21 Billion Dollars Can't Be All Wrong
According to Congressman Bart Stupak (D. Mich.) online pornography is a $21 billion industry compared to music downloading which is a paltry $3 billion. Online Pornography and Child Exploitation hearing, June 27, 2006.
Congressman Stupak repeated himself several times: the online adult entertainment industry is seven times the size of online music industry. He appeared chagrinned by these numbers and asked several times whether there was some way to bring those numbers down.
Here's a better question: Why? Why should adult entertainment be blocked at all (leaving aside the issue of what children should or shouldn't be permitted to see).
Think about those numbers for a moment: seven times the size of the online music industry. SEVEN TIMES! I recall a news column some years ago that stated the adult entertainment industry is larger than major league football, baseball, basketball and hockey combined!
What these numbers suggest is that there is a vast silent majority that enjoys pornography.
The problem is that this majority's silence means that this Country's laws concerning pornography are driven almost entirely by the relatively miniscule numbers who are opposed to it in any form.
Congressman Stupak's questions underscore the reality that, as much as Congress might claim to be trying to protect children, the aim is not merely to eliminate kiddie porn and not merely to "protect" children from exploitation, stalkers, etc. - but is really to eliminate porn in its entirety. This is a radical, right-wing, evangelical goal that has nothing to do with protecting children and everything to do with controlling what we are allowed to see, think, hear and do.
The videotape, the DVD, the CD-ROM and the Internet have done much to mainstream the pornography industry. They have eliminated the filthy adult moviehouses of yore. More importantly, they have allowed tens, or hundreds of millions of people to (more or less) openly share their sexual interests and viewpoints with others and to learn that they are not alone and that they are not abnormal for wanting something other than "sex for procreation only" - for wanting to enjoy sexual activity.
This comfort level has spread to allow "mainstream" media to be more open and expressive as well. Television dramas and cable programming explore a wide range of sexual activities and proclivities from bondage and s&m to anal sex, gangabangs and "furries" (indeed, one of the most popular model SUV's sold today has a name synonomous with "felatio").
My point is: So what's wrong with porn? If the industry is growing and expanding it is because it is meeting a basic need . . . a need that seems to be held by more people than those who need major league sports. Okay, maybe children need to be protected from porn. But that should not be used as an excuse for limiting what adults can see.
And really, the point is, if you are part of that majority, it is time you stood up and said so. Donate to the Free Speech Coalition (or at least subscribe to their on-line newsletter, it's free). Drown out the tiny puritanical minority that controls this debate. You've said it to yourself before: "I'd rather my children see a film of two people having sex, than two people killing each other." Now stand up and do something to show you really mean it.
Congressman Stupak repeated himself several times: the online adult entertainment industry is seven times the size of online music industry. He appeared chagrinned by these numbers and asked several times whether there was some way to bring those numbers down.
Here's a better question: Why? Why should adult entertainment be blocked at all (leaving aside the issue of what children should or shouldn't be permitted to see).
Think about those numbers for a moment: seven times the size of the online music industry. SEVEN TIMES! I recall a news column some years ago that stated the adult entertainment industry is larger than major league football, baseball, basketball and hockey combined!
What these numbers suggest is that there is a vast silent majority that enjoys pornography.
The problem is that this majority's silence means that this Country's laws concerning pornography are driven almost entirely by the relatively miniscule numbers who are opposed to it in any form.
Congressman Stupak's questions underscore the reality that, as much as Congress might claim to be trying to protect children, the aim is not merely to eliminate kiddie porn and not merely to "protect" children from exploitation, stalkers, etc. - but is really to eliminate porn in its entirety. This is a radical, right-wing, evangelical goal that has nothing to do with protecting children and everything to do with controlling what we are allowed to see, think, hear and do.
The videotape, the DVD, the CD-ROM and the Internet have done much to mainstream the pornography industry. They have eliminated the filthy adult moviehouses of yore. More importantly, they have allowed tens, or hundreds of millions of people to (more or less) openly share their sexual interests and viewpoints with others and to learn that they are not alone and that they are not abnormal for wanting something other than "sex for procreation only" - for wanting to enjoy sexual activity.
This comfort level has spread to allow "mainstream" media to be more open and expressive as well. Television dramas and cable programming explore a wide range of sexual activities and proclivities from bondage and s&m to anal sex, gangabangs and "furries" (indeed, one of the most popular model SUV's sold today has a name synonomous with "felatio").
My point is: So what's wrong with porn? If the industry is growing and expanding it is because it is meeting a basic need . . . a need that seems to be held by more people than those who need major league sports. Okay, maybe children need to be protected from porn. But that should not be used as an excuse for limiting what adults can see.
And really, the point is, if you are part of that majority, it is time you stood up and said so. Donate to the Free Speech Coalition (or at least subscribe to their on-line newsletter, it's free). Drown out the tiny puritanical minority that controls this debate. You've said it to yourself before: "I'd rather my children see a film of two people having sex, than two people killing each other." Now stand up and do something to show you really mean it.
posted by BuddhistAttorney | 4:54 PM
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