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Wednesday, November 16, 2005

porn

i love porn. i watch it, i read it and i look at it. i am a (self)abuser of porn and i have never denied it.
i don’t think i am particularly unique in my love and consumption of porn. i don’t think i am particularly special in my ability to tell the difference between the porn fantasy and the real world (and i suspect most consumers of porn have a better understanding of the division between reality and fantasy than many of the fans of soaps….)
anyway here i am scanning through the internet (and not just looking for porn) when i come (geddit!!!) upon this story on the bbc website.

now i feel sorry for the mother who has lost her daughter.
and i have no sympathy for the man who committed the deed, and would not shed a liberal tear if he was locked away for good.
but i do have problems with the fact that one person who had an obsession for porn is somehow typical of the rest of us who have an obsession with porn. you would have thought by now that this sort of argument had been knocked on the head. especially as it has never been proved when it has been aimed at violent movies (if we are such a violent society now why are films such as driller killer (very very boring …. oh i couldn’t help it , but it is a dull dull stupid film) i spit on your grave that were for so long banned as video nasties are now in the bargain bins of hmv? ), when it was argued that heavy metal lyrics were responsible for suicide or shooting up your school friends or when it was computer games or tv or well anything that could be a handy excuse.

sometimes i think the grasping for the “reason/ excuse” is because people do not want to think that other people can be evil, and would rather find a reason that in a sense absolves the person for responsibility.
maybe it’s because we know that people are evil and we can’t do anything about it so we choose to look for something we can ban, something we can blame.

but lets be honest if porn, even violent porn, had this sort of effect (and this goes for video games, movies, tv and music) on all the people that consume it there would be rioting on the streets and we would be living in a state of constant fear and chaos.
we are not. why? because the people who commit these sort of murders are few and far between. furthermore they would commit these crimes sooner or later and all they are waiting for is a trigger and it could be anything.
but do we ban everything that might have been an obsession (or just an interest) for the person?
if the criminal in question turned out to be a philatelist i doubt very much there would be a call to ban stamp collecting.

one of the things i do find interesting is that none of these people are saying that the art that populates the national gallery, for instance (and one of the finest places to be to see art) should be removed from the public gaze because of what it might cause a person to do. frankly if you want to see sex and violence then go to the national gallery and see torture, see naked men and women, see violence with naked men and women, see rape, see murder and see naked babies. it is all there in glorious colour, but it is art. and because it is classical art it is fine.
yet it could be argued that because the art in places like the national gallery the art is generally viewed in solitude, there is little context for explaining the images and the viewer is often alone and is not going to discuss it with others. yet often computer games and videos are social events and discussed avidly between viewers and players.

the argument that watching this sort of material causes you to become a murderer is a fallacious one, and it is just has hard to prove as it is to deny.
for me it is an argument that holds as much truth to it as andrea dworkin assertion that all men are rapists.
in short it is utter tosh.

4 comments:

Hobbit's Journal said...

An interesting piece, really enjoyed reading it. I remember reading some articles back in August about new legislation regarding violent porn. It would be interesting to see where the line is drawn, what will be classed as violent porn? Any laws that do seem to have a noticeable effect will only propagate more porn anyway and I'm sure the sites would find loopholes around things. I agree with your points entirely, films like I spit on your grave and clockwork orange are now very mainstream and quite tame and you're right it is hard to prove issues either way when it comes to theories as a whole. The average guy in the street is unlikely to go out on some rampage after a session on his playstation. Whatever we are exposed to there will always be some oddball character out there that will sink back into their baser urges at times. we all know as a society we are obsessed with sex and violence anyway through films. games, media etc so the story strikes me as a storm in a tea cup. Anyway I'd best get back to Rome on BBC2, the orgy scene is just about to start - oh to be Roman !

Shep said...

*snicker* He just said 'fallacious'!

ems said...

I don't know how this post passed me by.

Possibly the only reason I have never been bothered by your love of porn is the fact I have always thought you capable of distinguishing very readily between fantasy and the real world. I'm not generally a bad judge but you suggest that perhaps I am. (Which is worrying).

I totally agree that you cannot take one person as typical of a whole associated group.

However, on the topic of obsessions - you cannot put them together and weigh them up in the same way. Some obsessions are harmless, some aren't. Depends what it is and who the person is.

I was the object of someone's obsession 11 years ago. It's scary (to put it nicely).

pat said...

emma - i had to go back and reread what i wrote because of your comment.

now either you have missed the point that i make (which i can understand given my ability to confuse)or you disagree with the point.

what i was trying to say is that for most viewers of porn there is a distinct difference between the fantasy of porn and the reality of the world.
i don't think i am special in being able to make this distinction.

(and we both know someone who professes not to be interested in such things but is in fact more obsessed than i am!)

but it might be you are saying that i am wrong and that being a fan of porn means you can't make those distinctions (true after many handy shandys i may have to squint to make out the differences.....)

true not all obsessives are not born equal.