The little question of (ahem)...Porn

Rocco Siffredi, Tera Patrick, Ron Jeremy, Jenna Jameson, Kayden Kross, Evan Stone, Sylvia Saint, Brad Armstrong... what do these folks share in common? Now you may or may not know the answer to this question but they are all world renowned superstars thanks to the global phenomenon/menace known as pornography.

For sometime now, I've been meaning to address issues related to this 'field' which we always choose to conveniently label as 'taboo' and quickly judge as something that we should avoid entirely. Of course, we derive that judgment from a lot of our preconceived notions but can something with such global appeal be all that bad? All forms of religion and accepted philosophy suggest otherwise. Yet remarkably, pornography has (through the years) evolved into one of the most lucrative forms of entertainment and its exponential growth is nothing short of mind-blowing. From gracing the glossy pages of B&W magazines which were deemed contraband yesterday, to the HD-DVDs and Blu Rays of today, 'porn' has endured countless adversaries throughout its chequered history and matured into a force to be reckoned with. Like War, Drugs, Violence, like it or not, porn (or wela) is here and and it's here to stay. And yours truly is on a quest to try and figure out if porn is bad or good, simple as that.

Now first things first, I'd like to give you an idea as to how 'big' it really is. ('it' refers to 'porn' and nothing else okay?) I suppose your idea of how widespread porn is stems from the fact that it is absolutely everywhere and that even you kid brother of ten years was caught with a stash of porno dvds in his closet. This is common knowledge. But let's talk business; take for instance the New York Times Magazine: It ran a cover story some time back called "Naked Capitalists: There's No Business Like Porn Business." Its thesis: Pornography is big business--with $10 billion to $14 billion in annual sales in the US (with global revenue touching a $1oo Billion, yes that's 'B' for Billion). The author, Frank Rich, suggests that pornography is bigger than any of the major league sports, perhaps bigger than Hollywood. Porn is "no longer a sideshow to the mainstream...it is the mainstream," he says. In fact the pornography industry is larger than the revenues of the top technology companies combined: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix and EarthLink. This is how big porn is and it's not just a petty form of self-indulgence while wanking off in the privacy of one's room (so please get your mind out of the gutter if you think I'm playing the gallery for cheap thrills because this is intended to be a serious & introspective piece of writing here)


Now before proceeding any further it would suffice to question (for the sake of fair argument) the morality of pornography. As always it's best to approach the subject from a conservative POV so that the defense gets a chance to make its case later on (uhhhh... why do I still keep talking like a lawyer sometimes???) A vast majority of people don't believe porn is moral. They believe it's just a bunch of quasi-prostitutes advertising their bodies as these sex toys and it's just not right. The idea of porn is basically pissing on the concept of love-making being a private and sometimes sacred union of two individuals (forget the gang-bangs and the orgies people), just to make money and disrespect both men and women. Another charge from that very school of thought is that porn creates a very rugged and skewed template for those who view porn as a learning curve in the art of love making. Needless to say the exhibition of buxom (natural or silicone) women with perfect bodies (albeit with tons of plastic surgery) and guys with six pack abs and surreal endowments in almost all forms of porn only adds fuel to fire because people fear that it sends out the wrong message in terms of appearance and levels of acceptance from various sections of society (basically preying on one's physical insecurities).

An image showing the Box-Cover of one of the highest selling pornos of all time, Brianna Loves Jenna (ClubJenna, 2001) starring global superstar Jenna Jameson

Craig Gross from the XXX church (an anti-porn NGO kinda thingy) is an anti-porn activist and his summations are probably the most telling. You be the judge; he stated that porn causes men to have "unrealistic fantasies about women", causing women to complain about not being able to compete with porn. He also cites some statistics about porn ending up in the hands of children (don't they all use this excuse?), stating that 20-30% of kids aged 13-17 have looked at Internet porn. He rattles off titles such as "Barely Legal", "Teen Cock Suckers", "Young, Dumb, and Full of Cum" focusing on how they target teens, as well as luring the consumer into thinking the performers are under 18. Quite frankly, I wouldn't disagree with him. Titles like those usually make me pretty angry as well (when you compare them with say 'The Masseuse' or 'The Devil in Miss Jones'). Next he disputes the claim that "porn is empowering to women." How can titles such as "Cum Dumpsters", "Stupid Ho's", and "The World's Oldest Gangbang" be empowering? Craig also brings up the act of analingus, which he can't describe but wonders how any woman could possibly be empowered by it. He stresses that even those female performers are making big bucks for their work, money doesn't mean you're empowered. Craig thinks that porn is progressive, meaning that the more you watch, the more damaged you are, and believes there is no such thing as watching porn responsibly.

And, folks lets not even get near the topic of the religious interpretations of the moralities with regard to porn because that could kill this debate.

Okay. So with the playing field levelled, I'd like to cross over to the other side of the aisle with some folks who are totally in opposition to the arguments aforementioned. Let's listen to a couple of them shall we? One of my very close friends (who's also a thorough endorser of porn) once argued quote "I don't think it is moral, and is it immoral? Well consider what it is like for many of the people in the films and consider that YOU are the sole reason why it all happens (they wouldn't film 'em if no one watched.) ". Another one of 'em remarked "I'd argue that porn is VERY moral because it promotes pleasure in the readers, and by extension, in society as a whole if enough people seek it out and derive hedonistic value from it. "... Hmm.. Hedonistic value... Interesting! Some people venture even further when discussing the pros of porn (please pardon my pun which is intended) by stating that porn is beneficial in avenues such as education (i.e it could educate people with regard to all aspects of sex from the coarse to the finer details). It's no secret that some institutions have embraced that sentiment by using porn to educate the young and adolescent. (Have trouble believing me? Please contact any med student for details about sex-ed for confirmation).

So where does all of this lead us to? As far as I've observed with the research I've done, it's a battle between two extremes and there's no common ground or room for compromise. So how does one identify a universal code based on judgement of morality when it comes to saying 'yes' or 'no' to porn? The truth is unlike other vices such as alcohol, drugs or tobacco, porn doesn't have an identifiable direct and adverse effect towards humans. No physical harm is caused as such and the effect upon man is in another dimension entirely. Immeasurable, intangible, whatever you may call its effect, porn seems to be somewhat of a juggernaut which commands limitless attraction (from most) and attention (from almost all). I mean let's face it, if you were all by yourself (without the need to be overly pretentious to come across as 'decent' for the sake of 'others') given the chance, would or wouldn't you watch a mainstream (mainstream because some S&M, Snuff or Gonzo movies may not be for everyone) porn movie if you weren't busy? 9 times outta 10 the answer would be 'yes' because that's who we are. We 'primates' are by the powers of nature, sexually inclined and that's no reason for shame or to make one feel like a pervert. At the end of the day it comes down to personal choice & preferences and no one can criticize another's addiction to pornography. Normally it's just a case of where of 'where do we draw the line'. But in this case the question is 'where is the line?'

Lets' turn to some theory or formulae. (us Engos have been forever trained to think that there's a formula to every problem...lol) English philosopher Jeremey Bentham summed up this argument best in his classic work from 1789, "An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation." Bentham proposed a test of utility for deciding if something was moral or not: the utility of any action, law, policy etc. is based on how much pleasure it promotes, offset by any pain it causes. Call it "ethical hedonism". So if we were to apply this theory to our subject in question; how much pleasure does it promote? I guess the answer 'a lot' is unanimous. But any pain it causes? hmmm. Another point to ponder.

By writing this blog one thing I've come to realize is, this is an endless and challenging debate because much of it is individualistic and relative. True it borders on the highest level of vulgarity and is utterly profane but there's no denying it's cancerous effect on humans who are as a result as sexually driven as they've ever been at any point in history. The only difference is a variety in approach thanks to the advancement of technology. Today we have big budget pornos shot in High Def. I'm predicting first person stimulatory or holographic porn in the future.

Come to think of it, it's an entirely different subject which spawns debates on so many levels. For instance;
'Can porn sometimes be considered artistic?' (ex: check out movies directed by Michael Zen or Andrew Blake if you think it's 'lol' to wonder if porn could be artistic)
'Who's worse? A pornstar or a hooker?'
'Is producing porn a terrible sin if it puts food on the table?' '
Is porn genuine in portraying sex and love? Or is it just a fake digital fantasy that we chose to revel in just cuz our hormones keep getting the better of our judgement?'
Food for thought amigos.

So I'm gonna end with a few stats (cuz we dealing with numbers is part of my game). You shouldn't be surprised
Every second - $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography
Every second - 28,258 Internet users are viewing pornography
Every second - 372 Internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines
Every 39 minutes: a new pornographic video is being created in the United States