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July 03, 2004

Preserving a moment

I'm not saying it's a good or a bad moment, it just. . . is. No enthusiasm for quoting or typing (as opposed to writing) commentary, so just a link of totally random links from which readers are free to draw what conclusions they may:

Well, maybe one quote, from the first link:

There have been steps forward - but companies like Microsoft and Eidos take a great leap backward when they employ porn stars to promote their games. That is - games that don't feature the stars or their porn in any way.

I get it, tho. Even just signing autographs, Tara produced quite a line...exactly what the analysts and chain store managers are looking for. At least, so far.

And maybe some typing: I haven't the slightest clue who Tara is. And had to give up reading comments in that linked Slashdot article, as is always the case when I read comments in Slashdot articles, and you'd think I would have learned better by now.

Oh, one more link, by way of Drylongso: You are what you eat: The pervasive porn industry and what it says about you and your desires, by Robert Jensen.

There are many points in the pornography debate on which reasonable people can disagree. Legal strategies raise important issues about freedom and responsibility, and definitive connections between media consumption and human behavior are always difficult to establish. More generally, sexuality is a complex phenomenon in which wide human variation makes universal claims suspect.

But the feminist critique inspires an apoplectic reaction from pornography’s defenders that, to me, has always seemed over the top. The political debate that the critique set off, both within feminism and in the wider culture, seems unusually intense.

[. . .] One obvious reason for the strength of these denunciations is that pornographers make money, hence there is a profit motive in moving quickly with maximal force to marginalize or eliminate criticism of the industry. But the more important reason, I believe, is that at some level everyone knows that the feminist critique of pornography is about more than pornography. It encompasses a critique of the way “normal” men in this culture have learned to experience sexual pleasure -- and the ways in which women and children learn to accommodate that and/or suffer its consequences. That critique is not just a threat to the pornography industry or to the personal collections that men have stashed in their closets, but to everyone. The feminist critique asks a simple but devastating question of men: “Why is this sexually pleasurable to you, and what kind of person does that make you?”

I'm perilously close to using the term "hetero-normative." Sorry about that.

How, or if, any of this ties into the oft-linked Sex pros get ready for party:

With thousands of Republicans set to invade the city this summer, high-priced escorts and strippers are preparing for one grand old party.

Agencies are flying in extra call girls from around the globe to meet the expected demand during the Aug. 30-Sept. 2 gathering at Madison Square Garden.

"We have girls from London, Seattle, California, all coming in for that week," said a madam at a Manhattan escort service. "It's the week everyone wants to work."

Well, I'm not certain. And, clearly, I lied when I said there would just be the one additional link, and should edit that bit out.

Trying to work out something about the absurdity of accusing Republicans of being represented by John Ashcroft, he of the stern morality (and fitting in those comments Bush made in Turkey a few days back), and the head-explody contradiction of both pro- and anti-pornography feminists simultaneously peacefully coexisting within the Democratic Party, but don't see much point.

Should mention that Jensen's brief, oversimplified "pornographers make money" deserves clarification, but that could easily get all gender-y and class-based, and who wants to read that on a beautiful, if slightly overcast, Saturday afternoon?

And pity if you do, because I'm not feeling much like typing it.

Posted by Aaron at July 3, 2004 12:05 PM

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Aaron at Uppity Negro posts on three of my favorite subjects: diversity in gaming, pornography, and sex work. You may not agree, I may not agree, but can't we all agree Aaron is worth reading every day sometimes in a multi-orgasmic way? Everything post... [Read More]

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