Is porn ethical??

So, this week its my turn to do the tute presentation, and I got the article "The Ethics Of Porn On The Internet" by Kath Albury. I thought I'd start my discussion with a clip from YouTube that seemed pertinent to the topic, its just a bit of fun, its from a musical called Avenue Q, which is hilarious. The first 4 or so minutes of the clip is the bit I'm showing- this was the best quality one I could find. Enjoy :) The Internet is for Porn... just a warning, don't watch this around people who might be offended, and if you're watching it in a library, wear some headphones hehe

On to more serious matters!

In her article, Albury highlights the pro's and con's, shall we say, of Porn on the internet. I found her distinction between ethics and morals particularly helpful and insightful. Her classification of "moral" sex within the Judeo-Christian view, and her subsequent description of porn and the way that it contradicts every notion of morality according to this ideal was important I think. She says "Pornography depicts non-reproductive sex acts, performed for profit between two or more unmarried, and not necessarily heterosexual, partners. Not only do these images depict immoral sex- they incite masturbation, which may in itself be an immoral act."

My first question for the class: Is this a fair judgment of the morality of porn? Do you think that porn would be viewed differently in countries where a Judeo-Christian ideology is not the prevailing ideology- perhaps in a country that is predominantly Muslim?

Albury also discusses the feminist views of pornography a few times. Her first description of it "[porn] is part of a general social tendency for men to view women as sexualised objects, who are only valued for their ability to service men - physically and emotionally." creates a fascinating tension in her dialogue with her statement a few paragraphs later where she says "pornography has, until recently, been the only form of media where women have been seen to experience strong sexual desire and sexual pleasure." This dialogue of women being used, manipulated and objectified in the porn industry, whilst being liberated and allowed sexual freedom and control over their own bodies in the porn industry, creates a bit of confusion for the reader, as well as the public at large, I would say. There seems to be this juxtaposition of women's roles; on one hand women are being used and objectified, and on the other hand it puts them in a position of power, allowing them to have control over their sexual expression in the same way some men have had in history. I say some, because there are always exceptions to the rule, like gay men being able to express themselves publicly (which has only moved into the realms of social acceptability relatively recently in the big scheme of things) etc.

Next question: Do you think pornography liberates women and their freedom of sexual expression, or do you think it is more accurately seen as women being forced into men's sexual desires?

Albury discusses the communities surrounding the amateur porn industry quite extensively. I found the idea of them quite fascinating. It seems it has moved the sharing and viewing of porn out from under the bed (so to speak) and into the open. I was amazed by the fact that these people create friendships and discuss personal details of their lives (outside of sex) on there. And that the producers of the sites go out of their way to answer questions, put up useful links (other than links to other porn websites) and provide chat rooms and forums for these people to meet on was also pretty impressive.It makes the whole online porn industry seem a lot more human than we are lead to believe. That idea of human-ness and normal-ness in an industry that is plagued by so many preconceived ideas leads me to my next question.

Question 3: Albury puts it well when she quotes one of the websites "600 000 visitors every day can't be wrong". Is porn actually a very normal part of life, that we all pretend isn't happening? Or is it really the taboo topic that only a sparse minority choose to view?

Alas, I feel as if my post is getting excessively long, but I will just make a few more points.

Albury talks about socially acceptable sexual practices. She looks at the way that within the professional porn industry, all the women are late teens to early twenties, taut, toned and devoid of body hair. It does seem to be socially unacceptable to lust after hairy women, fat women and men, old women and men etc, but clearly, there are people who do, because websites specialising in those types of porn exist. It is argued so often that porn promotes a very limited perspective on sexual practice, but really, the amateur porn industry is allowing so many different people the chance to get their own preferences out there- if not themselves as well. Why must we view it all with such distaste? Perhaps this is societies way of screaming out that they feel like their sexual preferences and their sexuality is being repressed and that they want it to be more out there and out in the open.

A few closing questions:
Should we allow ourselves to make judgements on the acceptability of other peoples sexual preferences and practices? How far is too far with unusual choices? If we draw a line somewhere, then aren't we still discriminating? But, having said that, hairy women are one thing, but child pornography is a whole other matter. I can be open minded, but only to an extent. Unfortunately, I realise that where my open mindedness reaches its limit at child pornography, perhaps some other people reach theirs at amputees, or fat women and men, or any porn altogether. So, where do we draw the line? Or, alternatively, do we need to draw a line at all?

Is the trading of porn for money wrong? In what ways is it ok/not ok? Photographers sell pictures of nature, and people all the time, it has been argued that sex is just another part of life that deserves to be photographed and shared- what do you think?

There is so much more to say on this, but I think I should leave it there for now. See you all on Wednesday!