In Lecture 21, Professor Halavais talks about some of the pros and cons of pornography. Some pros being that pornography will better someone's life if they are having troubles, or help to teach a couple how to perform certain sexual acts. Of course these are good things for every human being, but should we need porn in order to know what the "right way" to have sex is? The cons include that distraction to the "real thing". Why do we even need sexual partners anymore? We can watch porn and get off the same way if not better. With all of the sex toys and the videos, no one would need a sexual partner in life again. Most people are satisfied by watching porn anyway. I have heard stories from my friends that they have vibrators because there are no men in their lives, and that the vibrators are better than half the men that they have been with. This is what our society is going to turn into. For males, it is even easier to get off for the most part, and by watching porn they are aroused. Most people that have not been sexually active for a long time, will resort to sex toys or excessive amounts of porn. I know in my case though, I don't even know how a vibrator works, so I don't think I would be able to be one of those people.
What is the use of sex partners with all the porn in the world? Monday, Mar 27 2006
Uncategorized 9:57 am
Child Pornography … Right or Wrong? Saturday, Mar 25 2006
Uncategorized 4:20 pm
Is child pornography acceptable in this society? It is one of the most obscene and inappropriate things I have ever heard of. How could a parent let their child act in a pornography video or be put in a sexual position in a magazine or picture? If I was a parent, I would never allow my child to be exposed that at such a young age, let alone let them be PART of it. Link lists are helping to distribute child pornography and let viewers see other sites from different countries. These link lists serve a huge purpose when it comes to making profit off of child pornography, however in my opinion, it is disgusting. I am very happy that there are people out there trying to find the head of these link lists. With the internet as large as it is, it’s going to be extremely hard to stop these distributors. Also, the question comes to mind: Does child pornography cause rape? There are a lot of pedophiles out there that are very perverted and take it to the next level. Child pornography could possibly be putting our youth at risk of ruining their lives.
Does porn reflect real life? Friday, Mar 17 2006
Uncategorized 7:18 pm
As stated in the first section of Lecture 18, we need to take lessons for every aspect of our lives. When we learn how to sew, how to cook, how to speak another language, or how to put together a computer, we are being taught how to do these things whether it is by a person, an instruction tape or an instruction book. Why should sex be any different? There are all of these books “___ for Dummies” in Barnes & Noble, and Borders, and nowadays with all of the sexual orientation that there is in our country shown by the media, there has to be a “Sex for Dummies” book somewhere. Porn has become the instruction book for the younger generations, and probably for some of the older generations getting a late start, or turning over a new leaf. It is true that most boys who are at a coming of age and going through puberty might sneakely flip the channel to the newest porn that their friends are talking about, or put in the video that their older brother or cousin lent to them, or even click on the “XXX” popping up on their computer screen. All of this for a little glimpse of a woman’s breasts or body, and to watch how her and the man are having sex; what positions are the best, etc. But I can’t underestimate girls because I have heard stories from my friends that they knew people who learned how to give the best blow jobs from watching a porn video. All of these examples relate to the cultivation hypothesis, social learning and the explicit information seeking that Dr. Halavais spoke of in this lecture.
The real question however is, “Does porn reflect real life?”. These kids are watching porn, and these fantasy storyboards are being played out scene by scene, sex position after sex position, with no arguments between the man and the woman. Does this really happen in real life though? No. Usually, either the girl or the boy has no idea what they are doing. They do not know where to put their hands, which hole it goes it, etc. This is all stuff that people think they can learn from porn and then imitate to a real life situation but it is not. However, it is true what Dr. Halavais said that the porn industry would lose millions of dollars if they started making videos where there was too much intimacy, incompatibility, etc. And this is true, because without this cut to the chase attitude in these porn videos, a lot of people would not be as interested or in some cases addicted as they are.
A Titty Bridge & Midriffs? What has this world come to?! Monday, Mar 13 2006
Uncategorized 9:33 pm
When Britney Spears popped out of no where she was the talk of the town, a new, young, hip female pop-star who portrayed the look that every girl ranging from 8 years old to 17 years old wanted to pull off. She had the beautiful blonde hair and the awesome body, with the best clothes, especially the ones that showed her midriff. Shortly after the midriff was introduced, we started seeing young girls rolling up their shirts, cutting up tee-shirts and buying clothes that were too small for them, just so they could portray this image of Britney Spears: Who ever guy dreamed of having and who every girl dreamed of being. These children were begging their parents to buy the products because everyone else was wearing them. These children were being exposed to pictures that were desirable, and this is where a child’s main source of sexualization comes from: the MEDIA.
Rewind a little from the Midriffs and you have the Ponte Della Tette “The Titty Bridge”. Imagine passing under or by a bridge in your boat, minding your own business and you look over to the top of the bridge to see ladies flashing you their breasts like no one else is watching. This is what it was like in Venice back in the day. And shockingly enough, the government was who enacted this “law”, as an early attempt to reduce the homosexuality. The government believed that if the homosexuals saw the breasts atop the bridge, they would change their ways. It wasn’t really mentioned if this method worked, but it was a good attempt.
After watching this lecture, so many more things were clear to me that have been mentioned in previous lectures as well as in my previous blogs. There is so much sexual innuendo on television and in the movies and on the internet today, that so many children are being exposed to it hourly. Hopefully the government cause figure out a way to stop this, because our children’s minds are becoming brainwashed with sexual content whether they are watching 2-3 hours of tv or looking through websites on the internet.
SPAMalot Saturday, Mar 11 2006
Uncategorized 1:54 pm
After watching Lecture 16, a lot of my questions throughout the years on “SPAM”ing were answered. Since 1994, there have been e-mails sent out by the minute, filling up every single person on the face of this Earth’s inboxes; I was one of those people, and still am today. As I had mentioned in a previous blog, it is hard to steer clear of pornography, in some ways it just is not physically possible. No matter where you turn, pornography is there. Whether you’re searching for your name on Google, or checking your e-mail, or even just being on AIM, you are exposed to some type of pornography. I have three e-mail accounts and two out of the three of them are filled with JUNK mail, where at least 1/3 of it is pornography or something to do with sexual orientation. I hate signing into my e-mail and seeing “38296 New”; it disgusts me that people have nothing better to do with their time.
When I have children, I don’t want to have to go through the trouble of setting up parental controls on their e-mails, or worrying about them getting IM’s from disgusting sleezeballs with the automated message that goes something like this: “18/m/nyc wanna join me in a hot and steamy chat?”, followed by a link which will lead viruses to enter my computer at their own will. I want this SPAM to be gone in a couple of years. Parents already have too much to worry about, and this should not be one of their main concerns with their children, however with the amount of SPAM out there, it is.
Lecture 14: Porn is expanding Monday, Mar 6 2006
Uncategorized 4:31 pm
Pornography is expanding past television, dvd’s, videos and films. It is now expanding into many other forms of entertainment, profiding much more lee-way for bigger profits. Sex toys are being sold now, which are a very popular form of pornographic entertainment. Some people are trying to get away from all of the porn, however people have said that once porn gives them up, they give porn up. But how can this be? Everyday, in every country, city and part of the world, a pornography star, whether she’s beautiful or not, gay or straight, will be recognized by most of the public. There is no getting out of this business ever. It is evident. Even when people are getting bored with videos and films, the industry thinks up more ways to promote themselves, and make more money for themselves. This is why they are so wealthy and believe that they can get anything they want. However, it is getting hard for the production of pornography to take off, for it is extremely expensive to produce. This is why all of the new technologies that keep coming out will provide a basis for the production of porn.
Frontline Special Sunday, Mar 5 2006
Uncategorized 2:38 pm
I have always heard people talking about it, and seeing it in the news or in a movie, but I have never known what human trafficking actually was, or consisted of before watching this special. THe fact that women are being bought, sold and transported, is horrible enough as it is, however, taking people from their husbands or boyfriends, as well as sons and daughters makes it even worse.
These women, as well as young girls are being taken to unknown places to do “work” but they never know until they get to the country what the so-called work actually consists of. These poor, innocent women are brought to foreign countries to perform sexual acts for any man who is in need of a little sexual pleasure. But, with that “pleasure” that they are obligated to bring to the men comes beatings and discrimination.
It horrifies me to think that if I was in one of these countries such as Turkey or Russia, that I would possibly become a victim of these tragedies. In the special, one of the former traffickies told the reporters how going to these “districts” is the end to their dreams. There is nothing that can be done because the police don’t care for what is going on. The “Olga” woman is not afraid of anything. These girls get through customs with now problems and no visa because they have learned so well how to get past the authorities. It is disgusting that these girls have no choice or say in the matter.
As a girl who is around the same age as most of these girls are, it makes me feel so uncomfortable to think about anyone having to be in this situation. These young, helpless girls are victims of a multi billion dollar business which needs to be stopped. The fact that no one is doing anything about this scares me. I just hope that this business is stopped. A global sex trade is one thing that we should be worrying about as a country as well as a world.
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