The pornification of America

Boston Globe ^ | Don Aucoin

[SmoothTalker]

Actors having real sex in art-house movies. Erstwhile child star Lindsay Lohan appearing barely clad on the cover of her new album. Teenage girls strolling down Main Street USA attired in ''Porn Star" T-shirts. A bikini-wearing Jessica Simpson bumping and grinding in the music video for ''These Boots Are Made for Walkin.' " College-age women flashing for the ''Girls Gone Wild" video series with nonchalant exhibitionism.

Not too long ago, pornography was a furtive profession, its products created and consumed in the shadows. But it has steadily elbowed its way into the limelight, with an impact that can be measured not just by the Internet-fed ubiquity of pornography itself but by the way aspects of the porn sensibility now inform movies, music videos, fashion, magazines, and celebrity culture.

Braving the inevitable accusations of prudery -- which they reject -- critics such as Paul are sounding the alarm. They say the current hypersexualized climate distorts the attitudes of young people toward sex and relationships. In particular, they contend it has a damaging effect on the self-image of young women and girls, who are confronted with a culture that objectifies them while disguising it as female empowerment.

''Our culture once glamorized cigarette smoking to a large extent. It was promoted by the medical establishment, the film industry, TV," she says. ''But once the evidence of harm began to be disseminated by the government, and by schools and the private sector, the number of people who started smoking went down. My hope is that once people realize the negative effect that pornography has on individuals, their children, their wives, and society as a whole, there will be a mind-set shift."

[Bob Mc]

Yeah, it's gotta be those dammed libertarians!

[HitmanLV]

You're not jaded.

You're just not human!

[HitmanLV]

re: Katherine Harris as the standard of sexiness

You really need to get out more.

[Richard Kimball]

Jessica Simpson is about as sexy to me an Lisa Simpson...not too, that is.

Whew! You had me worried for a moment.

[MikefromOhio]

Erstwhile child star Lindsay Lohan

I know the author choose those words for dramatic effect, but she's damn near 20 years old now and is no LONGER a child.

[Eagle Eye]

Wives are for love and mistresses for sex.

Or is it the other way around? I can't ever remember.

[MikefromOhio]

LOL

age poorly?

And look like what?

Ann-Margaret in 40 years?

I think I'll take that.

[MikefromOhio]

I'm sure if she was more my age I would like what she looks like, but she ISN'T in the same league as Jessica Simpson.

[trisham]

You, my friend, have invoked "The Rule".

[TAdams8591]

"In the view of Cynthia Eller.............

She speculates that the current climate is partly ''a backlash to feminism, a way of protecting male egos, and men insisting on retaining a power structure sexually if they can't retain it in areas of employment and parenting and so forth. It's a way to hang on to a male-dominated paradigm." Agreed. I have made the same point many times myself.

[Dark Skies]

lol...I don't think it is a matter of age. I hear the nursing homes are full of guys like you...dominated by "little elvis."

Happiness is only a magazine away, eh?

[Names Ash Housewares]

1,312+ views

Telling isnt it!

[Mr. Blonde]

College-age women flashing for the ''Girls Gone Wild" video series with nonchalant exhibitionism.

Maybe I should put this in the brush with fame thread but I know a girl who is in the GGW commercial running now.

I personally love how Arrested Development makes fun of GGW with their Girls With Low Self-Esteem series.

[Nathan Zachary]

"That young lady needs a good helping of fried chicken or brisket with all the trimmings. Repeat until the meat reappears on the bone. I'm female btw, but I went through the "anorexia stage" with one of my grown daughters. Dayum, Jessica is toooo skinny. Maybe Nick can't stand bumping bones is a reason for the rumored divorce?"

I have to agree. She needs food.

Lack of brains, a real life and personality may have something to do with the rumored divorce, as well fear of getting a disease.

[TAdams8591]

What use to be common pornography is now pop culture. Meanwhile the most perverted and basest of sexual imagery has become common pornography.

[VegasCowboy]

Um, Lisa's a cartoon character. I wouldn't get too worked up.

[Alouette]

MoDo looks like one of Cinderella's ugly stepsisters!

I mean, her feet, they're just, like HUGH!

[Ichneumon]

I admit I didn't even hear the word "pornography" until I was 21 and then it was mentioned on a TV show and I had to look it up in the dictionary. I am not kidding!

I don't even have a pornograph. Will a DVD player work?

[Nathan Zachary]

Wives are for love and mistresses for sex. Or is it the other way around? I can't ever remember.

I guess I got lucky and found one good for both.
A mistress would be a waste of money, not to mention immoral.

[Dark Skies]

Hey Mike...unfortunately you are moving in my direction (getting older) and not the other way around (unfortunately)...one day, you'll see what I mean.

Twenty years ago, Jessica would have caught my attention.

You'll be glad to know (I speak for all old timers), the love of women doesn't go away...but (sometimes) a man's taste in women matures as he does.

Jessica is too damn young for me.