Maybe this is why I like Disneyworld so much...

Let's talk, briefly, about porn. I don't have time right now for a full long post on the topic, so I'll say this: I am, generally speaking, pro-porn. Partially this is because I do not believe that any medium, art form or genre can be inherently without merit. (The "fuck TV" crowd needs to watch Six Feet Under, stat.) It's partially because I understand why the average person would find porn appealing. I mean, people having sex. Makes sense to me. And it's partially because I find porn appealing every now and then. (See: the part about how porn is people having sex.) But there are also excellent arguments AGAINST porn that I often have trouble totally refuting.

On Nerve right know there's a great essay by Shalom Auslander about the porn of his youth (and how it interacted with his Ortohodox upbringing) as compared to the porn of today. His description of the porn he first came to know and love is one of the best arguments in favor of porn I've read:

"… the fantasy world of pornography seemed like a parallel, if gooey, version of the Garden of Eden my rabbis had just described to me. Legs were eternally spread, bodies were proudly exposed, heads were thrown back in ecstasy. In porno there was no guilt, no shame, no fear, no anger. Black people fucked white people, white people fucked black people, men fucked women, women fucked women, and, in a magazine named Blueboy, buried at the very bottom of the pile, men even fucked men...With inspiring abandon, women lavished attention and in turn were lavished upon, and men spilled their seed on the floor and the chair and the couch and the bellies and the backs and the faces and the lips without fear of retribution... do what you want, the leaders of Pornoland declared, but judge not, scorn not, worry not. Paradise. Perhaps this had been Walt Disney's idea when he created Disneyland — a place, first and foremost, free of anger."

He then recounts his discovery of the modern porn that includes things like "choke-fucking" and other delightful and violent things that he wouldn't want to imagine (much less see) a person going through. Now, I'm certainly not opposed to S&M porn and whatnot, I'm no Vanilla Lobbyist, but there is definitely a spectrum and this far end of the spectrum, which is becoming more mainstream, is definitely disturbing.

So. I like the essay because it nicely (and experientially, my favorite!) sums up two opposing sides of the argument, and reminds us that "pornography" can mean a lot of things. Have a read (it's short), and let me know where you stand.