pornography

I will make my own claims before rebutting those made by Con. [But first] I want to make a point based on Con’s opening statement. Some clarity on the vast array of desires, fetishes, and fantasies depicted and enacted in the porn industry: Con’s opening response would lead people to believe that pornography is simple some kind arrangement where males and females have consensual sex. There is an obvious though not overt sense of women being dominated and coerced into terrible situations. While certainly cases exist of this kind, Con still needs to expand into the plethora of possibilities in the porn industry. No one has the time to document all the various arrangements and roleplaying situations but I will be brief (again, keeping with females because this seems to be the area of primarily concern for Con): girl performing solo, two lesbians, lesbian group sex, Femdom (where a female dominates a male), variants include Femdom S&M (female has male in restraints and often uses wipes, dildos, gauges to bring about male ejaculation or in some instances denial known as “edging;” Femdom humiliation or Femdom CFNM humiliation (humiliation includes ridiculing the male insufficient endowment or due the male being caught engaged in self-pleasure of some kind and CFNM aka clothed female(s) nude male tends to emphasize and incorporate humiliation aspect but often broaches into some very creative leaps of imagination—of the David Lynch caliber. Suffice to say, the industry’s options likely surpass the number of stars in the known universe. Thought that tangent was warranted in the event Con attempts to argue some kind of hostile male(s) penetrating females type scenarios. Now to a few my own thought about the benefits of pornography. Employment, individual opportunity, viable payment plan for college or a case for the benefits of economic opportunity for the individual: First, being an actor or actress (I will emphasize actress because Con did in the opening) is a choice and also an opportunity. I would agree this type of employment is not likely to be lucrative for most women but it can be very lucrative for a select handful of people (they are virtually all women).[1] It is unlikely they will become millionaires (like the 20 to 40 something in the list) but they are every few jobs in the US churn out millionaires. Professor Mireille Miller-Young, a noted feminists academic teaching in University of California, Santa Barbara recently wrote in New York Times op-ed, women enter the industry for myriad reasons, “[f]or some performers, pornography is a path to college and out of poverty. For others, it is a chance to make a statement about female pleasure.”[2] Porn industry = job creation [AND] Boost US Gross Domestic Product So how much money does the porn industry generate? According to ABC NEWS: “Pornography has grown into a $10 billion business — bigger than the NFL, the NBA and Major League Baseball combined — and some of the nation's best-known corporations are quietly sharing the profits.”[3] Even more salient, the article from ABC News highlights Con’s concerns about sexually transmitted diseases. What is the reason that there is less regulation or enhanced precautionary measures in the industry? As the article points out, the porn industry is not just profitable in its own right but it also generates a billion dollars for its corporate partners. What corporate partners, you ask? Again from ABC News: “General Motors, through its subsidiary DirecTV, delivers hard- and soft-core porn to homes via satellite. Communications giant Comcast supplies various kinds of porn to homes via pay-per-view. And AOL Time Warner owns a cable company that offers erotic programming from Playboy and other outlets, including hard-core.” [Free Market and Porn continue in the next paragraph] “It is hard to estimate how much money these corporations derive from porn because they do not publicize it in their portfolios or anywhere else. Their financial statements do not mention profits from adult movies. However, one industry analyst estimated that the combination of cable and satellite outlets makes about $1 billion a year from the adult-movie market.” [Someone objects, well I hate General Motors, DirecTV, Comcast and AOL Time Warner. But what about]… “Many of the major hotel chains, including Marriott, Hilton and Westin, also derive revenue from adult films without mentioning it in their company reports. Adult titles are available as in-room movies in around 40 percent of all hotel rooms in the United States. The hotels share the revenue with the in-room entertainment companies that provide the TVs and the content.” Therefore, whatever lax conditions exist in the industry, then it would appear Con needs to repudiate the complicity from big business and denounce that veritable American value of the free market. Or Con could purpose a viable solution to this problem rather than make a claim without expanding on what should or could be done. Rebuttal to general presentation of Con’s case thus far: Pro worries about inauthentic consent and subtle forms of intimidation in the porn industry, worrying that women are submit to the will of men, though they do not want too. First, this is a very paternalistic view of women. They are incapable of making decisions for themselves, are too timid, and submit to male dominance. This perspective is incredibly deeming to women, undermining their very nature. However, perhaps that was not what Con meant so I will leave that particular issue there for the time being. If an actress is employed by business that produces pornography and wants to quit there is legal restriction that would prevent her from quitting. If she found the employment unreasonable or disliked her involvement with the company, she would not be obliged to remain. Even if we entertain this idea for a moment, isn’t this the case for a comparable profession, say employed as an NFL team member? Athletes are paid to sacrifice their bodies, put at jeopardy their short term as well as long-term health for their sport. Players in the NFL get concessions, suffer from terrible injuries, and their told what “suck it up, keep going, the team needs you.” Question for Con to address or elaborate: If one of your concerns or objections is a hostile work environment or coercing employees into situations that potential risk or jeopardize their short or long term health, what about people in the military? Suppose a solider does not want to engage in a situation that might endanger their life or engage civilians’ targets as order, should that receive the same scrutiny as employers in the porn industry? What about nurses and doctors and employees working at places where they are likely to contract life threatening diseases, perhaps with AIDs patients or where they frequently interact with needles and people who use drugs intravenously? If Con answers in the affirmative that more regulation in all domains is warranted, then we are talking about a vast new role for government intervention into people’s personal lives, and it would set a precedent in law, specifically “liberty of contract” doctrines upheld with vehemently in the past and even more so by the Roberts Supreme Court. If not, then why select the porn industry, for personal reasoning or moral convictions? And if for personal or moral or religious reasons, is a larger philosophical or even widely accept reason to think so? Because otherwise, Con is going to argue from conjecture without proof or substantial evidence. At least, that appears to be the most likely avenue but again, I could be wrong and don’t make to claims before Con makes a rebuttal. [1] Brian Warner, “The 20 Richest Porn Stars,” Celebrity Networth.com http://www.celebritynetworth.com... [2] Mireille Miller-Young, “Empowering to the Women on Screen,” The New York Times June 10th 2013 http://www.nytimes.com... [3] ABC News, “Porn Profits: Corporate America's Secret.” January 28 2014. http://abcnews.go.com...