[thechat] King Preaches Abstinence to Parading Maidens

Erika Meyer emeyer at lclark.edu
Wed Sep 11 15:55:13 CDT 2002


Judah wrote:

>Erika Meyer wrote:
>>on Mardi Gras:  I am of the opinion that it is sexual repression and
>>conservatism that fosters behavior like you see at Mardi Gras... and
>>porn and other deviant sexual behavior.
>
>At the risk of starting a flame war I'm not planning on participating
>in...porn is not a deviant sexual behavior.  Porn is neither inherently
>deviant nor is it a sexual behavior.

But then what do you mean by porn?

I guess in my mind, porn is defined by deviance of some level.  But
what is deviance?

And how can you say that viewing porn (or even just sexy images) is
not a sexual behavior?

I guess one of the problems in this discussion is differences in
culture and gender when talking about sexual behaviors.  I know
plenty of relationships that are quite conflicted by one partner's
love of porn.  But then this reveals an assumption I have about sex,
which is that it is related to intimacy.  Not everyone feels this way.

It seems to me that using photos or film for the purpose of arousal
as a healthy or unhealthy thing is a matter of degree.  Kind of like
a drug.

IMO what I consider pornography is dehumanizing and objectifying
(aside from being boring).  Maybe that's not the same as being
deviant.

hmm...

good answer, Judah.

Okay, back to Karnival (I've not been to Mardi Gras): I recall
reading an article in a German women's magazine exploring the topic
of whether it was okay to "cheat" on your partner during Karnival
time.

IOW, the assumption was that it is not okay at other times....
but Karnival was some kind of special situation where you could
consider "deviating."

I thought that was weird.  But clearly that's just my cultural perception.

What I meant was that in a rigid culture, there is this backlash that
comes in one form or another.  The early American Puritans were a
good example of a rigid culture with a very seamy (and scary)
underside.  From what I've heard, fundamentalist Islam has some
similar issues.  And Catholic clergy.

E
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