Are You Enjoying It?
By far, Lecture 24 has been one of my favorites. It basically talks about everything that I've ever thought about porn, the opinions that I've had and the ones that the students had in that class as well. It's amazing to think about how far this society has come to accepting porn as something that has become more of a passtime than it is a taboo. Society, in general, is now more openminded to pornography when compared to decades in the past where it had been viewed as a private, almost embarressing form of entertainment that no one spoke of, or for the most part even studied.
The "pornification" of the media today proves that people are becoming more daring in what they like to do and are more comfortable in how they like to express themselves. Like stated in the lecture, when sex-tapes first came out celebrities were embarressed to admit that they were a part of that or that they were even affiliated with that sort of practice. Sex videos, like that of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee's, were considered as illegal footage of privacy that was meant to be kept for personal use. The legal battles that resulted from the release of this tape was made for both partners to ensure that their reputation would not be ruined because of something like this. However in modern day times, sex tapes, like that of Paris Hilton, are seen as a cheap way to increase one's popularity throughout the country, leaving nothing left to the imagination. When Paris' tape came out it was her family who appeared to be most affected by this while she just seemed to smile and shrug it off as a publicity stunt. What message does this type of acceptance send to younger generations? One where it's ok to do "dirty" things just to get yourself ahead and in the ever infamous business of Hollywood.
It's pitiful when generations after us will soon be exposed to this type for reasoning when we grew up learning that anything that happens between two peopl, stays between two people. I remember being a pre-teen looking through magazines wanting to be like and look like the models on the pages before me. What will future generations idolize? Porn stars who have big assets and are able to willing flaut their "stuff" to impress those who are watching? Imagine living in a generation of young teens who are walking around wearing skimpy clothing to attract the opposite sex for nothing more than just a "fling" or having sexual relations with that person. Nevermind, we're almost already there now.
