The Numbers Behind Pornography

[britannia]

Marriott hotels do offer "adult movies" for a fee, so I assume they make money out of it. I agree that this horrible degrading business constitutes an appalling assault on human rights and dignity. What is most distressing about it is its increasing normalisation within our culture- you don't have to go looking for it on the internet, it's everywhere.

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='Era Might' date='23 April 2010 - 06:46 PM' timestamp='1272059186' post='2098786']
Pornography is, I think, the logical height of Internet culture. The Internet is an imaginary world where people are divorced from reality...and the same can be said of pornography. It is no wonder that the two imaginary worlds unite into one imaginary world.
[/quote]

The Internet can be an imaginary world divorced from reality. So can real life. You can visit a stripper joint, get tipsy at a dance club, or smoke pot at some dude's place: all "real world" places that offer the opportunity to separate yourself from reality for a while -- or rather, the illusion of being separated from reality. Now, I agree that the illusions are easier and more accessible online, but the Internet remains a tool like anything else. We are still social creatures and this is also reflected in the fact that facebook, youtube, wikipedia, and blogger are among the most popular web sites. I wouldn't count search engines since people use them for everything, including searching for porn, but according to [url="http://www.alexa.com/topsites"]Alexa's data[/url], you have to go all the way down to #39 to find a site dedicated solely to porn.

Yes, the Internet makes porn too easily accessible, but social networking is the most popular online function.


[quote name='USAirwaysIHS' date='24 April 2010 - 04:46 PM' timestamp='1272138399' post='2099321']
I want to know how GM sells porn.
[/quote]

I thought it might be referring to XM Radio, but I'm not sure.

[Era Might]

[quote name='LouisvilleFan' date='28 April 2010 - 01:17 AM' timestamp='1272431863' post='2101436']
The Internet can be an imaginary world divorced from reality. So can real life. You can visit a stripper joint, get tipsy at a dance club, or smoke pot at some dude's place: all "real world" places that offer the opportunity to separate yourself from reality for a while -- or rather, the illusion of being separated from reality. Now, I agree that the illusions are easier and more accessible online, but the Internet remains a tool like anything else. We are still social creatures and this is also reflected in the fact that facebook, youtube, wikipedia, and blogger are among the most popular web sites. I wouldn't count search engines since people use them for everything, including searching for porn, but according to [url="http://www.alexa.com/topsites"]Alexa's data[/url], you have to go all the way down to #39 to find a site dedicated solely to porn.

Yes, the Internet makes porn too easily accessible, but social networking is the most popular online function.[/quote]
In my opinion, the Internet is inherently a world divorced from reality. And I disagree that the Internet can remain just a tool. With a tool (e.g., a hammer) you pick it up when you want, and you put it down and leave it there when you're done. But the Internet does not work that way. The Internet is a "system," and you become absorbed into the system. This is reflected especially in social communication media like Facebook, Twitter, etc. We don't talk face-to-face anymore. We are all becoming computers that "transmit information" to each other. As far as pornography, it functions the same way. It allows a person to feel some kind of sexual connection with the image on the screen, but that is an imaginary connection, and he becomes increasingly separated from real life relationships (even with his spouse).

Edited April 28, 2010 by Era Might

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='Era Might' date='28 April 2010 - 09:55 AM' timestamp='1272459313' post='2101492']
This is reflected especially in social communication media like Facebook, Twitter, etc. We don't talk face-to-face anymore. We are all becoming computers that "transmit information" to each other. As far as pornography, it functions the same way. It allows a person to feel some kind of sexual connection with the image on the screen, but that is an imaginary connection, and he becomes increasingly separated from real life relationships (even with his spouse).
[/quote]

People say that about the Internet, and while some people seem to get absorbed into their little "online world," I haven't seen evidence of society as a whole becoming insulated like that. You say, "we don't talk face-to-face anymore," which isn't the least bit true. Most people use facebook and twitter and online dating sites to make it easier to stay in touch with people and actually see them in real life. I imagine most of us know married couples who met through a dating site, and obviously there are couples who meet through places like phatmass. For that matter, what is the fundamental difference between phatmass and facebook?

The danger I see with the Internet and porn is its accessibility. Unlike an adult store or club, which require leaving your home and physically going somewhere, a person has all that stuff available in their home. When a person's own home is an occasion to sin, that's a dangerous situation. The Internet is like any powerful invention: it can enable a lot of good; it can also enable much evil in ways we couldn't imagine before. And this stuff is just the beginning... for now, porn still requires a certain amount of imagination. In another decade or so, virtual worlds will increasingly live up to the "reality" they seek to emulate. If anyone saw "Avatar," that kind of experience may not be so far fetched. When you think about all the temptations faced by young people in our culture... and then throw in the ability to act on them in a very "real" way... let's be assured the world will need the Church like never before. There are many other looming dangers in technology and science, and to me social tools like facebook at least enable us to promote human dignity since they are socially-oriented.

[Old_Joe]

Found this on [url="http://dvice.com/archives/2010/06/infographic-onl.php"]dvice.com[/url].

[southern california guy]

[quote name='Jesus_lol' date='24 April 2010 - 02:35 PM' timestamp='1272141311' post='2099348']
considering the amount of abuse rampant in mormon communities, it is lived out literally as well.


reminds me of some of the politicians, known for antigay policies, being busted for gay sex scandals recently. the man loudly proclaiming his innocence would be the first i'd suspect...
[/quote]

I lived in Utah for seven years. And I must say that the Mormons sure do a good job of creating a "clean" image. I'd start thinking "It's not really so bad here." , then I'd hear something that really bothered me -- like rumors of "daughter swapping".

My impression was that the Mormon culture and religion were about constant jockeying for power and control. Porn can be a bit of a power trip -- with women submitting to men -- and I think that's why it's so big in Utah.

Edited June 8, 2010 by southern california guy

[southern california guy]

Something else I found out -- after moving back to California -- was where the girls in the porno magazines come from..

A friend showed me a very hardcore porno magazine. And I found it VERY disturbing because I recognized the girl in one of the pictorials. It was her with three guys and it actually bothered me for a couple of weeks. I guess I wanted to keep it purely "fantasy".

I posted on another website about it and somebody explained it to me. She was a model -- with her picture and info on a big internet database. They have them for modeling. Often when these girls don't get a lot of work their manager -- or the magazine themselves -- will suggest that they do some porn. And that is how they get into it..

[southern california guy]

[quote name='southern california guy' date='08 June 2010 - 06:10 AM' timestamp='1275999009' post='2125593']
Something else I found out -- after moving back to California -- was where the girls in the porno magazines come from..

A friend showed me a very hardcore porno magazine. And I found it VERY disturbing because I recognized the girl in one of the pictorials. It was her with three guys and it actually bothered me for a couple of weeks. I guess I wanted to keep it purely "fantasy".

I posted on another website about it and somebody explained it to me. She was a model -- with her picture and info on a big internet database. They have them for modeling. Often when these girls don't get a lot of work their manager -- or the magazine themselves -- will suggest that they do some porn. And that is how they get into it..
[/quote]

Somebody gave me a minus two... Well it is a bit of a disturbing subject This thread is probably as much of a deterrent towards looking at porn as any.

[HisChildForever]

Maybe you received negatives for your

[quote] I guess I wanted to keep it purely "fantasy". [/quote]

line.

[southern california guy]

[quote name='HisChildForever' date='08 June 2010 - 08:18 PM' timestamp='1276049888' post='2126090']
Maybe you received negatives for your



line.
[/quote]

I seem to be having writing trouble recently.. I'm having trouble stating things without being misunderstood.. I was trying to say that porn is "fantasy" -- if you don't personally know the person in the porn -- but if you do know the person than it becomes "real" and disturbing. I suppose that sometimes we forget that there are real people involved -- if that makes any sense??

Is this objectionable too? Help me, I'm not doing too well here.. I try to be smart, but...

Edited June 9, 2010 by southern california guy

[Jesus_lol]

[quote name='southern california guy' date='08 June 2010 - 08:03 PM' timestamp='1276052615' post='2126125']
I seem to be having writing trouble recently.. I'm having trouble stating things without being misunderstood.. I was trying to say that porn is "fantasy" -- if you don't personally know the person in the porn -- but if you do know the person than it becomes "real" and [b][size=4]perhaps even[/b][/size] disturbing. I suppose that sometimes we forget that there are real people involved -- if that makes any sense??

Is this objectionable too? Help me, I'm not doing too well here.. I try to be smart, but...
[/quote]

you might want to remove that part then

[jeffpugh]

Yeah, the perhaps part.

[southern california guy]

I did it!

[Selah]

[quote]Patrice Roldan (aka "Nadia Styles") contracted an STD during her first film. Throughout her career, she would contract other STDs, have an abortion, and become addicted to the following: painkillers, ecstacy, cocaine, muscle relaxants, vicodin, and alcohol. She has been severely abused.[/quote]

She's a Christian now. She left the porn industry in 2008 and her story is really inspiring. She went through a lot of hell and was treated horribly. Many people have no idea how horrid it is. Porn is not glamorous. It kills. It's abusive and objectifies men and women.

Edit: Here's her testimony. Thought it was awesome:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReXkySP9ZZc[/media]

Her Baptism:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LndgCcfm34I&feature=related[/media]

God can do anything

Edited December 9, 2010 by Selah

[Vincent Vega]

(Nitpick, sidenote, and prayer request: That wasn't a baptism, it was a dunk in water. "In Jesus's name" is not a valid formula for a baptism. Pray for her continued conversion so that she might end up in the True Church.)