# Conservatives and/or W supporters: do you want a crackdown on "obscenity"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 25, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-and-or-w-supporters-do-you-want-a-crackdown-on-obscenity/323371 "2005-09-25T20:32:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-and-or-w-supporters-do-you-want-a-crackdown-on-obscenity/323371/41 "2005-09-28T02:50:31Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Sorry, but since I consider child & rape porn to be capital offenses, I thought it fairly obvious that I was talking about real child & rape porn- not similated. I know you meant real, I asked about simulated. > [@FriarTed](#): > > And why wouldn’t one consider bestiality porn worthy of illegality? Why would one consider worthy of illegality? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-and-or-w-supporters-do-you-want-a-crackdown-on-obscenity/323371/42 "2005-09-28T17:21:25Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > And why wouldn’t one consider bestiality porn worthy of illegality? Well, it’s perfectly legal to slaughter an animal, feast on its flesh, and wear its skin as a coat. Compared to that, fucking an animal seems like a pretty minor thing to get up in arms about. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-and-or-w-supporters-do-you-want-a-crackdown-on-obscenity/323371/43 "2005-09-28T18:16:24Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Well, it’s perfectly legal to slaughter an animal, feast on its flesh, and wear its skin as a coat. Not only that, but before slaughtering the animal it is also legal to keep it in what i would consider deplorable conditions for its whole life. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-and-or-w-supporters-do-you-want-a-crackdown-on-obscenity/323371/44 "2005-09-28T18:56:36Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Child & rape porn- capital offense > > Bestiality porn- illegal > > Exploited “sex slave” porn- illegal (example- foreign woman promised good job in US brought here to live in subsistence conditions forced/intimidated into porn) > > Maybe the Fed has some authority in restricting interstate-porn access to kids. > > Otherwise, porn is a local issue IF a gov’t issue at all. Excise the beastiality comment, and I agree. However, I often wonder about how women might be coerced into doing some of the things that can be found out there. I wouldn’t mind some attention being paid into finding out why these girls do what they do. It’s one thing to have sex on camera for money. It’s another to be abused, humiliated, urinated on, and other things that I’d rather not describe. I have trouble believing that, while not literal “sex slaves”, that everyone is really doing this of their own free will. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-and-or-w-supporters-do-you-want-a-crackdown-on-obscenity/323371/45 "2005-09-28T20:23:39Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Well, it’s perfectly legal to slaughter an animal, feast on its flesh, and wear its skin as a coat. And if they’re very lucky, we’ll do it in that order. ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-and-or-w-supporters-do-you-want-a-crackdown-on-obscenity/323371/46 "2005-09-28T20:30:16Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > I’m a conservative of the libertarian bent (or maybe a libertarian with conservative leanings?), Or maybe a liberal of the libertarian bent? ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-and-or-w-supporters-do-you-want-a-crackdown-on-obscenity/323371/47 "2005-09-28T20:48:09Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > I don’t think the Dems want to ban violent video games and obscene music lyrics, just put warning labels on them or age restrictions. Whether that is good or bad I’m torn. Pfff, move to Illinois. As to the OP…I’m not aware of the FBI doing this, but I’ll ask when I get a chance. I don’t want to be doing that. I don’t think porn should be illegal unless the actions that are recorded are illegal. So simulated stuff is okay, but actual rape, statutory rape or beastiality would be illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-and-or-w-supporters-do-you-want-a-crackdown-on-obscenity/323371/48 "2005-09-28T20:58:29Z")
> [@Plan B](#): > > I hadn’t really thought this out until now, but since you won’t debate I’ll give it a shot. > > The first thought I have is about narcissism. At the extreme end you have people who are so concerned about themselves that they won’t have children. If they don’t have babies and the Muslims do, then we soon wind up in a situation like France or Holland. We lose. Our kids live under sharia. And one might make the case that overindulgence in pornography is extremely narcissistic. No ability to relate to others is required. No need lo master the give and take necessary to live with someone else. No need to get married. No need to raise children. > > Of course one might say that I’m confusing legalized porn with compulsive masturbation. > > But I think that it comes down to a society making a statement that we value families, we value children, we value commitments. > > Ideally, I guess I’d like that kind of pressure and influence to come from non-governmental sources. No problem with POTUS and others using a bully pulpit, but let’s use legislation as a last resort. I see where you’re going with this, but I think putting it in a “context of war” is a bit of a stretch. Perhaps a better way to encapsulate it would be to argue that legal porn could cause a breakdown of society from within. In that regard it could be said we’d be vulnerable to outside aggression or dominance. I don’t really think it makes sense to couple the two concepts though. Before anyone challenges the premise, let me just state that I don’t believe this or agree with **Plan B** , but I was simply reframing his thoughts in regards to **Revtim** ’s question. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-and-or-w-supporters-do-you-want-a-crackdown-on-obscenity/323371/49 "2005-09-28T23:01:07Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > And if they’re very lucky, we’ll do it in that order. Shiney. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-and-or-w-supporters-do-you-want-a-crackdown-on-obscenity/323371/50 "2005-09-29T00:56:35Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > It’s one thing to have sex on camera for money. It’s another to be abused, humiliated, urinated on, and other things that I’d rather not describe. I have trouble believing that, while not literal “sex slaves”, that everyone is really doing this of their own free will. There are plenty of women who do it of their own free will for free. There are plenty of men and some women who pay large amounts of money for that sort of threatment. Submissiveness is one of the most popular and basic forms of human sexuality. In my experience, porn providers won’t hire someone who isn’t enjoying what they are doing- it just doesn’t make for good porn. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-and-or-w-supporters-do-you-want-a-crackdown-on-obscenity/323371/51 "2005-09-29T13:22:12Z")
Basically, I see putting porn people in jail on obscenity convictions for producing porn of the consensual, adult sort as a case of nice, sex-positive people being jailed so nasty, repressed, sex-negative people can get their rocks off. It’s evil. End of story. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-and-or-w-supporters-do-you-want-a-crackdown-on-obscenity/323371/52 "2005-09-29T13:59:50Z")
**even sven** , I’m not in the business, nor do I regularly trade stories with porn directors or actors/actresses. I have no direct experience. Also, I am not saying 100%, or even 50% of the truly hardcore stuff is non-consensual or heavily coerced. I’m fairly certain that 100% and 0% are both wrong, but I have absolutely no way of determining where between those numbers the truth lies. I’ve read some pretty nasty things (things I won’t search for at work) about some of the less savory aspects of the sex industry. I’m not interpolating that it means the entire industry. I am saying I’d like operators not employing fully willing talent shut down. I’d also like to see the talent given a little more control over their material, so that 15 years later, junior doesn’t find mommy on a vintage porn site. I realize, however, the latter is just wishful thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-and-or-w-supporters-do-you-want-a-crackdown-on-obscenity/323371/53 "2005-09-29T17:31:13Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > I’ve read some pretty nasty things (things I won’t search for at work) about some of the less savory aspects of the sex industry. A large part of this is due to its ghettoization and marginalization. Push the industry into the shadows, and nasty critters proliferate. Sunlight, disinfectant, yada yada. In other words, the administration’s effort is likely to make the problems worse, not better. Of course, given their track record on other issues, that may be their intent. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-and-or-w-supporters-do-you-want-a-crackdown-on-obscenity/323371/54 "2005-09-29T21:40:44Z")
I agree with you **Cervaise** , but some of the things I read date back to the prior CinC and his administration. My takeaway was that the extreme-hardcore pornographers had more demand than supply, and “artificially” boosted supply. Once again, let me say I don’t know if the articles were highlighting isolated incidents, a sizable minority, or business-as-usual. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-and-or-w-supporters-do-you-want-a-crackdown-on-obscenity/323371.md?page=2)