort of "this is my body, and it is amazing." mentality. I just question how much of it actually is a positive thing for the people involved. A lot of porn stars will say that they love their job, that they love what they do, but couldn't that be just a cognitive dissonance thing? And does that make it less valid? As for what Joe asked (the first time!), of course women directors and producers can also be exploitive of the women in the films. It might make sense to argue more in terms of power dynamics as opposed to gender, especially once Tommy brought that up in relation to gay porn.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page