Back in November, I summarized or reprinted in whole the five letters to the editor that Metro New York printed in response to my article calling for more, but better quality, porn. One of those letters was from a bloke named Steve Holt. Well, Steve has a Christian blog, Harvest Boston. And he blogged that my column disturbed him so much that he felt compelled to write his letter to the editor. This led to a many, many comments involving scriptural quoting and debating. Mostly, I found this debate tedious, and yet it amused me that it happened because of little old me.
Yet some things never change. On her [now defunct] MySpace blog, [Anonymous Former Blogger] says some very nasty things about me. Here's a favorite line of vitriol: "Save your Gender Studies dissertation paper for your collegiates instead of the Metro, because the truth of the matter is that we would like a reform in pornography as much as anyone." Not that I ever argued that other feminist who are against porn are frigid bitches or anything, but I can see how my little essay touched a raw clit, I mean, nerve. People sure read a lot of their own issues between the lines.
There I go, pissing off feminists and Christians alike. It's sort of delightful what strange bedfellows they make. Wouldn't that be a hot porn movie plot - scripture-spouting Christian and scripture-spouting feminist meet at an anti-porn rally, can't deny their chemistry, and have passionate sex?
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At least you got people talking about the subject.
ReplyDeleteI see a day when young men can get their porn stashes out from under the mattress and finally have a non lumpy sleep, ha,ha..
You are like Mike Meyers' Linda Richman on Coffee Talk from SNL. You gie people things to discuss (a peanut is neither a pea nor a nut) and then move on. The world needs people like you to get them out of their rut.
ReplyDeleteOh, I would SO watch porn with that plot.
ReplyDeleteChristians and feminists! That sounds hot. I'd watch it. Of all the Christians and feminists I know they're pretty uptight. They need some unwinding! Thanks for the good laugh.
ReplyDeleteJust read Harvest Boston's post/comments...first, he's never had a long term sexual relationship. Otherwise he'd know how boring a sex life can get if you don't experiment...and second...he sounds boring. He needs a good Jenna Jameson (sp?) fuck.
ReplyDeleteI've never agreed with the porn industry and how porn stars and sex workers make more than teachers or social workers but everyone needs a good quick release sometimes.
I'm flattered! You shouldn't have ... no, really!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, though, I have had one long-term sexual relationship, and that with my wife of two years. Thanks for playing, though.
Second, I've been called a lot of things in my life, but never boring. I'd like to think I'm a pretty fun guy. My co-workers and friends seem to think so. Sometimes my energy overwhelmes my wife, but that's another story ...
Third, I really, really tried to not have the blog conversation turn into a scripture-spewing fest, but alas, we had an unexpected visit from a fundamentalist. And so it goes. The letter, if you noticed, contained not a one chapter or verse, as I still hold to the premise that arguments against porn can be made from sociological/psychological/biological grounds (not solely theological).
I do cherish the fact that we can dialogue about such topics in a civil manner. (In fact, it seems those of us who are united against porn have been arguing more than those who disagree) I, too, look forward to a day when sex is not painted by the Christian community as "dirty" or "wrong," but as a gift that affords many exciting freedoms within marriage. So I think Suzanne and I have the same vision in mind, but our methods of getting there vary slightly :)
Thanks for the link to my blog, by the way.
suzanne,
ReplyDeletesteve sent me the link to this post and then from here i found the link on the right to the article that you wrote. your piece was incredibly interesting - and i wish it could have been a larger part of the discussion on harvest boston - but alas, that's not my blog so i can't call the shots.
i hope you will take steve seriously when he says that the whole discussion was completely derailed by a psycho christian fundamentalist who truly represented the worst aspects of that sector. in fact, i don't think a single one of us was able to discuss your letter in a productive manner because we were bombarded by bible bombs from someone who was promoting their own agenda.
aside from that however, i think you raised several interesting points about women and their sexuality - especially the need for women to feel free sexually and to embrace sex as an acceptable form of expression. i wonder however, completely aside from any sort of morality argument, if porn is the best avenue to accomplish this. my own sexual hang-ups and those of many of my friends were the result of education - both public and religious. my opinion may be skewed because i never turned to porn for healing, but instead found, as you pointed out in the end of your piece, that open and honest communication allowed me to embrace that side of myself. and so, i wonder, perhaps if education might be a better avenue...
thanks for promoting dialogue,
kelly
Suzanne,
ReplyDeleteIf you thought that was mean, just think: I could have said something about your resemblance to Harry Potter. OH, SNAP.
But seriously. The truth of the matter is that this topic and more specifically your view on it is so boringly unoriginal that it feels more like an essay produced by a freshman at Smith than an actual adult writing in to an actual paper (I use the word 'actual' loosely as it is, afterall, the Metro.) Personally, I'm pretty tired of the whole porn debate among feminists such as ourselves because I don't understand why we can't just agree that life would be so much better once men stopped hating us and we stopped hating ourselves, and the last time I checked, mainstream porn cashed in both those tickets. Even beyond the feminist debate, any thinking human being with two brain cells to rub together can see that porn typically is the most lamely produced, shoddily created, unoriginal garbage ever. And if I can get really personal with you, how is it that you, dare I say the complete antithesis of what women in porn look like, are so accepting of its portrayal of women? I'd be happy seeing women in porn with their real fingernails, let alone with actual pubic hair left, real breasts, and actual skin tones found in nature.
Best Regards,
Carmel