Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site hou4b.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxj!houxm!vax135!ariel!hou4b!mat From: mat@hou4b.UUCP (Mark Terribile) Newsgroups: net.women Subject: Re: Anti-Porn Ordinance Message-ID: <1280@hou4b.UUCP> Date: Thu, 17-Jan-85 01:57:00 EST Article-I.D.: hou4b.1280 Posted: Thu Jan 17 01:57:00 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 18-Jan-85 01:36:36 EST References: <600@pyuxc.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ Lines: 68 >I find it hard to agree with most everyone's automatic assumption that >pornography is degrading to women, men, or both. How so? Obviously, >scenes of rape and violence are degrading, but they do not constitute the >bulk of pornography. . . . >In short, pornography is a type of entertainment indulged in and made by a >relative minority who basically don't inflict themselves on anyone. (This of >course does not include the makers of snuff films or child pornography, who >are, I agree, reprehensible.) > . . . >Where is the real harm in this stuff? Where is the real harm? Well, the point is already stated that most of this stuff panders to a desire to treat other human beings as objects for your own gratification. Now I understand that this is a pleasant thing to do, BUT try this: pick up a copy of one of the raunchier magazines, find a nice photo, and substitute, in you mind, a close friend, for one of the models. Do you find that it somehow casts that person in an uncomfortable light? Thinking of people in this way is not really nice. But the worst part of it is that much of the underground ``soft porn'' industry, whose audience may or may not overlap the national girlie magazines, shares some of the same coffers as the low-grade sex industry. If you really want to hear about the damages, send a letter to Covenant House. The address can be obtained from NY directory assistance. This is a shelter for young victims of the sex industry ... and there are plenty. It is run by a Franciscan named Bruce Ritter. I've requested permission to quote some of his reports here, but their attorney felt it was inadvisable, so you'll have to write yourself ... if you really want to know what's going on in the world. (They got a write-up in Reader's Digest (ugh!) a few years ago.) You think that slavery has been abolished? You think that people are WILLING to sell their bodies on streetcorners? Many of these women have been taken in by pimps and then raped, beaten, and ``broken'' ... not much unlike a horse in a ``stable''. What about the runaways who come to the big city (and not just NY) and discover the only thing they can market is their bodies? There are buyers. And New York, with its collection of ``latchkey'' kids, has now got kiddie whores (male and female) who commute to Manhattan for the day and return before momma gets home. And get mixed up in the deadly world of pimps and hard, superaddictive drugs. There's nothing new there -- pimps and madames have used drugs for generations to hold their ``staffs'' hostage. Do you really think that these people are not being damaged? Unfortunately, in our society right here and now, neither law enforcement nor sociologists seem to be able to seperate out the couple that wants to have a little fun with some videotapes from the people who are sick and who allow that sickness to damage kids. And adolescents. And other adults. Even genuinely artistic, mild erotica can mess up someone who's not quite secure on a given day. We're talking about the most powerful and pervasive feelings that a human being can experience, bought, sold, traded, and used as bait for suckers. A goddam commodity whose value becomes the price set by the marketplace. How's that for damage? Look, I'm not suggesting that we should ban ``Lady Chatterly's Lover''. (It's more an artisticly ugly book than an erotic one anyway.) But I am suggesting that there are some things, like dynamite and firearms, that should be handled with care and not sold on the open streetcorner. Sex can be a very great thing because it is so powerful, but it has a very great potential for harm as well. -- from Mole End Mark Terribile (scrape .. dig ) hou4b!mat ,.. .,, ,,, ..,***_*.