While most of these blogs are not very lengthy, they are frequent and show a genuine interest and appreciation for the industry.  Boogie also dips into politics involving privacy rights and obscenity just as our class has at times this semester.  I was also impressed that Boogie seems to do his research.  In his blog is a link to Raven Riley's blog.  In her blog the pornstar gives a great deal of insight on what it is like to be an internet pornstar.  The blog takes you inside the day to day details of her profession and brings certain aspects of the job to light that you wouldn't ordinarily think about.

Additionally, Boogie remains objective in that he will frequently post links to websites that offer information and often times, propoganda against pornography.  Keep in mind he later offers evidence to refute these claims, but nonetheless, he does offer a view of both sides which is admirable.  However, what is most striking to me is his use of humor.  While sometimes a bit lewd or profane, Boogie manages to keep the reader interested with his bold commentary whether they love him or hate him.
Boogie’s Porn Blog

2. Early in your article you state that, "A top is typically serviced; he is more aggressive or dominant."  Later in the article you then assert, "…both sexual partners are equal".  I was wondering if you could clarify what seems in my mind to be a contradiction.  If they are equal partners, how so?  

3. In your article you refer to gay pornstar's as "role models", I was wondering if you could explain how and why you would consider anyone in this line of work a role model? 

4. You wrote about your picture being removed on the website from the GLAAD event as though this scenario would not play out exactly the same way with heterosexual pornstars.  I was curious, do you think that they would be eager to post pictures of Jenna Jameson on an Oscar's website?  

While rehab for cocaine addiction can cost thousands of dollars and up to several months or years, the cure for a penchant towards pornagraphy may just be meeting a sexual partner and getting off of the computer chair and stepping into a social setting. Perhaps the greater problem for those who are “addicted” to pornography is that they are anti-social or have social anxiety. I also take issue with the argument that because endorphins are realeased during ejaculation that pornography is addictive. Correct me if im wrong but those same endorphins are realeased at the climax of sex. That is of course, with another individual. A novel idea. I don’t see people up in arms blaming coitus for all of these problems and calling it a horrible addictive evil. I think before people label pornography an addicitve problem child they need to take a step back and re-evaluate their sweeping language of panic.

While most pornography scenarios are outlandish and unrealistic many people are naive about sexuality and may simply believe what they see. More specifically, if a person sees enough of a certain type of pornography they become desensitized from the genre and the particular sexual acts being depicted. They begin to accept this behavior as a norm and expect this type of behavior to transpire in the real world. When a few porn stars made guest appearances at Level it was clear to see that most males had trouble distinguishing the fantasy of the films in which these women are paid to act in and the reality that they probably were not likely to go home with joe shmo that night.

Additionally, there have been more and more cases in the news in which violent sex crimes and violent crimes in general are closely tied with the use of, or addiction to pornography. As previously outlined in lecture Ted Bundy and several other murderers and sexual criminals claimed that pornography strongly contributed to their crimes. Clearly for these people the line of pornographic fantasy and reality is significantly blurred. These men did in fact try to apply pornographic scenarios to the real world and in many cases took the acts a step beyond that. Cases like these speak volumes against the myth that pornography is clearly fantasy and the audience of the pornographic genre seems to be more and more confused as to where to draw the line.

 -Eric's Cyberporn Discussions:  While this blog may not be that consistent with entries it is entirely consistent with quality.  Each entry is well written and has some substantial content.  I have never read an entry which turned out to be a waste of my time which seems to be rare amongst our class blogs.  

- Bethany's Cyberporn and Society Blog: This blog is updated frequently and always has some amusing remarks.  It is nice to see a witty entry or two.  I especially enjoyed the entry comparing porn stars and NBA players.  Much more interesting of a blog than most.

-Celebrity*Skin: Again the issue here seems to be quality over quantity.  While there does not seem to be an overwhelming amount of entries each one is well thought out and well articulated. In my personal opinion this has been the most thought provoking of the blogs and is the one I will turn to often times for ideas.

Note:  I would have linked to these blogs but my computer seems to be acting up.  Hopefully I will have this resolved soon. 

While we have seen the countless cases of rapists and murderers citing pornography as a contributing factor for their horrible crimes I cannot say I have ever heard professional wrestling or boxing blamed for a rape or a barfight that ended in serious injury or death.  I believe that it is because professional boxing and the like is considered to be more mainstream that these avenues are not blamed for horrific crimes.  Being that these sports and programming are much more entrenched in our public society than is pornography we tend to see them as less deviant.  By carrying the burden of the deviant label, pornography is often times used a scapegoat that could just as rationally have been something like boxing or professional wrestling.  After all, in both some form of violence and degradation of females is consistent and inherent.  In professional wrestling the female wrestlers are often scantily clad and almost always manage to get their remaining clothes ripped off. To a lesser degree, boxing is also degrading to females in their use of the ring girls who walk around in between rounds with next to nothing on as people whistle and yell disrespectful sentiments.

If these other entertainment options also depict violence and the degradation of the female population why are they exempt from scrutiny?  How are they fundamentally different from pornography?  Furthermore, how are they more acceptable and safer to view then pornography?  Apparently, they must be because I would be hard pressed to turn on the television and not find some form of this entertainment.  Conversely, I could not readily find pornography on television unless I would like to pay an extra thirty dollars a month for the programming that will, inevitably, cause me to go out next saturday night to rape  and pillage.

Obviously, I do not expect people to take me at my word or my own personal opinion.  However, I do expect that anyone could come to this logical conclusion when considering the facts. In Denmark for example, when pornography was made more accessible crimes against children dropped from 30 per 100,000 to 5 per 100,000.  In my estimation, that is a staggering decrease.  Additionally, rape decreased three-fold in Japan when pornography was made particularly accessible after having been banned.  Consider this, rape is much more prevalent in the United States where violent rape pornography is monitored and less readily available then it is in Japan where this type of pornography is commonplace.  I also found it particularly interesting that more porn was available in countries where women’s equality levels were in fact higher such as Sweeden.

When thinking about this evidence and the possible effects of pornography as a means for catharsis I raise the debate over the drinking age.  In European countries, many of which have no drinking age, there are much less problems with alcohol abuse.  In turn there are much less alcohol related crimes and fatalities.  Because alcohol is not viewed as the forbidden fruit it is rarely abused.  Conversely,in the United States young high school and college students abuse alcohol and suffer the consequences.  Similarly, in countries where pornography  of all types is readily accessible people learn to use it recreationally rather then abuse pornography which may lead to more violent and criminal behavior.  If people in the United States were more open about pornography it could be discussed and understood by everyone.  Then there would be nothing unspoken about what is and what is not acceptable behavior.  Also with these lines of communication finally open, people could better differentiate between fantasy and reality.   With this more clear, more people could use pornography as an outlet rather than inspiration for more damaging behavior.

The only admission I will make in favor of this stance is that I do believe it is possible that violent pornography may serve to desensitize a person from violent sexual acts in extreme cases.  Even still, I believe it takes an already troubled and deeply sick individual to act out the scenarios he or she may view for pleasure.  For instance, a man like Ted Bundy was deeply and fundamentally disturbed.  I firmly believe that had a man of his character never so much as seen a two minute clip of pornography he would have still been jailed for the rape and murder of countless victims.  For Bundy, pornography was a convenient scapegoat.  I would not argue that Bundy may have gotten ideas from pornographic material that may have crossed his path, but I would most certainly assert that he was in fact looking for ideas. Pornography does not incite rape nor does it incite murder.

As far as the gateway drug argument goes I feel as though that whole principal is flawed on a number of levels.  There are many people that can use marijuana or alcohol recreationally or even habitually and never touch hard drugs.  I myself have used both on varying levels for a number of years and have still to this day never touched what would be considered harder drugs.  Marijuana and alcohol are considered gateway drugs simply because they are the first stepping stones in a natural progression towards harder drugs for those who wish to use more dangerous drugs.  After all, addicts have to start somewhere.  Simply because they used marijuana previous to their use of cocaine or heroin, etc. does not mean that marijuana inspired their future drug habits or directly led to them.  Following this same train of thought I think it is fair to say that many rapists and murderers might watch pornography frequently before they actually rape or kill.  This for them provides an outlet that is less damaging and harmful then actually acting their fantasies out on innocent indiviuals.  However, pornography, like marijuana , does not directly lead to future more deviant and damaging acts.  Many people frequently watch porn and never so much as degrade or harm another human being once in their lives.  Thus, I believe that pornography is not instrumental in the recipe for murders or rapes, it is in fact a mere afterthought.

While waiting in line I overheard several young men, who were, most likely underage talking about the actresses.  Certainly, they were more often then not just being immature and joking around, but each of them had referred to what a slut the actresses were and how someone, if not every man in the bar was bound to get lucky that night.  This perception of the actresses was reinforced later in the night as I routinely watched men approach the girls and be without question, much more forward then they would be with an average girl.  As you might suspect, not one of them was successful in their advances.

Personally, I can at least begin to understand that these women do open themselves up to ridicule or a diminished reputation among the more close minded male population by participating in their chosen profession, but what I cannot understand is why these men thought for sure they could take them home for a one night stand.  Simply because these women are willing to be filmed in a secure, controlled environment does not mean that they are easy, immoral women.  Many of them seem to be able to seperate their work from their personal lives successfully.  If they can do this, why is it that almost every guy in the bar did not have the presence of mind to seperate the fantasy that they downloaded of these women from the reality that they probably wanted nothing to do with them?  I would be willing to bet that if one of these guys was an accountant he might not be all that inclined to do one of the actresses taxes at the bar.  I guess what just does not add up to me is why people cannot seem to seperate the two worlds and acknowledge that it is work for these women.