Diana on porn

[Chris Stolz]

well.  I quite liked Diana's post but would like to play devil's advocate. 

1)  Pornography objectifies women.  But so does every fantasy about the
opposite sex (women or men):  one imagines another person who totallly fits
what we want them to be.  Even if you imagine a serious long term
relationship with somebody, or fantasise about it, you are *still* making
the other person into an object, something that in your mind plays along
agreeably with you.  So...where does that leave porn?  Perhaps it makes us
uncomfortable because it reminds us that we *do* pretty much objectify other
people.  That's the diff between fantasy and reality.. You can't have a
conversation with a fantasy. There's its appeal, and its boredom.

2)  The great irony of pornography has to do with the fact that there is
somebody viewing the image.  The image may be degrading to those whom it
puports to represent, but it also makes a kind of backhand comment about the
person looking at it-- "is *this* what you do with your imagination?"

3)  "The problem with discussing pornography is that people are afraid of
appearing either offended by it or not offended by it"  -- George Orwell

4)  "Pornography is a discusson, not a thing."  --Walter Kendrick

chris

Chris Stolz      Internet:  chstolz at canuck.com
		Hard mail:  405-7A St. N.E.  
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Modern man likes to pretend that his thinking is wide-awake. 
But this wide-awake thinking has led us into the mazes of a 
nightmare in which the torture chambers are endlessly 
repeated in the mirrors of reason.  When we emerge, perhaps 
we will realise we have been dreaming with our eyes open, 
and that the dreams of reason are intolerable.  And then, 
perhaps, we will begin to dream once more with our eyes closed.

			-- Octavio Paz, _The Labyrinth of Solitude_