On The Third Hand

Wednesday, 13 Feb 2002

Porn Again [permalink]

I'm afraid I just can't resist some things, the above title being an example. Especially after what Natalije said.

That said, more new people jumped in today or yesterday.

Richard Bennett has a few comments on pornography's good points. Some of them are not what you might imagine.Especially the last paragraph.

The No Watermelons blog disagrees with the analogy of 'sex to eating' that Natalije and I have been using, and instead wants to compare it to another bodily function. I think he's hit on the difference between sides in this discussion. Some of us see sex as dirty, some don't. He also takes on the subject of children being exposed to explicit sex, (and is a bit explicit in his example). I couldn't answer that one any better than David Janes (of Ranting and Roaring) did in the forum here (second post).

Eve Tushnet has some good points to make also, and the men who have been arguing against will doubtless be happy to see a woman on their side. I will make one comment on her main point (last paragraph), in which she linked to a book review on Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth. I haven't read the book, but it seems to be a novel whose (anti-hero) protagonist indulges every sexual urge he has (obsessively). She says: "If sex were just another leisure activity, somewhere between horseback riding and scratching an itch, that book would be simply incomprehensible." I agree, but Natalije and I were not relegating it quite to that lack of importance -- we have been comparing it to eating. I think one could write a similar book about someone who indulges himself in tasting everything -- including taboo foods -- and overindulging in food. Gluttony, after all, is right up there with lust as one of the "seven deadly sins".

Ben Sheriff of Layman's logic is (probably wisely) ignoring the porn wars, but in response to some of Tim Blair's writings, points to a site of Saudi porn. [Disclaimer: he hasn't gone to it, and neither have I] I blogged that one just because I found the idea of Saudi porn to be a tad amusing. Also to keep Ben from getting to the top of googles for the phrase. ;-)

I'm officially now going to stop posting on this subject. I'm going to be two days catching up on the e-mails I've already got. Anyone wanting to continue discussion with me, feel free to drop by the forum -- you may post without joining; but if you do, please sign with some sort of nickname so we know which anonymous is which.
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