Rewrite of “LIS’s Blog” Tuesday, Feb 28 2006

Title: Online Dating and Friend Sites

LIS’s Blog: In today’s time there are many different websites where you can put yourself out there, and write all about yourself.  I feel like they have positive and negative effects.  

For instance, myspace and friendster are two websites you can write anything and everything about yourself, to meet people, basically.  

However, no one knows who is on the other side of the computer unless you know the person personally and they are your friend.  It is possible that there are rapists and child molesters taking to you pretending to be a younger person. 

Websites such as myspace are good and bad.  You can write all your interests and meet people with the same ones, and make many new friends.  But you also can have people stalk and harass you.  Young girls and boys, also put pictures of themselves on there, it is not a pornographic website at all, and sometimes people make it that themselves.

My Rewrite:  In today’s time there are many different websites where people can put themselves out on the internet for everyone to see; whether it’s writing about themselves or posting pictures of themselves.  I feel as though this has both positive and negative effects to it.
Examples of these websites are MySpace and Friendster, two websites where you can write anything and everything about yourself to meet new people.  Most people think that this is such a cool way to be introduced to people from all over however no one really knows who is actually on the other side of the computer, unless you are talking to a friend (who exists in real life).  There have been so many cases of child molesters and rapists going on these sites to lure young adolescents to a meeting spot or to their homes, by pretending to be a person of a younger age.
Websites such as MySpace are good because you can write your interests and meet people who share some of the same ones as you do.  It is also a good way to meet new friends who might be going to the same school or camp as you.  However, because young boys and girls are now posting pictures of themselves, they need to be careful who is viewing these sites.  You never know who is going to copy and paste pictures onto a new website and post personal pictures of you on them.

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Safe sex for porn stars? Tuesday, Feb 28 2006

After watching Lecture 13, I was shocked to find out that only 17% of the pornography stars use condoms.  I was appaulled because I am an advocator for safe sex.  I think it is different if you are with your boyfriend or girlfriend for years and they are the only person that you have slept with, but if you are a porn star and having sex with random people, I think it is disgusting if a condom is not being used.  I went to South Africa in February of 2005, and learned so much about the HIV/AIDS epidemic that is going on there.  I don’t understand how so many people in America can be aware of what is going on in third-world countries and think it is horrible, but they are not watching out for themselves.  Why is it that people all over the world are more interested in making money than keeping themselves alive and safe from STDS and lifetime diseases?

I was also very shocked when I found out about the Tracy Lords’ story and how she made over 100 videos before she was eighteen years old!  My sister is fourteen and I can’t even imagine her starting to have sex for at least another year or two.  And for a girl like Tracy Holds, what do her parents think of this?!  (If they are even aware of it.)  Amsterdam is the center for child sex and slavery, and thankfully there was the Child Protection and Obscenity Law that went into effect in the late 1980’s.

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Sex slavery and Gay porn Sunday, Feb 26 2006

Lecture 12 was a shocking one.  I had no idea about the human trafficking business and how popular it is.  I already knew that sex slavery was a popular thing to do in the world, however I had no idea that groups of people such as the U.S. military and navy were buying children for $6000 – $7000 dollars a kid.  It is things like that which disgust me.  How can someone buy a children, let alone sell their own children to become a sex slave to this men who have been sitting in another country sex-deprived for months on end?

Human trafficking a horrible thing to do, however, some women and children want to be part of this.  Asia Carrera, a porn star, said that most porn stars and actresses have the job by free will and that “it’s no one’s business but your own how you make your money”.  I also believe that it is your business how you make your money, however, I also believe that being a porn star/actress is a very degrading job that women (and men) should not have to resort to in order to make money.  It boggles my mind that completely straight men are having sex with gay men (or other straight men) in gay pornography movies in order to make more money.  If I had a husband, I don’t know if I would want him doing gay porn even though I obviously knew he was straight.  It would be very uncomfortable knowing that my husband is having sex with a man and then coming home to have sex with me.

All in all, this lecture was about freedom of choice.  With freedom of choice, people are allowed and able to do whatever they want to do.  However, what happens when the choices are inappropriate?  Or out of context with the matter at hand?  There should be limits, however not too many restrictions.

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17 Year-old Boy Faces Pornography Charges .. In London! Thursday, Feb 16 2006

I found this article about a 17 year old boy being faced with charges because of pornographic downloads found on his computer.  This article was very interesting to me because it agreed with the blog that I had just written talking about how I feel the internet and the access to this pornography needs to be more restricted towards young children and young adults/teenagers.  This boy was charged with ranks four and five (the worst rankings), along with the police finding 164 files of pornographic images of both children and adults engaging in sexual acts.  They say that half of the time, the boy had no idea what he was downloading and it just turned out to be pornographic images, yet the other half of the time he was intentionally downloading pornography.

http://www.barnettimes.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.690044.0.teenager_downloaded_child_pornography.php

This disgusts me as I have previously stated in many of my blogs.  Boys AND girls need to be more aware of what is going on, and need to realize that they are too young to be dealing with this.  I had no idea what porn was until I hit high school, at the age of 14, and nowadays, 14 year old girls and boys are engaging in sexual activity for the camera!  I believe that this boy got caught in the middle of a game that everyone is playing, however he should have known better.  In the United States it is said that at the age of seven, you are supposed to know what is right and what is wrong.  What does that say about the teenagers in this society?  Everyone needs to know right from wrong, legal from illegal. 

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“Playboy exploits sex the way Sports Illustrated exploits sports” – Hugh Hefner Thursday, Feb 16 2006

“Playboy exploits sex the way Sports Illustrated exploits sports;” a famous quote of the ever so popular Hugh Hefner.  I read an article about Hefner online, based on why he started Playboy magazine and what his opinion of it is.  So many people look at Playboy as a pornographic magazine, however to Hefner as well as most of Playboy’s readers, it is an informative magazine with some sexual content, however it covers issues that most people cover in the news: homosexuality, religion, individual rights, etc.

Surprisingly, Hefner started off being a copywriter for Esquire magazine and invested over seven thousand dollars in order to print his first copy of Playboy.  In Lecture 10 however, we learned that in 1953 when the first copy of Playboy was released, Hefner did not allow his name to be released because he was afraid of getting arrested for showing provocative pictures of women.

It shocked me that Hefner did not start this magazine in order to talk about sex or promote and show sex, but actually to take subjects such as a sex which were never talked about, and bring them to the table.  Playboy opened right before the start of the sexual revolution, and allowed people to show their individuality and independence.  Before reading about Hefner and listening to Lecture 10, I thought that Playboy was a magazine that had no “class” if that’s what you would call it.  However, now I know that Hefner actually cares about the content of the magazine and not so much about the sexual aspect of it.

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“Porn IS all around” Wednesday, Feb 15 2006

Porn is everywhere, and we have seen that through the last three lectures in class.  These lectures have proven to audiences such as us students that porn is all around.  After reading through some of the blogs that other people have written on Lecture 9, the blog that stood out to me the most was CM12’s blog.

I agree that porn is all over, and something needs to be done about it.  Porn does not need to be diminished; however, the access to it needs to be restricted.  AOL has taken initiative when it comes to restricting children and young adults to certain websites, which has proven to be affective so far.  Nonetheless, now with all the cable companies and websites out there, the access to movies or websites is becoming more and more capable as the days go on.  With the click of a button, a five year old could be watching the latest Jenna Jameson porn, or an XXX movie being shown on Showtime or Cinemax.  This is not acceptable to me, and does not follow my personal morals.  Certain cable companies or rental places will take this initiative to increase their ratings and find their own niche in this pornographic industry.

Until pornography becomes more restricted and inaccessible, I will not be satisfied.  Just thinking about the future when I have children of my own, I do not want them to turn on the TV and switch on the wrong channel to see naked women/men performing oral sex on each other or performing intercourse.  Most of the aspects of this industry do not bother me, however some do, this being one of them that needs to be changed.

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Small Pornographies Saturday, Feb 11 2006

After reading Dr. Halavais’ article on small pornographies, I was interested in his thoughts on social networking and online dating through sites such as Friendster and MySpace.  I know a lot of people (including myself) who used to, or still do have accounts to one or both of these websites.  Through these networks, it is easy to find friends, enemies, lovers, etc.  I personally know teenagers who are fourteen and fifteen year olds or eighteen and nineteen year olds, who post pictures of themselves on these sites in their underwear, or lying in a bed sprawled across messy sheets.  Reading this article reminded me of the newspaper article that I blogged about last week; the fifteen year old girl who posed for pictures which were posted on the internet willingly.  There are so many random people on these websites, who make up names and ages just to get on and meet young girls or boys.  It disgusts me as I have stated before that people have the audacity to post inappropriate pictures on websites like this.  My sister is fourteen years old and her pictures look fine, however one of my best friends has a little sister who is fifteen, who has pictures on her MySpace site in her underwear posing like a Playboy model.

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Fetishes & Gender Thursday, Feb 9 2006

A lot of people are used to hearing about chocolate fetishes, shoe fetishes, clothing fetishes, however when it comes to the pornography industry people have sexual fetishes that can not be fulfilled unless they have that exact fetish.  Some fetishes that the pornography watchers or engagers have are bondage and domination.  Whether it’s snow bondage or a fetish of choking their sex partner during a dominatrix act, the fetishes of people in the pornography industry are more obscene than most.  Watching this lecture reminded me of a Sex and the City episode where the character Samantha goes home with a guy who has a dominatrix fetish.  When he opened his closet door, she saw all of his whips and costumes hanging in the closet, and she was freaked out.  I think anyone who isn’t used to this type of thing would be just as freaked out as she was.  In my opinion these fetishes are disgusting.
 

The gender issue that was discussed in this lecture is that of gay and bisexual, as well as transsexual movies or videos.  Dr. Halavais spoke about how there is a difference between pornography when an erection takes place and when penetration takes place, as well as the difference from actual lesbian porn and two girls acting sexually towards each other in a heterosexual pornography video.  I agree with this.  Just being around a group of fifteen boys when I’m home, all the time, I know that they have different feelings about lesbians and two heterosexual girls making out with each other, or touching each other sexually.  It is just how people see being homosexual versus being heterosexual and whether or not it is moral or not.  I have no problem with homosexual people, and I agree with Dr. Halavais that there is a very large difference between the two different types of pornography.    

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Lecture 7: The internet’s effect on pornography, Part 32809 Thursday, Feb 9 2006

I remember in 6^th grade during one of my computer classes, my friends and I were sitting around one computer on Google.com.  We were typing in each person’s name, and seeing if pictures of us came up or if there were other people in the world with our names.  We typed in my name “Tillie”, and a site for an African-American singer came up, which seemed normal, however as we got to names such as “Krista”, “Hannah” and “Justine”, more erotic pictures started to show up.  As 11 and 12 year olds, we had no idea what was going on and after clicking on the pictures and seeing naked women, we were disgusted and never did this again.  I was reminded of this story when I was watching Lecture 7, because Dr. Halavais stated that you could type in any word, such as “chicken” and without a doubt at least one pornography site will show up.  This just proves how big of an influence the internet has on the pornography industry, as we have been learning through lectures for the past four weeks.

 

It is very hard to believe that there are two different types of pornography “makers”; professional and amateur.  I think that anyone who is involved in this industry is the same person, even though some are only doing it for money, while others are doing it for fun.  It is still a disgusting hobby, and degrading as well.  Now that the internet is involved in the pornography industry, as it was stated in the lecture, the embarrassment level that came from having to go into the back of the video store, or picking up pornography magazines such as “Penthouse” or “Playboy”, or going to the Red Light District to see pornography, has decreased.  Now that people can watch pornography in the privacy of their own homes, on HDTV, IO digital cable and on the internet, the people do not have to worry about the impact of society on their personal decisions.

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February 3rd, 2006: Anna man faces child pornography charges Sunday, Feb 5 2006

In the McKinney Courier-Gazette, Danny Gallagher published an article about a 48-year old man, Ricky Don Dawes who was arrested on January 25^th, 2006 for possession and promotion of child pornography.  He posted vulgar pictures of a 15-year old girl on his website, and the pictures were discovered by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.  Not only was Dawes posting these pictures, but he was also in some of them as well.  However, this was not just a case of children pornography being exposed; the girl had met Dawes online and e-mailed him pictures of her in “sexy” positions.  Dawes was put in jail for possession and intent to promote child pornography.  Just a day later, had a $35,000 bail, paid it and was released.

After reading this article, I was extremely horrified.  Why would any 15-year old girl in her right mind e-mail a stranger a “sexy” picture of herself?  I would never do that, as I said in my previous blog.  Intimacy and my body are for me and my partner.  I was also disturbed thinking about the article by Huges that I had just read about the woman and child pornography industry.  For people to expose themselves like that is very disturbing to me.

http://www.courier-gazette.com/articles/2006/02/03/news/news04.txt

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