Porn and values
February 22nd 2007 00:21
Wrote this one about a year and a half ago. Do see a whole lot of faults with it, but it's linked to some other topics I'm working on...
Porn corrodes taboos, but most of the male audiences that watches porn does have taboos about sex. To put it another way: if nasty is no longer nasty, then to some extent it's no longer fun.
But the effect of being beholden to taboos is not simply arousal. There is also an ethical fascination. Part of why porn is interesting is that both actors and characters (and the porn-watcher does think about both) are apparently free of inhibition. These are worlds, real and fantasy, where people have different beliefs and values.
Any movie-watching or book-reading has an ethical dimension. "What if my life were like that," you think to yourself, "what if I acted like these people act?"…
Now, there's at least two senses to "value". Chocolate is highly valuable; people enjoy it a great deal, etc. So this is value as usefulness. A hammer is highly valuable to a construction worker. -- But there is also value like a mink coat is valuable. Value like a Monet is valuable. Things you treasure or worship, and take care of, and rarely bring out in public. And they're valued not because of their usefulness, but either in themselves -- they are intrinsically valuable -- or for some reason like the difficulty of acquiring them or their rarity.
In the porn world, there is an odd sensation, firstly, of retreat of values. Sex was once like a Monet, and now becomes more like chocolate. Sex is unrespected, casual, valueless in the second sense, although, paradoxically, more valuable in the first sense (the pleasure of sex is greater -- actors moan in fake ecstasy).
But, secondly, there is the sensation that value falls back only to latch elsewhere. In particular, it doesn't disappear from the actors' world. As a director, you still care about the actors' welfare, you're concerned that they're having a good time, etc. In behind-the-scenes footage people communicate and respect each others' comfort and choices exactly as they do in any other context. The blandness of interaction is striking. It's just a job.
This experience of retreat-but-latching is also obtainable from learning about the actors' personal lives. On seeing documentaries, reading interviews, you'll note, for instance, that they do care about sex after all -- it's okay for me to have sex at work, but, no, it's not okay for you to sleep around. Or, if they don't care about sex, then, often, as in any open relationship, what it's obvious that they do value are things like connection and care. It might even be that the devaluing of sex leads to increased valuing of connection and care.
There is a sensation of hope in this. It's as if the apparently bottomless nihilist pit doesn't go on for ever. The retreat, the falling back, stops somewhere. There is a ground of values. There is a base that means something to these people.
The experience is similar to emerging from the world of a novel, and falling back, not knowing what to believe or what values to hold, but having the habits and power realities of the real world to catch you and latch onto.
***
Porn corrodes taboos, but most of the male audiences that watches porn does have taboos about sex. To put it another way: if nasty is no longer nasty, then to some extent it's no longer fun.
But the effect of being beholden to taboos is not simply arousal. There is also an ethical fascination. Part of why porn is interesting is that both actors and characters (and the porn-watcher does think about both) are apparently free of inhibition. These are worlds, real and fantasy, where people have different beliefs and values.
Any movie-watching or book-reading has an ethical dimension. "What if my life were like that," you think to yourself, "what if I acted like these people act?"…
Now, there's at least two senses to "value". Chocolate is highly valuable; people enjoy it a great deal, etc. So this is value as usefulness. A hammer is highly valuable to a construction worker. -- But there is also value like a mink coat is valuable. Value like a Monet is valuable. Things you treasure or worship, and take care of, and rarely bring out in public. And they're valued not because of their usefulness, but either in themselves -- they are intrinsically valuable -- or for some reason like the difficulty of acquiring them or their rarity.
In the porn world, there is an odd sensation, firstly, of retreat of values. Sex was once like a Monet, and now becomes more like chocolate. Sex is unrespected, casual, valueless in the second sense, although, paradoxically, more valuable in the first sense (the pleasure of sex is greater -- actors moan in fake ecstasy).
But, secondly, there is the sensation that value falls back only to latch elsewhere. In particular, it doesn't disappear from the actors' world. As a director, you still care about the actors' welfare, you're concerned that they're having a good time, etc. In behind-the-scenes footage people communicate and respect each others' comfort and choices exactly as they do in any other context. The blandness of interaction is striking. It's just a job.
This experience of retreat-but-latching is also obtainable from learning about the actors' personal lives. On seeing documentaries, reading interviews, you'll note, for instance, that they do care about sex after all -- it's okay for me to have sex at work, but, no, it's not okay for you to sleep around. Or, if they don't care about sex, then, often, as in any open relationship, what it's obvious that they do value are things like connection and care. It might even be that the devaluing of sex leads to increased valuing of connection and care.
There is a sensation of hope in this. It's as if the apparently bottomless nihilist pit doesn't go on for ever. The retreat, the falling back, stops somewhere. There is a ground of values. There is a base that means something to these people.
The experience is similar to emerging from the world of a novel, and falling back, not knowing what to believe or what values to hold, but having the habits and power realities of the real world to catch you and latch onto.
| 117 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Damo
Have to think about this one.
"It might even be that the devaluing of sex leads to increased valuing of connection and care."
Sounds a little suspicious.
Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
If you have a lot of money, money isn't that valuable to you.
If you have a lot of water, you take it for granted.
Think of some rockstar who can basically have all the sex he wants. Now, why would he ever marry anyone?
Isn't there a sense in which sexual freedom frees you up to dream of other things than sex?
Comment by David
The real problem? The real dilemma? ... I don't know what it is you're trying to write, but I'll take a stab in the dark ...
It's actually tied up with language.
And two words that have crept into modern usage.
One is sex.
The other is love.
If a person substitutes 'love-making' for sex, and considers 'love-making' as a total engagement of both body and soul (mind) then sex itself becomes quite 'distasteful' apart from its frustration-release value ...
Love as a word? I don't mind it ... as in I'll say to a woman, "I love you' ... but the word 'Charity'? ... I much prefer it ... because to me the word charity encompasses 'self-sacrificial love' ... and that's the essence of love-making ... as in, thinking about pleasing your partner ... the other person you profess to 'Love' not just getting your rocks off without thinking what it takes to make a woman orgasm ... (that's the stuff of Escort Agencies ... you're paying the whore ... so there's no guilt attached ... (but with a woman you love? ... You'd better feel guilty fella ... if you haven't spent one second of your life studying the female form, the female mind ... and the beauty of a woman ... it's time you did a little bit of homework on human nature and the distinction between male (blow in my pants, premature ejaculation) nature, and female (if a man isn't going to satisy me, I'm buying a vibe) nature ... It's all pretty simple really ... but everyone in life is so concerned with the secondary issues of life ... they've missed the primary ones ... and so they try to satisfy themselves with financial-consumerism .. and why? ... it's because love has no values ...no boundaries ... no peripheries ... love is a sort of infinite thing ... you can't put a value on it ... it's priceless ... it's a treasure of inestimable worth ... and the only other object in life that comes close? Money ... Why? ... well it's sort of infinite in a sense (even though it is finite ... and nowhere near as infinite as love) ... but in an analagous sense ... who doesn't dream of having an infinite amount of money ??? and so people in life ... and to me? we were created to love ... and created for infinite love ... and so if we turn away from love itself? ... we seek a substitute ... and although people have intelligence ... they are not wise ... (huge distinction here) ... they seek something comparable to love ... something that has some sense of the infinite ... and 99.9% of them? They all choose money ... (okay, add power into the mix then ) ... and so people trade the infinite for the finite and convince (deceive) themselves they are one and the same thing ... I say let the ignornat fucks drown in their own ignorance ... You can't educate stupid ... even via a blog ... Hence ... I usually don't bother with anything much of an apologetical, philosophical or theological nature but your Blog at least poses questions that are worthwhile thinking about (as does Damo) ... but to educate people really and truly in life? ... Faith comes through hearing (or reading) ... but charity (what the modernists call love) comes through doing ... Hence? I write dribbly shit to entertain people and underlay it (subtextually) with all of my philosophy and theology ... but I do enjoy every now and again indulging in apologetic and giving my brain a serious work out ...
That's pretty much it ... I could write a thesis length comment on this ... but I won't ... It's already too long for a comment ... but you'll speed read the fucker anyway ... ***
David ...
Comment by Damo
Porn and Intimacy are seperate issues under the same subset. Porn is commercialized Intimacy. I would go so far as to suggest that many people watch porn in exchange for real intimacy. They crave intimacy but cannot satisfy the urge at the time and so resort to desperate measures. Commercial interests know about these desires from countless surveys and psychological studies and provide the quick fix.
D H Lawrence considered that puritan movements only gained momentum after VD spread across half of Europe and has effected the world since. Older writings seem not to have the same fear of mentioning sex. Henry V111 mentioned his unmentionable problem openly.
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Comment by Francis
Passionate Apathy
Everyone has their kinks and fetishes (and if you are one of the unfortunate few without, I have a few dozen extra to loan out). As long as everyone involved are consenting adults, then have fun and make sure the hardware is rated to support everyone's weight. In the words of Spider Robinson, "One man's meat is another man's person."
The vast assortment of porn available now is a good thing; you're much more likely now to find something that strikes your own particular fetish than you were fifteen or twenty years ago. Like anything else, if you're not having fun with it then you're probably doing something wrong.
Comment by Miswanderlust
Killer Beats
Ramble On
Hipnotherapy
Mis
Comment by KylieW
Celebrity Obsession
I think a lot of the taboo around porn has disappeared. But it will never totally go away (too many puritanicals for that). I know that some people swap porn for true intimacy. But for most people, I think it's just harmless fun. As long as everyone consents and nobody gets hurt (unless they want to) then what's the problem?
And Cib....water sports will always be gross as far as I'm concerned.
Comment by Francis
Passionate Apathy
WHat are they required to call vibrators? "Musical instruments?" Are condoms called "Johnson cozies?" Are sex dolls marketed as "Surrogate pizza customers?"
Sounds like an invitation to take down peoples' license plates at church and then to send them sex toy catalogs.
KylieW posts:
Just make sure your mask and snorkel fit snugly.
Comment by Uula Limanski
Thinking The World
hehe, what a subject (it's interesting how taboos and politicaly incorrect posts atract the attention).
I completely agree with the comment you wrote, where you say
hehe, i think when you have enought of the thing it stops being a problem to you. Like eating or sleeping...in the end where are not "denaturalized animals" at all...
cheers.
Comment by Uula Limanski
Thinking The World
hehe, what a subject (it's interesting how taboos and politicaly incorrect posts atract the attention).
I completely agree with the comment you wrote, where you say
hehe, i think when you have enought of the thing it stops being a problem to you. Like eating or sleeping...in the end where are not "denaturalized animals" at all...
cheers.
Comment by Miswanderlust
Killer Beats
Ramble On
Hipnotherapy
Mis
Adrian thanks for the post...enjoyed it so much
Comment by Fredda
Porn arouses me but only if it makes me imagine that the couple love or care for each other. The idea that they're just doing it to make money makes me sick (though I do not judge them or anyone in the porn industry- the society should be blamed, not merely the individual)
Good porn is useful because they can arouse, mesmerize, tantalize and stimulate our fantasies. They can give us insight about our sexuality and others. I won't be surprised to hear that many peoples from different societies got off on being "watched". The important thing is to see that porn actors have an important role to play in society. It is power-relations and money exchange that commodities and cheapens "pornography" and sex.