Re: [UUPoly-L] more on the porn/erotica thread

["Beverly Toll" <btoll@hughes.net>]

I'd also love to read your book.  Thanks for your excellent letter.

Beverly
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kathleen Reedy" <icescience@yahoo.com>
To: <uupoly-l@uupa.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 9:36 AM
Subject: Re: [UUPoly-L] more on the porn/erotica thread


> Valerie
>   I'd love to read your book!  Good rant.
>   Kathleen
>
> Valerie White <valerie@valeriewhite.org> wrote:
>   While I was a consulting editor to "The Humanist" magazine, my charge
> was soliciting contributions from women, as the mag was aware that
> women writers had been under-represented. Accordingly, when I met
> Nadine Strossen (ACLU president) at a Vermont Law School function, I
> asked her if she would write something for "The Humanist". She said
> graciously that she would think about it, but I was nonetheless a bit
> surprised when I received, some time later, an article from her.
>
> It was a chapter from her next book. And the thesis was, that women
> have more to lose from a culture which practices censorship than from
> a culture which tolerates "pornography". I think she was right.
>
> For one thing, laws designed to "protect" women from objectification
> and exploitation in porn are in fact too often employed against
> feminist enterprises in which explicit discussion of sexuality
> (Think, "Our Bodies, Ourselves") is part of their mission. For
> another, many women feel that writing or performing or reading or
> watching sexually explicit material is a part of their sexual
> expression, and they have a right to revel in that expression.
>
> If you're concerned about exploitation, pass laws that protect sex
> workers . . . don't ban the medium.
>
> Now, I'm in agreement with the poster who said some sexually explicit
> material is a turn-on and some isn't. (I sincerely hope it CAN be
> because I've written a strongly feminist highly erotic novel. Anyone
> want to read it?)
>
> One thing I hold against a lot of mainstream porn is that it creates
> unrealistic expectations in inexperienced boys about what women are
> actually LIKE in sex. I have never seen a porno movie in which a
> woman had an obvious orgasm. A boy who expects his sex partner to
> behave like a porn star is going to be REALLY surprised and taken
> aback when his partner (if she is lucky enough!) stiffens out,
> becomes oblivious, shudders, grimaces, and gets a flush all over her
> chest! And when she discourages his caresses in the immediate aftermath.
>
> For that matter, HE's not going to find he can perform the way he
> THINKS the studs in the x-rated video perform . . . he doesn't
> realize how many different "takes" are spliced together to make the movie.
>
> And most REAL women have blemishes. They have hairs around their
> nipples, or stretch marks on their thighs. There is some gray in
> their pubic hair. (Horrors!) They have moles. They have
> zits. They carry some extra fat, or they are bony, or they are
> bowlegged, or have wrinkles. You know what? They fart
> sometimes. They have to get up and go pee. They don't often really
> get transported into ecstasy by smearing semen all over their faces.
> They are BEAUTIFUL but they are not like the depillated,
> silicone-augmented, concealer-treated, made-up, carefully coifed
> women in the videos.
>
> How's that for a rant? My computer is going to warn me that this
> message may be offensive.
>
> But, no matter how much we may be repulsed by sexually explicit
> material, we MUST NOT censor it if we value our freedom. People who
> don't like it don't have to look at it.
>
> Valerie
>
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