I just keep thinking how porn, other media are not leading us in a good direction.

[LiberalLoner]

http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/155951/models_with_black_eyes%2C_split_lips_and_slit_throats_fashion_hits_new%2C_sexist_low/

I know many want to silence our voices, but I know that many of us see the same thing and are worried.

I keep thinking, this is part of the fascism that is overwhelming us, it is well known that fascism brings sexism and misogyny but it's getting so bad lately, really frightens me as a woman. I am frightened too for the young women coming after us.

[seabeyond]

1. fascism brings sexism and misogyny

i use to argue that this is what i was seeing in the early 2000's. i had forgotten that, since in my mind we are well past this. i was speaking otu about this when we were just getting on a roll.

thank you for the reminder. you are right.

i will read the article later and comment later.

[MADem]

2. I haven't seen any porn in many decades--it used to be everywhere, in the theaters, on the store

magazine shelves, etc. It came out of the shadows in the seventies, when "X Rated" films were viewed as a sort of "liberating" art form, and people who acted in porn films were granted "star" status and interviewed with their clothes on; and in the eighties, when video tape came out and the product could be brought home instead of partaken of in a stinky theater.

Now, apparently, it is online, and you have to seek it out and pay for it with a credit card.

Why all the talk, all of a sudden, about porn, like it is skulking around every corner, preparing to leap out from behind a tree and grab us by the ankles?

DU seems to do this every so often...beat a subject to death, and then have a period of quiet, and then beat another subject to death.

I travel all around the Bay State, through the streets of Boston, to other cities in the US as well, overseas...and I never see any "porn" that I can't easily avoid. If you are in the hotel, you could buy it for an asinine price if you wanted it--but that requires parting with cash, and even if I were interested in it, I am parsimonious. I don't see it in the streets, I don't see it on my TV (I see it offered up in the very high-number channels, but I have never viewed it because I have no interest in it and it's absurdly expensive), I don't even get any junk email about it--I suppose if I clicked on a few of those links in my junk mail I might get on a list, but I don't do that so I don't have any trouble.

I just don't understand the latest flogging of this topic. It's something that is EASILY avoided. If one doesn't like it, don't seek it out--and one does have to seek it out. WHY is this the overarching multi-thread topic, this time, yet again? Why not just link to the old threads on this subject and move on to...oh...say...things that are important, like the Presidential election? Or the Supreme Court?

I really do wonder about agendas, I must say. That's a personal opinion. People are, of course, free to post as they'd like, and I DO know how to hide a thread!

Of course, the more people talk about PORN PORN PORN, the more the Google Ad-Bot will think the DU denizens LIKE that sort of thing.
The people without stars might soon be treated to pictures of half-clad individuals in soon-to-be-compromising positions...and then, the people flogging the "Porn is everywhere and is going to KILL US ALL" crowd will be able to point, huff, and say "SEE? I toldja!!! I toldja!!!"

[seabeyond]

3. "you have to seek it out and pay for it with a credit card." that would be incorrect, by far.

and that is about as far as i will go, addressing your post.

[LiberalLoner]

4. It's hard to avoid a culture that you are swimming in.

I grew up being raped, starting from the age of five, because "that's what girls are for, and that's what men do to girls."

I grew up awake all night after each rape session, in too much pain to sleep.

I grew to be a loner, convinced that there was something dirty about me that caused the abuse. To this day, my abusers don't feel any shame, that I can see. But I do. I feel shame for being born female.

I was raped when I served in the Army, by a fellow Officer I was foolish enough to trust. More trauma.

On dates, I have had men force anal sex on me when I was not prepared for it, cum in my eyes on purpose before I could jerk away, and I can't even describe how many times I've heard, "don't be a pussy" or "she probably liked it" when men speak of rape, even rape of children.

It's everywhere. I can't avoid the culture I live in.

I am not offended or frightened by sex or naked people.

I am offended by and frightened of rape and abuse and a culture that seems to condone it and celebrate it in some types of porn and some advertising (like the link that talks about models sporting black eyes, split lips as "fashion.&quot

And this is the last I will speak with you about this issue.

[seabeyond]

5. someone said the issue with porn is people having issue with see sex. my reply

"and many of us have a problem with it because of the degradation and dehumanizing of women

and the effect on all society. which has NOTHING to do with the sex"

they dont get it and refuse to hear it regardless of how often it is repeated, because it does not fit within their box to argue.... LEAVE MY PORN ALONE.

woman.... we need to sit down and chat about the tells a man gives off so you do not trust this man anymore. there are a zillion times more good men out there than otherwise. i have said in the past and will repeat. ALL my life i have been around men and boy way more than women and girls. i am to this day. ALL my life i have been around men and boys that have strong, good character.

i dont know that i have ever allowed a man in my life that was otherwise. not that i can remember.

the point is, when you lived what you did young, it does something that makes it tough to tell. i had everything given to me, that made the tell easy.

i didnt call my father this fathers day. i forgot. this morning i was thinking, after a couple days listening to men, i need to call him ad invite him for dinner and say, happy fathers day. and let me tell you what you gave me, by being who you are. the best gift a father can ever give a daughter. to this day, what my father has given me, has allowed me to have a much easier life in so many ways, i cannot even tell you them all.

you are a special woman liberal. and always a part here loner,

[LiberalLoner]

6. Thank you so much, you are someone I really look up to here! :)

I have such a good, non-abusive husband. We have used erotica over the years, so I'm no prude, in spite of what the guys on DU seem to believe, but have stopped using porn in recent years because DH and I are both sickened by how violent it's become. It's no longer a turn-on. It turns BOTH of us off to see women being hit, choked, spit on, etc. And I really have to wonder about the men for whom it is a turn-on.

Yup, you are right, they refuse to even acknowledge the linking of sex and violence in some porn. Refuse to even engage us on that topic, simply tell us that we are not being "rational" and that we are too defensive, too sensitive, "throwing tantrums," whatever.

I am glad you had a good father!

I went into intensive counseling and learned much better how to defend myself. I'm no longer the victim I once was, and that is a big part of what makes me such a fighter here.

I've learned those "tells" too....I'm thinking we should pass along those tips to younger women in our lives...I think they really need the help these days.

[seabeyond]

7. that is a very good idea. dont let me forget. i think that would be an excellent subject

now, i am reading a book. either you gather, or i will another day. do NOT let me forget. good idea.

hey, the thing. i have had it easy. so it is easy for me. talk about admire, is those that did not have it easy and overcame. THAT is something to admire.