The Conservative Right wants us all PORN Again !!
POSTED BY: Howard
UPDATED: Saturday, November 5, 2005 00:44
VIEWED: 2826
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Babes in BushWorld
Raunch culture offers good old-fashioned pleasure, Republican style.
by Lakshmi Chaudhry
October 29, 2005
Just before the Republican National Convention came to town in 2004, New York newspapers were buzzing with rumors that the city's high-priced prostitutes and strippers were gearing up for "one grand old party." The reports quickly gained currency, for no one had problems imagining randy GOP types forking over $100 dollar bills in the dark of the night to be serviced by acquiescent, uber-sexualized women--the same women likely to be condemned as moral degenerates on the convention floor the next morning. This is, after all, what passes for sexual abandon in a conservative world--the kind of "Good Old-Fashioned Pleasure" a San Diego escort agency was touting when it changed its name to "GOP" during another such convention eight years before.
For the past five years, Americans have been wallowing in this quaint version of sexual pleasure, defined by skimpy thongs, stripper poles, porn boobs and faux chick-on-chick action. In a Bush World where commerce is king, it is all-but-inevitable that the dominant image of sexuality is that of a woman on sale. In her book, Female Chauvinist Pigs, New York magazine editor Ariel Levy describes the new-old female sexuality that lies at the core of "raunch culture": "A tawdry, tarty, cartoonlike version of female sexuality has become so ubiquitous, it no longer seems particular. What we once regarded as a kind of sexual expression we now view as sexuality." As an L.A. workout guru specializing in "Cardio Striptease" blithely tells her, "Stripping equals sex."
Contrary to Levy's assumption, however, this shift did not occur despite the rise of the religious Right but because of it. Sex-positive feminists, who argue for the liberatory power of sexual expression, and defend the rights of sex workers, may have unintentionally done their bit to ease the transition -- for reasons too complicated to shoehorn into this article. But make no mistake, raunch is Republican. The sexuality that reigns supreme in Bush World bears the basic imprimaturs of right-wing ideology: gross materialism, sexual hypocrisy and acquiescence in the name of empowerment. It is in every sense a conservative wet dream come true.
Market-ready and mass-produced:
The "mainstreaming of porn," a phrase that refers to the ubiquity of both pornographic norms and porn itself, was as much an economic phenomenon as a cultural shift. Popular culture in America is driven by what sells, and nothing sells as well as sex. AT&T and General Motors bought themselves cable companies to more easily offer us porn in the privacy of our living rooms, while hotel chains like Marriot, Hilton and Westin made sure we could scratch that itch on the road. And then flailing dot-com entrepreneurs, amateur exhibitionists and porn veterans alike discovered the Internet. The rest is history.
The meteoric rise of the porn industry is both the cause and effect of the mainstreaming of its product. The more we sell porn, the more "okay" it becomes. The more "okay" porn becomes, the more okay it is to sell porn -- everywhere and all the time. Today porn does not just sell sex, it sells everything -- clothes, body parts, deodorants, books, magazines, celebrities. The rise of porn has been accompanied by an enormous boom in plastic surgery, as women go to the beauty salon and under the knife to reshape their bodies to fit the porn aesthetic. In turn, the fashion industry churns out skimpier and skimpier clothes to better reveal these manufactured bodies with personalities to match.
The same companies who could once only shill sneakers in the name of revolution now find that they can finance entire industries in the name of sexual freedom. Levy decries raunch culture for "endlessly reiterating one particular -- and particularly commercial -- shorthand for sexiness," one that is "fuckable and salable." The secret of pornography's triumph, however, lies more in its construction of sexuality as a commodity than i
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Clinton's Oval Office antics had much more to do with the shaping of how some view sex than anything that has occured from the Right.
I recall the angst among some OLD guard femanist at the antics of their younger, more attractive, sexually liberated and empowered sisters, calling them 'do - me' femanist. Thank also 'Sex in the City'.
" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "
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Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
Clinton's Oval Office antics had much more to do with the shaping of how some view sex than anything that has occured from the Right.
I agree. A local Middle School was recently exposed to have a large amount of Oral sex going on in the restrooms and stairwells. By large amount I mean involving several dozen girls (and presumably one or more boys, although the paper didn't mention it) in 7th and 8th grade. The girls got in trouble and many were shocked since to them its an act on the same level as kissing.
They didn't learn that from President Bush. However, also shocking was the outrage by several parents that their child was being punished. How dare we enforce arbitrary standards of decency on their children.
H
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Quote:
Originally posted by Hero:
I agree. A local Middle School was recently exposed to have a large amount of Oral sex going on in the restrooms and stairwells. By large amount I mean involving several dozen girls (and presumably one or more boys, although the paper didn't mention it) in 7th and 8th grade. The girls got in trouble and many were shocked since to them its an act on the same level as kissing.
I saw an article on this (or a similar) incident just recently, and the conservative pundits they interviewed tried to put the blame on Clinton for this as well. These kids weren't even old enough to know what was going on during the Clinton era enough to be 'influenced by it.' Your average middle schooler is between 12-14, making them all of 6-7 at the MOST during the Clinton scandal; unless their conservative parents repeated to them nightly for the next 7 years what Clinton did, this is a specious argument. This is just another chance for you to say 'Oh my God, but Clinton...' and you sound ridiculous.
Admittedly, we have changing sexual mores in this country, but the right makes it out as if no one was having sex or had access to porn before the Clinton administration. Stop trying to turn the nation into the imaginary ideals of the fantasy-50's. In the real 50's - if you know your history- people had access to porn, and people had sex (sometimes even with people that weren't their spouses!). The problem with teens thinking oral sex isn't sex is that kids with sex drives are trying to adapt to parents who are becoming increasingly unwilling to teach them about sex. "Just don't do it honey!" is all the education they are receiving these days, partly because schools are scared to even teach the basics for fear of lawsuits from evangelicals.
Quote:
They didn't learn that from President Bush.
No, they're learning even better stuff - like how to lie about WMD's to the American people , how to create a culture of fear (Today's terror alert level: Chartreuse), how to set up fall guys when your minions get caught committing treason.....
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He looked bigger when I couldn't see him.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SevenPercent:
I saw an article on this (or a similar) incident just recently, and the conservative pundits they interviewed tried to put the blame on Clinton for this as well.
I agree with you to. It was never that Clinton committed his immoral acts that was the problem. The problem was the casual acceptence of them from the media and the public. There was no outrage, no shock, no moral condemnation (besides those who'd condem a ham sandwhich to borrow a phrase).
Clinton's role was to be a part of and contribute to the culture of permissability that has permeated our society in the last 50 years. Not all of that is bad. I for one am glad we a so much more tolerant of divergent cultures, races, sex (the gender), and homosexuality). But like many movements, especially one so broad, it has gone to far in certain areas and needs to be rolled back and allowed to find a more acceptable and healthy level for society.
As for the President's 'culture of fear', I'd suggest that change was inevitable after the lasting images of American cities in chaos and nightly renditions of America at War. Its a War on Terror, your gonna need to expect to see a little fear.
Just remember, 'we have nothing to fear', not really, 'except fear itself'. That line is not about courage, its about faith. Faith in our nation, faith in our cause, faith in each other, and ultimately faith in ourselves. Some of us might even add faith in God to the list.
H
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Quote:
Originally posted by Hero:
It was never that Clinton committed his immoral acts that was the problem. The problem was the casual acceptence of them from the media and the public. There was no outrage, no shock, no moral condemnation (besides those who'd condem a ham sandwhich to borrow a phrase).
What was there to get so worked up about though? He had oral sex with someone that wasn't his spouse and got caught. He
A):Wasn't the first Pres (conservative or liberal) to have had extramarital relations in the Oval Office, and
B):We don't know what was happening in his marriage that may have made him believe that it was an acceptable occurrence (notice, he isn't divorced for it).
So what is there to condemn? I know many supposedly moral, churchgoing folk who have gotten divorces or marriage counseling for adultery; I know many happily married people who know their spouses have had affairs. The right wanted to "get" Clinton during the 90's as much as some of the left wants to "get" Bush now, and they did it by creating this magical cult of the immoral and perverted. Where a woman in her 20's is suddenly a juvenile as far as sex is concerned, but is still an adult when the conservatives need her to vote or pay taxes. Give me a break.
The government needs to stay out of bedrooms (or anywhere else people are lucky enough to be getting a little).
Quote:
Clinton's role was to be a part of and contribute to the culture of permissability that has permeated our society in the last 50 years.
Need I remind you that the Republicans have been in control of the government for the vast majority of the last 50 years? And all but 8 of the last 25? That Reagan had an affair that ended in a remarriage to Nancy (from Jane Wyman), and Bush Jr. snorted coke in his past and let his daughters drink under age while he was in office (the daughters, not the coke). Sorry, 8 years of Clinton did not suddenly send this country on a moral nosedive; that's Rush, O'Reilly, and Hannity talking (and notice how fast THEY shut up about how Bush's life/relationships are personal - I love how they are personal with GWB, but morally 'out there' with Clinton.
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it has gone to far in certain areas and needs to be rolled back and allowed to find a more acceptable and healthy level for society.
It has gone too far according to the right, probably not far enough according to the left. Who's right? Beats me; if we as a society aren't ready for it, it'll slow down on its own - or speed up if we are, in fact, ready for cultural shift. I personally think porn, t.v., and games aren't the problem, I think the problem is parents who don't want to raise their kids (who then get into trouble, leaving parents pointing the finger). And bad parenting has no party affiliation, I assure you.
Quote:
As for the President's 'culture of fear', I'd suggest that change was inevitable after the lasting images of American cities in chaos and nightly renditions of America at War. Its a War on Terror, your gonna need to expect to see a little fear.
And whose fault is that? Jingoists over at Fox news and CNN who think that telling people that they are going to die every day is a good idea, that's who. Osama is not hiding under your bed, and your next door neighbor does not have the SARS, or the Avian Flu. The US Gov't plays into this freakshow by having scare days when "something is gonna happen, go buy duct tape" and then nothing ever does. It's bullshit; we have people in this country, especially Fox watchers, that think anyone brown is going to blow up their house. That is a culture of fear, and it fostered upon the uneducated masses by the GOP as a means of controlling their votes. It's the same with morality - "Watch out America, porn stars are coming to rape your children, and Bill Clinton sent them! Let's go back to the imaginary 50's culture of I Love Lucy!"
It's a shell game, and I think eventually Americans are going to figure it out.
Quote:
Just remember, 'we have nothing to fear', noNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
So the right is all sex-trade and strippers? Why don't they show up at my meetings!? Seriously. We could use some cartoon anti-feminist republican strippers at our meetings, instead of just a bunch of staunchy old men. :)
But seriously folkes. Both sides have their "we hate sex" contingent. On the left, it's the feminists, on the right it's the christians. But this isn't politics. It's monopocapitalism.
Yep. Another great non-word. But let me explain.
The image of slutney spears strip singer is a creation of Viacom, as is "gangstarap," regurgipop, and the whole overhyped talentless superstar thing. This is the new image, almost solely crafted by one company. Even country music is now a creation of Viacom.
Here's how it works. You take a person who is on your team, and you excentuate something meaningless about them. Like their parents own hilton hotels or they used to be a deputy head of the crips. Then you take that and say this makes them a star. You hire coaches to make them sing and dance at a level that might pass in a school play, and you add lots of flash and computer back up rhythms, you follow them everywhere with papparzzis and give the extreme details on everything they do.
The consumer becomes ultra obsessed with the life this person lives. Yes, this is the obsession. They don't care dick for the person usually, or the person's not existant talent. They want that life. And a dream life for most people has lots of sex in it. And of course money, and flash. If it doesn't glitter, the customers won't buy.
So who or what is Viacom? All of you people know already. Viacom/CBS is one half of the skull and bones empire, which I'm sure Chrisisall is familiar with. The other half is of course Time Warner. Typically Viacom has been a democrat, as has skull and bones, but with Bush as the Bonesman in Chief, all bets are off. I'm sure that the bones have no loyalty besides to themselves and the dollar bill.
But technically, really, is it truly a culture? There is no image that Viacom did not forge themselves. It is a culture of one. A culture by dictation. What I would term a Cultural Desert, or even a Cultural Void.
Not surprisingly I don't think the liberal overanalysis actually has anything to do with reality. Not major changes to human sexuality with some pseudo-feminist slant from the world of wishgul thinking. It's image in a can, with one maker.
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Since DT and I were already discussing similar issues in the Libby thread, and it relates to something I said earlier, I thought I'd post this article I was just reading.
The conservative, evangelical, abstinence-only crowd is doing just about all it can to sabotage women's health issues in America, under the guise of "policing morality." Take a look at this.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/10/31/MNG2LFG
JFT1.DTL#storystory
Here's the gist of the article:
Quote:
A new vaccine that protects against cervical cancer has set up a clash between health advocates who want to use the shots aggressively to prevent thousands of malignancies and social conservatives who say immunizing teen-agers could encourage sexual activity.
They're so scared that someone in America might actually be having more fun than they are that they'd risk the health of kids. Good folks.
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He looked bigger when I couldn't see him.
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The point is that they preach one thing
and do another.
It is very 1950's a facade of Godly conformity
married to sleazy exploitation.
This is a problem of conversion between the
economic conservatives who are not into
religion and the social conservatives who are.
Bush needs them both but in many ways they
are two different groups entirely.
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The point is that they preach one thing
and do another.
It is very 1950's a facade of Godly conformity
married to sleazy exploitation.
This is a problem of convergence between the
economic conservatives who are not into
religion and the social conservatives who are.
Bush needs them both but in many ways they
are two different groups entirely.
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