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Kana -> The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/20/2013 1:18:49 PM)

Presented w/o comment
http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/05/the-ethics-of-extreme-porn-is-some-sex-wrong-even-among-consenting-adults/275898/




DesFIP -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/20/2013 1:31:36 PM)

When the actress in the shoot describes it as pleasurable for her, that removes the label abusive. More importantly is to look at the results. Does this make you happier or not? If it leaves you feeling worse about yourself, then it's abusive to you.

The fact that many other people don't find it abusive is not germane. I understand that the author is not comfortable with her sexuality, as she in fact states. But that's her problem and trying to shift it onto society at large is wrong.




kalikshama -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/20/2013 2:15:07 PM)

Interesting article. While I'm finishing it, I'll agree with what the author has to say here:

http://www.collarchat.com/m_4448731/tm.htm

...Even if you think those porn actresses damage themselves, their voluntary participation cannot be compared to the trauma suffered by rape victims. It could be argued that rape victims aren't victims of American culture, but are victimized in spite of a culture that condemns rape.

That is sometimes true.

Yet I can show you any number of jokes told in mainstream venues where the punchline is a prisoner getting brutally raped by a fellow inmate or guard—and I can show you the scandalous number of actual rapes perpetrated at taxpayer-funded, state-administered institutions. I can show you a military, venerated for the honor of its fighters, where women are raped routinely. There are frequent rapes that occur in collegiate frat, athletic, and dorm subcultures, where acceptance of consent as an imperative is not, to put it mildly, universally agreed upon. We've all heard about Catholic subcultures where children were molested and bishops regarded that violation of consent as so trivial an offense that the perpetrators were merely reassigned. (What does it say about the sexual morality of the Catholic Church that they would've been punished more severely had they appeared in a consensual San Francisco BDSM shoot?) Those are just the most extreme examples. How many Americans suffer harm each year when, while dating or hanging out with someone they trust, that person coerces them to go farther than they'd like, or exploits ambiguity or drunkenness to transgress against consent?

Suffice it to say that inculcating the norm of consent is a work in progress.

My generation doesn't treat consent as a lodestar merely because consent permits pleasurable sexual activity that more traditional sexual codes would prohibit. The ethos of consent is regarded as a lodestar because its embrace is widely seen as an incredible improvement over much of human history; and because instances when the culture of consent is rejected are superlatively horrific. The average 30-something San Franciscan has had multiple friends confide to them about being raped, and multiple friends confide about participating in consensual BDSM. Only the former routinely plays out as extreme trauma that devastates the teller for decades.




kalikshama -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/20/2013 2:24:32 PM)

Porn up, rape down




DomKen -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/20/2013 3:06:39 PM)

I think it is ethical as long as everyone consents and no one is killed or permanently maimed/disfigured.




playfulotter -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/20/2013 3:33:26 PM)

What if someone consents and they are a drug addict or something similar...whatever that might be....




kiwisub12 -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/20/2013 4:50:31 PM)

In the '80's we used to have drunks sign consent forms before we would admit them for detox.............................




DomKen -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/20/2013 5:00:00 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: playfulotter

What if someone consents and they are a drug addict or something similar...whatever that might be....

Now that gets into an area where you question if the addict has the mental capacity to give consent. I know that if I was producing/directing/casting such a film there is no way I'd hire a performer who I had reason to suspect was an addict of any kind.




TheLilSquaw -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/20/2013 5:01:32 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: playfulotter

What if someone consents and they are a drug addict or something similar...whatever that might be....


If it is proven that I KNOWINGLY shoot a model who was intoxicated, high or had certain mental issues I could be charged criminally. I've seen it done.

I've cancelled shoots b/c I THOUGHT the model was drunk or high. In MY model release they actually initial a section that states "At the time of this shoot I was not under the influence of any narcotic, alcohol, and I have not been deemed mentally incompetent."

This is also why MANY producers do before and after video interviews with models.




slaveluci -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/20/2013 5:04:13 PM)

From the article:
"Was the consent of all participants sufficient to make the porn shoot a morally defensible enterprise? Alan Jacobs says no. People like the director and actress 'are pursuing, consciously or not, absolute degradation, and are publicly debasing sexuality in the process,' he writes. 'They are immensely destructive to themselves and to others; they becloud the image of God in which they were made.' As he sees it, their behavior is uncivilized. If you claim otherwise, he argues, "you have reduced the content of civilization to a single element: consent."

About the highlighted sentence: Pursuing "absolute degradation" is and should be a human right we each have. If you don't want to do that, fine. If I do, fuck off. As far as "debasing sexuality" - what the fuck does THAT mean? What someone does in the course of expressing his/her sexuality is their own business as long as no one else is being violated or hurt without consent. How exactly does one "debase" a concept?

Expressing one's unique sexuality is not necessarily "destructive" just because others (read: prudes) don't like it. Not everyone believes in the same "God" so that is a moot point.

Consent is everything. I wish more people in the world were concerned about the ten ways to Sunday we all get fucked without consent by corporations and government. I don't consent to any of that shit. Focus on that and stay the fuck out of my sexuality.

luci




littlewonder -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/20/2013 5:26:27 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Kana

Presented w/o comment
http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/05/the-ethics-of-extreme-porn-is-some-sex-wrong-even-among-consenting-adults/275898/



eerrmm....eerr....if I respond to this in the way I think I have a feeling I'd be roasted alive.




Kana -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/20/2013 6:23:34 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: littlewonder


quote:

ORIGINAL: Kana

Presented w/o comment
http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/05/the-ethics-of-extreme-porn-is-some-sex-wrong-even-among-consenting-adults/275898/



eerrmm....eerr....if I respond to this in the way I think I have a feeling I'd be roasted alive.


Fire away. I have no opinion either way, just thought it was an interesting article maybe worth some discussion




littlewonder -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/20/2013 7:05:55 PM)

I'm betting you already know where I lie on the issue Master. I happen to agree with the majority of the article. Now I will say I don't care what other people do. They are not in my life persay. But I do feel our world has become as described in the article and that love is no longer a part of it for most people...it's about the rush and adventure instead.

I'm in no way sexually repressed but I do have strong morals and beliefs when it comes to such. I'm also not going to say much about it being said that rapes are down since sex has become what it is now. I don't think either one is better.

I think in the end there needs to be a balance instead of an extreme of one or the other. Just like everything else in life.




sexyred1 -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/20/2013 9:06:05 PM)

On one hand, I always felt that porn of any type, extreme or not, is often the first sexual exposure that young people get and that sucks. It sets up an unrealistic expectation.

I feel the generations after mine are screwed up in terms of relating to one another as people first, and many miss the finesse in the delicious, slow, exploration that can happen when you are in a loving, trusting relationship.

Now, I know people who only want casual sex, but my comment is not for them, or perhaps, they only want that because they lack the experience of being in love and how sex (of any kind) is so enhanced by it.

I know marriages that ended because of porn addiction; their wives no longer could hold the interest of the fake and extreme porn images.

I always hated porn; I never had a need for it; my own imagination and using images (extreme, yes) from my own experiences were always far better than anything that could be filmed.

On the other hand, I don't believe that it is morally wrong to do anything consensual, unless it is insane, like cannibalism, amputation, etc.




NuevaVida -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/20/2013 9:28:42 PM)

I felt the article was extremely slanted - as is the author's right, but then the title should be changed to "Some sex is wrong even among consenting adults," rather than asking the question if this is so. I just hate that kind of misleading enticement of readers.

And the quote from Alan Jacobs, "They are immensely destructive to themselves and to others; they becloud the image of God in which they were made." presumes we all believe in the same god.

Finally, to compare consensual sex among adults (even extreme sex) to the molestations in the Catholic church is beyond preposterous to me. I'm kind of speechless about that one.

In any case, sure it's a discussion worth having. Personally, I'm not a fan of the porn industry, and I think pornography *does* lead to societal issues. But I do think consenting adults should have the freedom to engage in whatever sex they with to engage in, so long as it does not harm any person or creature outside of that relationship.

It is clear the author does not have a good understanding of health BDSM.

And the comments below the article were interesting, too.




njlauren -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/20/2013 9:35:12 PM)

I think the article is trying to juxtapose two very different issues and trying to make them one, and they aren't. What is described here is some relatively heavy scene play, and the key word there is play; the 'degradation' the woman is experiencing is part of role play, it is obvious from the way the Domina and the guy treat her that they aren't out to abuse her or really degrade her, everything is controlled, they are aware of her and her needs and so forth. The problem is they are like the feminist morons like Andrea Dworkin and Catherine MacKinnon who were all so hell bent on taking porn away to the point that they were siding with the religious right and with the Reagan Administration in trying to ban it, that they couldn't tell the difference with porn or that some of it isn't necessarily harmful, as a fantasy. I have seen real degradation, folks, the piece of garbage in Cleveland being a classic example, and this is not it. It isn't just that it is consensual, it is that the performer apparently gets something out of it as does I would assume the two in the top role, as do the audience. Other then one fuckhead yelling to 'choke the bitch', the 'degradation', of calling her a useless cunt and such, is part of the act, it is kind of like interactive theater where, for example, the audience is part of a theatrical 'wedding', interacting with the 'guests' and so forth.......It might be extreme, but this is still 'play', and I think the negative reaction is that people still have this puritanical notion that somehow sex cannot be about play, which is sad, it should be.

I don't think those objecting have trouble with the play in this or it being degrading because of what they do, I think they are hung up on the idea that sex has to be about love. It is for many people, and that to me in some ways is the ultimate expression, but sex for fun, sex for a 'rush', sex to have fun is what floats people's boats, and this idea that somehow people having sex without love being immoral is more then a bit old fashioned, to say the least. There are people happily married, for example, who swing, do threesomes, or play with other people in scene space, that isn't about love, but sex for fun, the thrill, etc....yet are happily married. This idea that sex outside of a loving relationship is empty or meaningless is crap to me (it can be meaningless and empty, of course, but it doesn't have to me).

It reminds me too much of the Catholic idea of sex, with their whole jazz about it being open to life, and how a couple having sex in 'lust' is wrong or *gasp* having sex outside the missionary position, using your fingers, your mouth, etc, to give you partner/wife pleasure is immoral, because it must be 'open to life', i.e making babies....just too medieval and regressive, and coming from a church whose moral authority is quite suspect to start with, well.

It seems that people want to look at this and immediately project this means the end of love, and that is absolute, utter bullshit IMO. One of the ironies is last I was reading, younger people today are getting married later, but they also seem to be more centered than earlier generations, in that they seem determined not to end up a divorce statistic and seem more level headed, divorce rates from what i can tell are headed down (if the 50% divorce rate is even that true, I have my doubts). It doesn't mean it is a panacea, I wish there was a lot more out there in terms of erotica showing sex as pleasuring your partner and an intimate act, rather than the porn that dominates, I would only hope that porn isn't being used as an instructional guide, it is a fantasy, and often not a well made one.......but I don't buy all the hoopla that society is empty, that kids are empty, I think that is the oldest game in the book, that the young of today are degenerates. When WWII was winding down, they thought they were going to have to quarantine the soldiers, including my dad, because they were a bunch of sex obsessed killers, who might have turned out to be horny (hence the baby boom) but the rest, guess Tom Brokaw never got the word, the kids of the 1930's were indolent and lazy and amoral, etc, etc.......

I have seen things that I question, I have seen extreme scenes that makes what is described here look mild, the seattle leather dyke scene makes this seem like romper room, and some of it makes me wonder, there is a famous person around the NY scene who I have seen play at public play parties who quite frankly made me want to retch, their playing style is basically beating the sub up, there is nothing sensual about it to me, nothing I would ever do (she ever tried that on me, I would practice some marlinspike on them, using their arms instead of rope), but I assume the person playing with that person is into it.....

My take is as long as someone has consented to it and as long as there is no real harm being done or their real dignity and sense of humanity isn't being threatened, I don't have the right to stop it....I do have limits, I would have a hard time with consensual slavery where basically the slave agrees to anything the M wants to do, literally nothing is off limits, including physical harm, and if I saw that I suspect I would step in, but this isn't that,that is an entirely different kettle of fish.

BTW if it sounds like my life is the 'empty sex', sex as thrills, well, not me.......my primary relationship has lasted 30 years through thick, thin and many things that would blow up most other people's relationships, and for me sex is tied with love in my primary relationship (I use that term kind of broadly, since I am not poly, I mean in potential). I could have fun outside it, assuming we were both game (threesomes, whatever), but primarily it is about love for me, even if getting a good flogging or whatever:)




MalcolmNathaniel -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/20/2013 10:08:40 PM)

How can I say this nicely?

I can't. The author doesn't have a clue. The first written expressions of pain for sexual pleasure were not written by the Marquis De Sade but were written thousands of years ago in Greece. Aproximately 500 BCE if my (rather poor) memory serves me correctly.

The author repeatedly refers to a 'lodestar' when what is meant is 'lodestone' - an ancient form of magnet used for navigation. The writing is abysmal and repetitive.

As for being degraded? As TMIK if she felt degraded this past weekend or if she just had one hell of an awesome time.




descrite -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/21/2013 1:10:28 AM)

quote:

"you have reduced the content of civilization to a single element: consent."



Uhhh...yeah. And?

Any civilization that relies on anything other than consent is not free. Any civilization that tries to include anything more than consent is not consentual.

I suspect I know what the speaker would want included in his notion of civilization. I am very glad I don't live in that sort of place.

Yet, anyway. I don't live there yet.




MrRodgers -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/21/2013 3:26:57 AM)

So, the suggested solution is:

Celibacy, pending a change in life circumstance, is the answer that some folks would suggest. For them, the woman who fails find anyone to marry who wants to marry her, like the gay man who can't find anyone of the opposite sex he wants to marry, is called to struggle and abstain.

If one believes that all extramarital sex is contrary to the will of an infallible Supreme Being, that makes sense. I take it that Witt believes otherwise, as do I. "Back in New York, I was single, but only very rarely would more than a few weeks pass without some kind of sexual encounter," she writes.

Without saying anything in favor or against her approach, the details of which are sparse, I'd add that my least favorite thing about Christian sexual ethics, which offer some valuable insights even to secular and deist observers who grapple with the relevant tenets, is the way that it consigns people unable to get themselves in a traditional marriage to a life without sex.

They are expected to forgo a most powerful, innate desire, and all opportunities to connect intimately and profoundly with other humans, not because no one will consent to joyfully be with them, but because society purportedly functions best if its norms needn't accommodate certain kinds of individuals as sexual beings, except as examples of what is sinful and aberrant.

That fate strikes me as more lonely than the pornography or hookup culture Witt describes, and consigning people to it has never seemed very Christ-like to me.


I'll say this much and while all of it is from your link, the italics are what is expected by our so-called, sexually ethical Christian society and the bold is as true for me as the writer.




slaveluci -> RE: The Ethics of Extreme Porn (5/21/2013 4:49:30 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: sexyred1

Now, I know people who only want casual sex, but my comment is not for them, or perhaps, they only want that because they lack the experience of being in love and how sex (of any kind) is so enhanced by it.

Perhaps for some. Not for me. I have always been a big fan of casual sex and have had some amazing experiences of being in love too. Sex can definitely be enhanced by love but sex can be absolutely fucking awesome without a hint of it too. At least for me.

quote:

I always hated porn; I never had a need for it; my own imagination and using images (extreme, yes) from my own experiences were always far better than anything that could be filmed.

Point certainly taken. To add a different perspective, I would say I have always enjoyed porn. I don't NEED it. It doesn't REPLACE my imagination. It enhances and complements it. I can think up - all on my own - all kinds of things to do. I also enjoy seeing others doing them, on film and live and in person. It's not an "either/or" thing. One can have it all [;)]

luci




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