Pornography on a College Campus

Today, April 7, 2009, I read an article in the Washington Post about everyone being in a tizzy over a planned showing of the porn flick "Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge" at the University of Maryland. It was being shown as part of a study of pornography's role in society. Now I don't think for a minute that the audience would be packed with students ready to delve into the social aspects of porn, but there would be some there for that purpose.

My response is; so what? What's the big deal that a Maryland state senator has to threaten to withhold funds in order to get the movie cancelled? Who does he think he is protecting? Next to higher education our universities are known for two things, really large beer parties, and being sexual Mecca's. Why do you think Playboy has been going to college campuses for fifty years to do a spread, no pun intended? Well maybe a little.

Does the illustrious state senator really think that students haven't seen this stuff? Any student with a computer or a TV and a DVD player would be able to get as much porn as they want and I'm sure plenty have.

It is clear that restricting the viewing of the film is not protecting anyone from anything. So what is the big objection? I guess you can argue that a state institution cannot appear to be condoning the viewing of pornography. We must keep up the odd and ancient ritual that, in public, we should all profess that intimacy is always between two married people deeply in love and are coming together to have a child. We cannot admit, in public, that people will have sex because it's fun. The expression "that's the most fun I've had with my clothes on" didn't come out of thin air. Sex is fun and people, especially young people, are going to do it for fun. The objection seems to be more of political appearance than an argument of substance.

It always made me wonder why one thing is considered acceptable and another isn't. Every action movie contains a hero that will break every law in order to hunt down the bad guy. In some of the movies the hero is the bad guy. You see great car chases through towns with the cars roaring on the sidewalks and people scattering in all directions and cars crashing through open air restaurants and venders on the streets. Does anyone consider how many people the hero would hurt and how many livelihoods that he or she would destroy? This is all just fine.

We can watch serial killer movies and be thrilled at the way a crazed killer can get away with his crimes. We can even make a cult hero out of a character like Hannibal Lecter. Our kids can watch "The Fast and the Furious" and learn all about how cool street racing is, but they better not learn that sex is fun.

In a slowing economy the Maryland legislature has big budget problems; it shouldn't have time for this absurd posturing. Pornography could not be legalized until we were sure the industry itself could act in a mature manner. Large advertisements that offend people would have to be eliminated in favor of a more tasteful way to present their product. The fact is producers of porn have no interest in pushing for legalization. They like being the bad guys on the fringe; it makes their product more alluring. The porn industry in booming in the middle of this recession; what does that say about the society that we are trying to protect?