Posts by MMMM

The freakonomics of smut: Does it actually cause rape?

Open Porn - Reply to a few people!

Anonymous Coward

ShaunHW

Vladimir P

Graham Marsden

And one or two others

Thanks for all of your comments and feedback to my original posting. Having witnessed (indirectly) the effects of Rape and sexual violence on way too many an occasion it's safe to say that my analysis comes from the negative side of life.

Rape and its effects are really difficult to quantify, causing problems for both my arguments, but for those of Professor D'Amato as well.

So here's a quick suggestion. Porn in the modern world is becoming more and more a form of digital media. Should we take inspiration from the Open Source world and issue porn under a creative commons licence for example? There are many who would say that Open Source technology is just as good if not better than paid-for code. Likewise, I'm sure you're all fully aware that much of the porn you can buy is complete rubbish.

Any votes for Open Porn? Free of charge, voluntary contributions (from both sides of the fence, producer and consumer), and a code of ethics to boot (it sure gives a bit of zing to "Be Considerate, Be Respectful, be Collaborative).

Reply to Vladimir

And you're quite content to ignore the base case. Speaks volumes for you.

Go look up on sex trafficking - I'm not going to do all the work for you.

Reply to shaunhw

When you watch porn, there's currently very little means of knowing who is or isn't forced into performing for the consumer. You can argue the same thing about sweeping roads, but I'm pretty sure there's a bit more dignity in being forced to sweep a road in order to put food on your table, than there is in effectively being raped for a video camera.

Read up on pornography in sex-trafficking. I'm not being sanctimonious and self-righteous - perhaps I'm simply asking people to think a little more before they buy.

You're speaking of choice and I'm speaking of lack of it. Professor D'Amato's study just ignores it completely and that's particularly dangerous. Did he even stop to think how quickly his porn might reduce Rape study might be leaped upon by all those too keen to look at porn and too lazy to look at the subject of Rape?

Reply to Graham Marsden

Just read up on Sex Trafficking please (even just a definition firstly). Feminists Against Censorship is hardly relevant to what I've said, that's about freedom of expression - I'm sure they're against Sex Trafficking too.

Forcing women to perform for porn production is rape. I'm sure Professor D'Amato's study is scientific, but so was much of the work at Auchwitz. It's also just a 6 page report, hardly the stuff of an intellectual heavyweight.

Porn comes from many sources, some of them acceptable some of them not acceptable. Professor D'Amato's correlation is just that - a correlation, he will always struggle to draw a direct causal relationship.

****Encouraging the growth of industry where a substantial portion of the content comes from dubious unregulated sources (i.e. the sources need to be regulated, perhaps the content is just a matter of taste), many of whom have been charged with forcing sexual labour, is hardly the act of a responsible academic****

Your cite your sources well my friend, but you're more interested in attacking me than you are in having a serious debate. Look up on Sex Trafficking please. Women forced into pornography is Rape. There are tonnes of facts out there - go on, just type it into Google, it's not much effort to look.

Change the rules of engagement?

Link means Link, Cause means Cause and Equality (a term I suspect you don't fully understand) means Equality. Screwing around with the language is time honoured tactic of the lazy mind who can't be bothered even exposing himself to the facts to win an argument

The main thing I've implied is that many involved in the porn industry are the same people involved in prostitution and sex trafficking. So the next time you amuse yourself in the privacy of your own home, maybe you might just remember to ask yourself whether you *know* that the woman on the screen in front of you had a choice (private, social, political or economical) to record her exposure to you.

Given your lack of intellectual curiosity displayed to date, I somehow suspect you believe that a fair portion of the good money you paid for your latest "fun" DVD actually went to paying her. Sorry, I should correct myself, I'm giving you too much credit - you probably haven't even thought of this.

Reply to Anonymous Coward

Thanks for your openness. I absolutely believe your first paragraph, though I wonder for how long you actually met these women and how well actually know them and the insecurities they face. Furthermore, though I must admit that while the last line of your second paragraph might be the truth, you're probably not the norm.

Many women/girls (perhaps a majority?) are simply forced into the sex industry, the point being that they didn't get the chance to "consider" their career move in the first place.

Read my posting properly please

I did not equate porn and prostitution, I simply stated there are well proven links between the two - try typing the phrase "sex-trafficking" into google, that will help you since you're obviously too lazy to read the wikipedia article I put in my original text. If you want to call something specious and unfounded, back it up with some proof.

As it is, I happen to be in agreement with appropriate legislation and regulation of sex industries - but that was not the point of my article.

Researcher missed the point, Porn does cause Rape

A psychology professor once told our class that sometime in the 1970's there was equal increase in the in-migration of Storks and babies born in Wales.

Professor D'Amato has completely missed the point. Is that because he's a man who has never read a page of feminist literature? Porn is very often Rape, and if the industry is growing then it's safe to say that it begets even more Rape.

Before any of you guys out there react too severely please consider the following wikipedia article concerning the highly "celebrated" porn movie Deepthroat:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Lovelace

If that piques your curiosity a bit then I suggest you read the book "Pornography" by Andrea Dworkin. It will shock you, but speaking as a male I guarantee that you won't be able to put it down.

We need to understand what the Porn industry is before we judge its effect upon Rape. Professor D'Amato's study is superficial and inhuman. For example, the links between porn and prostitution are well established as are the links between peddlers of porn and snuff films.

I'm going to make the random assumption that most people who read these articles are men (based on the fact that only 25% of employed IT staff are women). So guys, please go get the real facts which lead to an understanding of the porn industry itself - being content just to consume without question isn't good enough. Rape is a sick subject, before you seek to comment on it learn about how it happens and learn to be repulsed by it.

Ask yourselves some difficult questions. Do you believe there are any little girls out there who dream of being prostitutes or porn stars? Secondly, would you be happy with your own little girl ending up as a prostitute or porn star? There's much proof to suggest that young girls/women are forced into these roles (through drugs, threats etc) and that you as a responsible parent will not be able do anything directly against it until it is too late.

For El Reg itself, would you have the courage to launch a campaign against the abuse of women online?

Wake up, Linux hippies: No one 'morally obligated' to give back

Poor/Damaging and narrow-minded analysis from an Open Source Advocate

While most of your article has merit, the title undermines the very ethos of Open Source i.e. community. While perhaps no single individual should be morally obliged to "give back", society as a whole has a rather large interest in keeping Open Source thriving.

Large portions of the internet and many a government infrastructure (including their legislatures and judiciaries) run on Open Source. Public code is the only proven way to ensure that the systems which play an ever-growing role in governing our lives remain open to inspection. The title of your article is a pathetic fop to private interests and a narrow interpretation of Mr. Torvald's comments.

So Mr. Asay, rather than suggesting that you vote for the left, I simply suggest that you put a little more thought into your news-making headlines.