Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 exptools 1/6/84; site ihuxf.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!ihuxf!features From: features@ihuxf.UUCP (M.A. Zeszutko) Newsgroups: net.books,net.women Subject: Re: Pornography doesn't degrade anybody Message-ID: <2529@ihuxf.UUCP> Date: Thu, 10-Jan-85 13:38:24 EST Article-I.D.: ihuxf.2529 Posted: Thu Jan 10 13:38:24 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 12-Jan-85 01:01:26 EST References: <4699@tektronix.UUCP>, <2758@ncsu.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL Lines: 28 Xref: watmath net.books:1192 net.women:4021 From: mauney@ncsu.UUCP (Jon Mauney) >> Not quite. Pornography truly degrades all people, men as well as women, by >> reducing us to an extremely base level. >I fail to see what is degrading about sex. There is nothing intrinsically degrading about sex. In any expression of sexuality, the participants should be there of their own choice, and all aspects of a person should be accepted and respected, including the "animal" drives. Erotica is fine, and quite pleasurable. Pornography, even though it deals with the same subjects, approaches them quite differently. Who would find it flattering to be looked at as such a collection of body parts? When men find it necessary to subjugate women in order to be aroused, there's something wrong. That's what pornography caters to. Erotica, on the other hand, can allow for full expression of rich shadings of emotions while retaining the dignity and humor of the individual. How many times have feminists been accused of causing impotence in men! It's unfortunate that some men's egos are so fragile that they cannot deal with a strong woman, but must label her dominating/threatening/a castrating bitch/other favorite perjorative. -- aMAZon @ AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL; ihnp4!ihuxf!features "Love your self's self where it lives." -- Anne Sexton