Comments on: Reprint: Porn, HIV, Freedom, Responsibility

By: Jendi

Jendi — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 18:38:29 +0000

Anyone who doubts the harm that women suffer in the porn industry should read “Not for Sale: Feminists Resisting Prostitution and Pornography”, ed. by Christine Stark & Rebecca Whisnant:

http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/non-fict/nfs.htm

I’m sorry to burst yr bubble, “your mother”, but a “job” whose basic requirements include being gang-raped, choked, beaten and pissed on is not in any way comparable to being a cab driver or construction worker. Being assaulted is not an incidental risk of the job - it IS the job.

By: Douglas, Friend of Osho

Douglas, Friend of Osho — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 21:43:39 +0000

Gee, Your mother, aka whiney white guy (apt name), you read some comments by a committed Christian on the subject of porn and you’re shocked—shocked—he takes a dim view of it. Is it the prudery that bugs you or the fact Hugo styles himself a feminist? Or maybe you’re a troll returned under a different name? As it happens, in 25 years in San Francisco, I’ve met a lot of feminists on the wrong side of the porn issue, none of whom lacked genuine concern for the people who work in the industry. They won’t stop me seeing the occasional Jenna video, but guys like you make me wonder from time to time if they don’t have a point.

By: Your mother

Your mother — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 19:32:02 +0000

I´m quite sorry for this young woman. I hope she gets the health care she needs. That said, Hugo moralistic whining is mostly self-promotion about what a sincere feminist he is. Put it down on the resume, Hugo, otherwise you might have to get a real job.

Is porn a dangerous industry? Well on the whole I doubt it if you compare it to other jobs like being a cab driver, construction worker, bus driver etc. Not that a porn job or any job is all that healthy in a myraid of different ways. Lets just face facts that porn is probably less lethal than most industries. I´m waiting for the statistics to prove me wrong on this point.

The porn industry is here to stay. If Hugo and his fellow professional feminists really gave a rat´s ass he would cover the efforts of sex worker organizations/unions/activism etc to improve the working conditions of these women.Otherwise we can all ask does Hugo´s crying here on the internet do a damn thing?

By: Burton

Burton — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:15:20 +0000

Lara Roxx, who is too young to legally drink in a bar, has HIV not just because she participated in a dangerous sex act.

Another reason to lower the drinking age to 18. Old enough to be in a porn film, old enough to vote, I mean, drink!

She also has HIV because there was nobody to stop the producers from dangling money and other inducements in front of this young woman to get her to take that risk.

Just what we need, more government regulation. Why not take this to the next stage and pass a law requiring use of a condom in all sex acts, even within marriage?

By: Phil Hoover

Phil Hoover — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 10:11:34 +0000

As a Christian, I am not TORN…I am deeply grieved.

By: BriBri

BriBri — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 15:53:03 +0000

Hugo, good post. I guess I’m cynical about the ability of young men (younger than you) to give up using porn. It’;s so much more a part of the culture now than it used to be. It is everywhere and its hard to imagine guys of college age really accepting that they shouldn’t look at it (and jerk off to it, which no one talks about but everyone knows of).

I hope that the young men you teach really listen to you. And I hope you are really practicing what you preach. (I’m not trying to say I don’t believe you, just that I am naturally suspicious of men’s claims to sexual morality.)

By: Antigone

Antigone — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 14:29:11 +0000

jt, I haven’t heard anything about this before. I know this is ot, so would you please email me at floater_girl@yahoo.com if you have any other information about this? (I’ve already clicked around your site.)

By: Douglas, Friend of Osho

Douglas, Friend of Osho — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 11:06:12 +0000

No one should see porn at six, Mermade. It’s also reasonable to fret over the way in which boys get their ideas about sex from porn. That said, porn’s effect on adult consumers is much more innocuous than the crtics might be willing to admit. Which, of course, doesn’t absolve us from striving to instill decent labor standards in the porn industry. But that may not happen as long as abolitionists are welcome to that particular debate. Sorry Hugo, but Nadine Stroessen will shut up when Diana E.H. Russell does, it’s that simple. And eventually, Miller v. California will become a fading memory, which will result in porn advocates leaving off on the free-expression dimension.

By: jt

jt — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 18:07:34 +0000

jt - while I understand your argument, porn and unhealthy food have absolutely nothing in common. The damage a glimpse of porn did to me at the age of six vast exceeds anything chocolate is capable of doing.

Actually, Mermade, I was referring not to any damage from chocolate itself, but to the exploitation of children by chocolate farms in the Third World. (I should have been clearer on this.) When you buy a chocolate bar, there’s a nontrivial probability slave labor was involved. More info here:

http://www.radicalthought.org/

In that regard, the industry as a whole is, if anything, more exploitative than the commercial porn industry.

By: Mermade

Mermade — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 17:27:07 +0000