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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
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