I missed this post, I should have responded to it earlier.
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Originally Posted by OFKU0
To say in one breath that our society is disconnected from any emotional regard for ourselves or others is a brutally misperceived generalization that quite frankly I think is absurd. And how is it obvious that porn fuels that arguement? Explain that to a couple who have viewed porn to open up their sexual identities, worked out their marriage problems or just learned how to deepen their emotional bond with each other.
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First off, I didn't say "any emotional regard". If you take what I'm saying out of context by elevating it to the highest degree possible, you won't make sense of that or anything else anyone says. Quite simply, people are disconnected from each other. I see it everywhere I go, particularly in the larger urban areas. We cross paths with all kinds of people, and in those crossings we rarely make meaningful connections. Each year we reach all-time highs in the gross numbers of people depressed, as well as the percentage of the population that is depressed. A primary reason that so many people become depressed is a strong feeling of loneliness. I think this is a huge problem in our society, which is caused by several things that I can write about another time.
To specifically address how it is obvious to me that porn fosters alienation:
1) Porn is the commodification of sex. Rather than sex being a act between two people, it has become something that we consume. To commodify sex, then creates a variance of value towards it. Some sex certainly must be better than others, and we all want the "bestest" sex around. Sex is reduced to a performance, an end-goal, and the more spectacular it is in post-modern fashion the better.
2) In the vast majority of porn women are objectified in a negative manner. Derogatory words are used for women, and often times you will see one woman being used by several guys at once which denotes a position of utility. Just as often is the scenario of one man being serviced by several women. Rather than this emphasizing the utility of the man, it actually emphasizes the power difference between men and women. The male orgasm has become the ultimate goal of sex. Seeing these images again and again on a individual level forces someone to either actively reject these roles that we are bombarded with, or passively accept them to some degree. On a cultural level, the collective experience of porn seems to be seeping more and more in the mainstream consciousness. Sexual images on TV are increasing. Children are wearing more provocative clothes, having sex on average at younger ages, and are having difficulty with the nuance of sexuality because it is being reduced to these power-roles and the model of capitalistic consumption.
3) Porn encourages the division of mind and body. As a viewer of sex, you cannot help but be disconnected. We are disconnected from everything we view on television. It is the nature of mediation. Porn specifically addresses our sexuality, and by seeing the repeated images of people having sex to an audience, we are prone to seeing sex as a something of little meaning. Watching porn is a disconnected experience because it is only dealing with our visual and auditory sensory systems. We see people having sex. We hear people having sex. And we sit there staring at a screen thinking about it, possibly getting aroused. Where in this scenario is action? Where is the emotional connection? Sex is reduced to something of the mind. Purely Apollonian.
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And again, how can you identify what respect is or means to those who view porn for any reason. Because some psychologist said so? "Looking at porn as a cause or a symptom is irrelevant, because it is a mutually enforcing variable." If it is irrelevent, what then is the enforcing variable? Does this mean that couples who view porn (as a cause) to better themselves for their personal purposes are going to turn into disrespecting individuals or sex monsters (sympton)? That's another absurdity of monumental proportion.
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Couples who view porn to better their personal purposes may well be able to avoid most of the negative aspects that can be associated with pornography. To do this successfully, the personal filters of the couples must be strong and the selection of porn materials should be carefully chosen. Moderation would be key and remembering that the primary focus of sex should be connection rather than performance would be most necessary. The concept of using porn as a tool worries me because it has the strong potential of adopting the consumption viewpoint and reducing the couple to actors performing rather than creating more intimacy.
As for the problem you have with my phrase "mutually enforcing variable" you must think of Foucault's understanding of society. Rather than society merely being hierarchical, everything in society enforces something. For instance, there are hundreds of beer commercials. Your friends drink beer. Your parents drink beer. You end up drinking beer - why? Is it because of the commercials? your friends? your parents? Foucault and I would say that it is the structure of society with all of those things present that lead to you drinking beer.
To be clear, I'm not saying that porn is 100% bad, but I think that there are a lot of problems that can be associated with it.
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Ted Bundy is an excellent example for your conclusions since he admitted that porn fuelled his desire to murder women. It wasn't the only factor though, his mother was to blame, due to her haughty ways. That's not my opinion, that's what he also said. Are there levels of little or no respect for those in the porn industry and those who subscribe to it? Absolutely. But to paint all with the same brush is reckless and gives the already questionable field of pshycology an even worse name.
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I'm not sure what you're getting at here and how that applies to what I've said. You mention respect and psychology so I imagine it has to do with the concept of separation between mind and body which I've referred to. Ted Bundy is a classic example of alienation to an extreme. He couldn't foster the emotional connections within himself and others to realize that what he was doing was wrong. If you're suggesting that I'm saying that all people who view porn are as messed up as Ted Bundy, then you are mistaken.
Additionally, I was talking about shutting off emotions to have sex with people "just for fun". I don't think that having sex "just for fun" pays much respect to the person you're having sex with, yourself, and the act of metaphorically entering another or being entered by another because of the way humans are. Porn is a different issue, I see the process of viewing porn more as a mind-numbing and divisive event rather than one in which respect is an issue. Certainly, those in the porn seem to have very little respect for each other, and that can be problematic. But from the surveyor's perspective, that can be a little different.