# Protection From Pornography Week, 2003 **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 28, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135 "2003-10-28T23:45:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/81 "2003-10-29T22:48:00Z")
I hear that next month is Protection from Tornados Month, and Bush is going to encourage everyone to burn down trailer parks. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/82 "2003-10-29T22:52:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by even sven \* > \*\*I am a part of this group. I believe that part of the Right’s revulsion towards pornography is that it represents women making economic choices (I still can’t figure out how working at McDonalds for minimum wage isn’t degrading, but making porn is) and willingly choosing sex- which we all know no real woman would do. The prevelence of white slavery myths perepetuates the idea that it is unthinkable that a woman would actually choose a sexual line of work out of her own free will. The idea of banning abortion except in cases of rape and incest also plays in to the idea that women should be punished for choosing to have sex. It is all about controlling women’s choices, especially when it comes to their economic and sexual power. \*\* I have a serious question for you, as a self identified femenist: If what you say above is true, isn’t it just a total cop out? You’re blaming “others” for problems you face. I don’t see a single thing there about you and your choices and actions. If you are a feminist because you believe that it is a way of empowering yourself, isn’t the above just giving all that empowerment away by blaming “the man” for dificulties you face? ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/83 "2003-10-29T23:01:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Belrix \* > \*\* > Now, defending George’s scriptwriters a bit more, the Whitehouse didn’t say that porn equals child abuse in that press release. You’re expounding vehemently against things that haven’t been said. \*\* That is one of my very issues with the release. It is titled “Protection From Pornography Week, 2003”, but the bulk of the release talks about going after sex offenders and the like. If they plan on going after sex offenders, just call it “Protection From Sex Offenders Week, 2003” or “Protect our Children Week, 2003”. I don’t understand what porn has to do with the release. They mention child porn, but they lump ALL porn in their title. Like I said, give it a name, but give it an honest name. As for your addiction to porn,. it happens to people. But I don’t see the difference between porn, television, chat rooms, or the bar down the street. All of those things can (and do) put a wedge in family life if overused. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/84 "2003-10-30T00:55:03Z")
I’m not sure what you’re asking here, **Weirddave**. Are women still powerless? Yes. I think Sven’s post is outlining evidence of this, not making a judgement. Just saying that these are the inequalities that still exist. Giving you the benefit of the doubt, I’ll remind you that the modern feminist movement is only about 30 years old. Suffrage is only 80 years old (I think). Inequality doesn’t vanish overnight. Even when the law changes, society doesn’t change instantly. Whose fault is it? Not men. The system? the patriarchy? DNA? Evolution? Puritan founders? 5000 years of behavior? **adam yax** , suxor! You should look into whether that’s a county or state-wide thing. If its county, you could just get a PO box somewhere… I suspect its state, though. Probably an illegal law that a lawsuit would get rid of, at great personal cost. Why are we so afraid to celebrate pornography? Europe has nudity and sex on public television, and frankly, I’m jealous. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/85 "2003-10-30T01:03:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rysler \* > \*\*I’m not sure what you’re asking here, **Weirddave**. > > Are women still powerless? Yes. I think Sven’s post is outlining evidence of this, not making a judgement. Just saying that these are the inequalities that still exist. > > \*\* What evidence? All I saw was a diatribe. Frankly, I doubt this is true in any society-wide, systematic way. The only women I know of who are powerless are the ones screaming about being “kept down”. The rest are busy living their lives and getting ahead on their merits. Do you have any evidence that women today are “powerless”? ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/86 "2003-10-30T01:11:28Z")
I thought Even Sven was saying that the people who object to porn so strongly do so because they would like to see women kept powerless, or as the case may be, become powerless again. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/87 "2003-10-30T01:24:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pepperlandgirl \* > \*\*I thought Even Sven was saying that the people who object to porn so strongly do so because they would like to see women kept powerless, \*\* See, this is what I got too, and I’m not buying that women are powerless in the first place. > [@](#): > > or as the case may be, become powerless again. Ban porn to get the little woman back in the kitchen? I don’t see this at all. Sounds deluded and paranoid, frankly. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/88 "2003-10-30T01:48:14Z")
Basically, the reason they don’t want to ship you any porn in Texas (and a couple of other states) is that they’re afraid they’ll get busted by the Texas authorities if they do. Even if they beat the bust, they still have to go to a lot of trouble and expense to beat it. Who wants the aggravation, other than Larry Flynn? The sad truth is that the DAs don’t have to win the case to win. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/89 "2003-10-30T01:49:29Z")
Sure, I have more concrete evidence, **Weirddave** … Though I suspect your mind is already made up. [Senate passes late-term abortion ban](http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/10/22/abortion/index.html) [Statistics about the states and US government [url=http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03\_21/b3834001\_mz001.htm]The New Gender Gap From kindergarten to grad school, boys are becoming the second sex]([http://www.gendergap.com/](http://www.gendergap.com/)) [Gender Gap Widens](http://www.corpwatch.org/news/PND.jsp?articleid=1955) The last link is very partisan, but the statistics are interesting. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2003, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/90 "2003-10-30T01:56:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Weirddave \* > \*\*I have a serious question for you, as a self identified femenist: If what you say above is true, isn’t it just a total cop out? You’re blaming “others” for problems you face. I don’t see a single thing there about you and your choices and actions. If you are a feminist because you believe that it is a way of empowering yourself, isn’t the above just giving all that empowerment away by blaming “the man” for dificulties you face? \*\* Oh, a SNAG, great. If you’re such a hotshot feminist you know that suppression of sexual speech of all kinds has historically been used to keep women “down.” Frex, it used to be that birth control information was suppressed as obscene, in fact, a woman was sentenced to jail and killed herself rather than go to jail for distributing that terribly obscene birth control information. (And it’ll prolly happen again if the Catholics and fundies get their way with the Pubbies in the White House.) Suppression of porn is just another way of keeping sex a hidden secret subject that can’t be discussed openly, and by extension keeping sexual relationships hidden and secret. It really is falling right in line with the historical repression of sexuality and women. Bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/91 "2003-10-30T01:56:27Z")
All I know is that I’m writing smut this week in honor of No Porn week. And I’ve been told I write rather good smut. Lots of it. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/92 "2003-10-30T03:57:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vanilla \* > \*\*Huh. I just went to the American family Association web page earlier and that caught my eye. > > I care not one white for porn myself. > i have a question: a lot has been said about porn causing Ted Bundy’s violence. > Does anyone here agree that his purportedly large porn collection and his own admittance that it warped him was true? \*\* And most alcoholics started out drinking milk. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/93 "2003-10-30T06:56:02Z")
> [@](#): > > All of the examples of “troublesome” speech you gave, while offensive, I can’t see as being anything but perfectly acceptable. Hell, under Canada’s Hate Speech legislation, our own president and cabinet wouldn’t be able to say half the shit that gets said. Actually, I agree with you about hate speech legislation, and especially about the porn thing (now that L’Androgyne is closed, I always shop at Little Sister’s online so I can donate to them). But this bit about “Canada has no free speech provision” kind of gets my back up, so I just wanted to point out exactly what it is we’ve got… even if it’s not always respected. (And there’s some shit I would much rather attempt to say in Canada than the US.) ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/94 "2003-10-30T06:57:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Princhester \* > \*\*i have a question: a lot has been said about porn causing Ted Bundy’s violence. > Does anyone here agree that his purportedly large porn collection and his own admittance that it warped him was true? \*\* I understand that he also owned a stove. _eyes own kitchen with suspicion_ ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/95 "2003-10-30T10:35:45Z")
Hmm, you seem to have mucked up your coding there, somewhat, matt. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2003, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/96 "2003-10-30T12:32:04Z")
It’s a well known fact that serial killers will say any fucking thing they think people want to hear once they’re caught. They’ll even confess to murders they didn’t commit. Taking a serial killer’s statements at face value is stupid. No, scratch that. It’s fucking moronic. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/97 "2003-10-30T13:56:09Z")
Sure, **matt**. I apologize for sounding reactionary. I really considered a minor point, along with all my piddly minor points. What’s the state of pornography up north, anyhow? ---
**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:** [October 30, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/98 "2003-10-30T14:31:45Z")
Who will protect us from the people who wish to protect us from pornography? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/99 "2003-10-30T15:19:12Z")
> [@](#): > > What’s the state of pornography up north, anyhow? Considering how much of it is available at my friendly local smut store and video hut, I don’t think that there is much in the way of restrictions, or enforced restrictions, for it once it’s in the country. You have to be careful getting it _into_ the country, as has been mentioned. Nevertheless, a lot of what’s on sale at Priape is foreign-produced. Interestingly, there was a giant foofaraw a year or two ago when the Supremes ruled that a fellow in B.C. had the right to make and own written and drawn child pornography (i.e. with no actual children involved); they reasoned that since he was creating it himself, it was an artistic work of sorts and was thus protected by free speech provisions. People went nuts, but as far as I know the decision is still in place. (Around the same time, an exhibition in Montreal entitled _Picasso érotique_ featured a painting by Picasso of himself as a twelve-year-old getting a blowjob from an adult woman. Needless to say the Musée de Beaux-Arts was not raided.) It does seem a little odd, of course, that since the age of consent is fourteen, you could actually _have_ sex with an underaged person but not have _pictures_ of having sex with an underaged person. But anyway, trust me when I tell you that regular old porn is in no short supply up here. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135/100 "2003-10-30T15:22:12Z")
And yes, Princhester, I did. I apologize. The quotation in my message above was actually from vanilla, not Princhester. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protection-from-pornography-week-2003/210135.md?page=6)