Perhaps Little Pasture can get these answers for us.
Its WRAP week – will you wear a white ribbon?
Is Representative Lynn aware that WRAP week was actually last week?
Morality in Media asks every American concerned about the floodtide of pornography pouring into our nation’s communities, homes, and children’s minds to do one or more of the following in conjunction with the White Ribbon Against Pornography (WRAP) Week, which runs this year from Sunday, October 28 through Sunday, November 4, 2007. (see here)
Representative Lynn says:
The mainstream women’s movement gave up on this idea long ago. Instead, now sending the message it’s not exploitation if a woman exploits herself – It is power.
Eh, what can you say? If a woman can rise in power to the point where she’s serving in the legislature and still pretends like she’s not a feminist, what can you do? Anyway, as those of you who know feminists know, this is still a huge bone of contention in the movement.
Lynn knows a good sob story when she hears it, though. Look at this:
Many of the founders of WRAP are thirty something’s that have fled the porn industry to turn their lives around. Their heartbreaking testimonies tell of their own exposure as children to pornographic materials their parents had hidden in the house. This led to desensitization, early experimentation, abuse and, for them, careers in the porn industry. Their mission now is to spread the message of how the secret of pornography often leads both children and adults into destructive sexual addictions that tear families apart and destroy careers.
Oh my! How terrible! Can we learn more about WRAP? Let’s check out their website:
White Ribbon’s purpose is to increase public awareness of the harm done by exposure to pornography.
White Ribbon Week began in 1987 when Norma Norris heard a sermon delivered against pornography delivered by her pastor in Butler, PA. Soon after, she conceived the idea of a simple white ribbon as a symbol of decency.
Purpose: To increase awareness of parents and students about the following facts
- Many parents and children/teens are not aware of the quickness of pornography addiction, the ease of acquiring inappropriate pictures or sexual information, etc.
- Inappropriate images can’t be erased from the mind and they influence actions. Children/teens need to abandon the “everybody’s seeing these things” mindset and be responsible for what goes into their minds.
- Sexual addiction can occur within a week and easily within three months for many people.
- Entry into pornography addiction can be inappropriate swimsuit or lingerie images.
- “Crash and Tell” and other Internet safety ideas can protect children. Knowledge gives parents and children/teens the wisdom they need in today’s world.
Wow!
Does Representative Lynn really believe that swimsuit and lingerie images are a problem?
What kind of sexual information does Representative Lynn think is inappropriate for teens to have?
Does Representative Lynn really believe that sexual addiction can occur within a week? If so, how does she believe her constituents can best protect themselves from it? Is she advocating abstinence for everyone or are married people immune from sexual addiction?
And, heck, is it even true that “Many of the founders of WRAP are thirty something’s that have fled the porn industry to turn their lives around”? According to this news article, WRAP was founded by “Members of Court Little Flower No. 988, the local chapter of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas [who] have been fighting a war against pornography for 15 years.” So these 30-somethings all got out of porn when they were 15? And I hate to be snarky, but dang, porn must be rough on a body judging by the 30-something ex-pornstars in that photo with the mayor.
Lynn goes on:
Recognizing the harm to children, women and men worldwide, they’re asking for you and me to think about it and make a commitment not to support this industry.
When we pay to go see or rent many R rated movies, subscribe to cable movie channels such as Showtime, even watching some evening network TV programming we’re supporing an extention of this industry.
Is Lynn ready to make such a commitment? Will she be canceling her cable, since you can buy pay-per-view porn over cable networks? Will she be cutting up her credit cards, because, after all, if not for the credit card companies taking and processing the payments, there’d be no way for pornography to be the biggest money-making industry on the web. Oh, the web. Will Lynn stop blogging and stop using the internet since it’s the internet that allows the ease of pornography distribution? Has she stopped shopping at Amazon? Does she refuse to buy her gas from stations that sell pornography? Does she only stay at hotels that don’t have pay-per-view porn? Will she stop watching Fox News, since the NEWS corporation has such a huge stake in pornography? Shoot, the city of Nashville makes money from the licensing of strippers and the state of Tennessee makes tax money from the sale of pornography. Will she move? Never use another local or state service?
Or is wearing a white ribbon enough?
Edited to add: This.
Tiny Cat Pants 
Purpose: To increase awareness of parents and students about the following facts
OK, this will probably demonstrate my utter corruption of mind. But all I can think of when I see something like this is that there is no surer way to get kids to pursue porn than by following this program. And I say this as someone who does not consume porn.
Couldn’t think of any points of agreement B? Are you against pornography – and no don’t ask me to define it – but just have a problem with how someone is presenting the argument? I mean are you just out there looking for fights for the love of Pete?
I think she’s against bullshit nervous ninny awareness campaigns, wearing ribbons rather than acting on beliefs, and so forth. What B is demonstrating is that pinning a bit of the Purity Crusade on the lapel is all very sweet and smug, but it’s utterly useless when it comes to doing anything about the “problem” that the dear thing has identified. Moreover, ladies who lunch on the bones of the feminist movement while making their careers on the gains produced by the feminist movement are legitimate targets of ire, especially when readers can get a good case of hayfever from all the various straw-feminists she produces.
She is a legislator, so it’s not like she’s without some policy-making clout. She should have at it rather than running around waving her hanky.
Take a long look at Representative Lynn’s record. She’s no friend to women’s rights, reproductive or otherwise. Representative Lynn has long pursued a personal conservative religious agenda within the legislature rather than representing the best interests of her district.
As always be careful, one person’s porn is another person’s art depending on their world view and definition. It’s a fine line between free speech and censorship.
Thanks B. And you too B. That’s what I love about this blog, such a diversity of opinions and views.
Please don’t ever complain about anyone who seems to not be trying to reach some consensus, about anyone who can’t find something decent to say about someone else’s effort. My question was simple – no points of agreement? Two busybodies then proceed to point out all the reasons to attack Susan Lynn. Great. Maybe the world is better for you effort.
“busybodies”?
*sigh*
As always, saraclark, excellent point. I mean, if she’s afraid of folks in bathing suits leading people into temptation, we’re going to lose the few videos on MTV we have left.
Bridgett, exactly. She’s running around, first of all, spreading disinformation about what it means to be for women’s rights, which is appalling enough, but coupled with the fact that she herself has demonstrably benefited so greatly from said movement, it just about bowls me over.
Add to that the fact that she’s encouraging people to do something relatively meaningless as if it will make a difference when she herself is in a position to actually make a difference galls me.
This is the thing that I think you don’t understand: you folks (you, Martin, Ned Williams, and especially Reps Lynn and Campfield) have a platform and you speak with authority. When people read you all, they expect that they are reading the truth as you understand it and, since you have authority, that truth as you speak it should be respected.
When you are speaking the truth, even with a conservative bent, I don’t have a problem. Everyone is entitled to speak the truth as they understand it.
But what Lynn is up to here is untrue on a lot of levels. It’s not true, for instance, that this is WRAP week. That could be a simple mistake or it could be that she doesn’t really care enough about actually alleviating the suffering that porn is a part of to make sure that she’s got the right dates. It’s not true that feminists are of a single mind about porn. It’s not even true that all feminists who are porn positive think that porn is empowering for women. And it doesn’t appear to be true that the WRAP people are ex-pornstars.
On top of that, neither she nor the WRAP people cite any research to back up the idea that looking at people in swimsuits or underwear is going to lead people to become sex addicts. Nor does she cite any research to back up the idea that people can become sex addicts inside of a week.
And, if she thinks that pornography is so bad, I’m interested to know what real steps she’s going to take to not support it. Is she going to give up cable? The internet? Credit cards? Hotel stays? Media conglomerations?
Or will she continue to support pornography with her money while making other people feel like there’s something wrong with them or their children if they view it?
Someone’s got to speak out in the face of nonsense being spouted as fact, especially when that nonsense hurts people. There will come a day, if it hasn’t happened already, when you find one of your kids has been looking at pictures of naked ladies.
At that moment you will be faced with a choice. You can either make him feel like a terrible person who is courting a sex addiction and a lifetime of perversion or you can explain to him that there’s nothing wrong with being curious about what girls look like without their clothes on, but that there are things on the internet that he shouldn’t see, not just because it’s not appropriate for him, but because it might be harmful to the girl he’s looking at and you and your family don’t believe in harming others.
One of those ways has the potential to screw him up. The other leads him on a path of being a compassionate, thoughtful person.
I’m not going to sit by and act like what Lynn is promoting isn’t harmful to people and that I could, if I searched hard enough, find something to cheer her on about. What would that be? Oh, good job bending the truth and advancing harmful stereotypes and gender norms, Susan! Way to go!
I’m thisclose to starting a campaign to rule out the use of ribbons in campaigns. From where I sit there’s far too much fuss invested in Wearing A Ribbon While Not Yet Actually Doing A Damn Thing Else.
Martin, c’mon. I’ve been talking with you about economics — knowledgeably and courteously — all day long. You and I don’t agree about jack. So, diversity of opinions, yes indeedy. And evidence and professional training, too. A lot of people learned about developments in your field that they would have never learned otherwise (and which you weren’t teaching them, I might add…). Through our discussion, readers might understand the field of economics and your ideas a little better; maybe we’ll even go off and learn something else. So don’t slag off on how terribly narrow I am, ‘k?
When the Honorable Ms. Lynn gets around to *doing* anything (rather than using the bully exhortative pulpit to spread misinformation), I’ll be sure to commend her for that which is good in it.
Kat, the fact that even Whoopi Goldberg’s sendup of ribbons when she hosted the Oscars over a decade ago didn’t stop the madness leads me to suspect that you will get nowhere.
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Bridgett,
How do you know we don’t agree on anything? Let me speculate: I am against abortion, am for school choice, believe in markets, and am a practicing Catholic.
So you know me? Good, I can stop posting. Henceforth you can just assume how I’d respond.
I believe in the power of love and compassion. It is the great and underestimated power. I believe that pornography exploits women and seduces men. There is no love and compassion in porn. When someone does something, even symbolic, to discourage pornography I see a harsh response. The problem, I learn, is not porn but people like Susan Lynn. That is a level and intensity of hostility that is toxic. Now I’ll stop posting…
Here’s my question…if swimsuit and lingerie images are bad for children, then at what point can they see them WITHOUT being addicted?
The reason I ask is because thanks to my family’s (both sides) genes, I had full C-cups by the time I was in fourth grade. So I had to go to the lingerie store with my mom when I was 9. Does that mean I should now be addicted to porn?
Just asking.
Mr. Kennedy in another thread:
Mr. Kennedy in this thread:
…and…
For an interesting treatise of this sort of hissy-fit behavior, read this post by Sara Robinson.
> Entry into pornography addiction can be inappropriate swimsuit or lingerie images.
Ya know what would fix this problem? Burkas. :)
> I’m thisclose to starting a campaign to rule out the use of ribbons in campaigns.
I saw a sign with one of the magnetic car-ribbons. It read:
“I support the guy in China who makes these magnets.”
Martin, you sorta closed off any real exchange when you said “don’t ask me to define it.”
Pornography is part of this magical market you so embrace.
I believe it has value to many people. I’ve seen good porn, I’ve seen bad porn. Same goes for art. The “good” and “bad” are judgements I made. You will feel differently. Who gets to decide for all of us? Cuz, if it were up to me, I’d ban all the seductive pictures of weapons, and they are VERY seductive.
I think the idea of wearing ribbons was a good one at one time. I’m pretty sure the original intent was to draw attention to issues by being ready to explain the issue when someone commented or asked about your ribbon. Now, I’m afraid I’d look like a “pin the tail on the donkey” board if I wore all the damn ribbons to support my various causes.
Ha, Mack, I’m totally in love with the idea of you fluttering in the breeze, covered in a rainbow of tiny ribbons–like fringe, but for liberals.
But I think you bring up an important point–pornography is a complicated subject. Just on the level of what I find erotic, there are things that turn me on and things that don’t. There are also things that I find inspiring (“Oh, I’d never thought of putting that there or doing that in that way!”) and things I find repulsive (“Oh, my god, I would never put that there!) and sometimes those things overlap. I also enjoy porn like Annie Sprinkle makes, which tends to be silly and woman-friendly and where everyone seems to be enthusiastic and happy to be there. I worry that porn like that is less popular than porn where one party, usually the woman, appears to be scared or upset to be there.
And I know that there is a seedy underbelly to porn. Yes, there’s a lot of porn where everyone is willing and happy to be there. But some porn gets made by folks who would rather be doing anythng else. And I don’t want my money going towards that. And I want folks to not be coerced into making porn if they don’t want to.
And I’m not sure how to untangle all those issues in general and it’s certainly not something I’m interested in doing when I’m feverishly searching for screenshots of Evan Seinfeld’s infamous one man on ten women orgy.
I don’t see how this could possibly be summed up any better.
Wow-I hope none of you ever have to experience loosing someone to porn. Many of you obviously never have…if you had, or you knew someone who did you would be fighting porn like you wouldn’t believe. Reading your comments, I’m dismayed at the lack of education-pick up a book, read a woman’s story who had a marriage break up because of porn, talk to a child who was molested, because of a molestor’s addiction to porn, read some websites, look up stats-they are all there, read the psychology reports that porn is more addictive than cocaine, read about former porn stars who are trying to get porn stars out of the industry (www.shelleylubben.com), where the porn stars are thankful to them every day for getting them out, read an e-mail from a woman who just found out her husband has a porn addiction (what we get), she’s newly married, and has a baby, and she’s devastated…do you ever consider the pain of others, before going off on Rep. Lynn, someone who is brave enough to stand up for morality? How sad…America is far worse off than we thought..you insert damnation & ridicule on people who are trying to make a difference (specifically comments towards WRAP) in which we are one of the national partners of WRAP nationally & in TN. Our friend is Shelley Lubben (one of whom Rep. Lynn was referring to), she spends her life getting porn stars rehabilitated, and her own money, as she was one herself & had many diseases (and she is in her 30’s). If people would get off of their computers & stop complaining about people who actually do DO something. A few of us just thought we’d do something to help the human race, we took action, one of these special people was Norma (if you even care to read about her-www.moralityinmedia.org) she started the WRAP Campaign 20 years ago as one woman. You may all think that wearing white ribbons does nothing and is pointless-you know nothing about it & why is it that as the organizers of WRAP, we can’t keep the white ribbons on the shelf? We couldn’t this year…….I’ll tell you why, people care, and people are actually doing something to fight porn, because many people are sick of loosing their families to this smut. If you cared about women, if you cared about families, you would be too. I see complacency here. Why don’t many of you get up and start putting actions in your words, and do something good for the human race-you are only going to drive more people to vote for Susan Lynn, which is exactly what I intend to do. Representative Susan Lynn should be commended, because there are far too many who are afraid to speak out against the porn industry-they are fearful-we talk to many of them….loose the fear factor, you are protecting a corporate giant, who produces what good?….Do something good yourselves…Aunt B-you must have had a horrible childhood, and for that we are truly sorry. White ribbons will go on, with or without you, that’s a personal guarantee. BTW: We are 20-30 somethings, living in a dark world trying to bring some light, who care to speak up, and change the world, not just “talk” about changing it. There are many organizations that support WRAP, more than can be named here, and they are national..this isn’t something little friends…If you think there was “too much fuss” this year for white ribbons, wait till next year:-) The 1st Amendment does not protect porn (obscenity), it never has, it never will-refer to 1973, Supreme Court ruling upheld. If you want to pick on someone why don’t you pick on Hugh Hefner, Larry Flynt, pick one….who has caused the destruction of countless marriages for years, and aided pedophiles in their crimes….complain about people who are destructive…get educated..
Girls Against Porn
Oh, please. I have lost people to alcohol. I have lost people to violence. Losing someone to porn can’t be any worse.
I applaud your decision to get involved though, except that you make the mistake of assuming those of us here never “get off our computers” and do something. Also, you might be more effective if you stop alienating those who are, for the most part, on your side, like Aunt B. Get educated? Are you serious?
Thanks for the guarantee that white ribbons will go on. Let me now guarantee that posts about the shallowness and futility of white ribbon campaigns will live forever as well.
As a former 20-30 something, and a current 50-60 something, let me tell you that while I agree that bringing light to a dark world is a noble endeavor, but regurgitating tired and inaccurate 1st amendment arguments isn’t going to bring about the desired outcome.
If Playboy has destroyed countless marriages over the years, I believe Hugh did those people a favor. A marriage should be able to withstand some airbrushed nudity.
Two points that Mack sort of alluded to, but which I think deserve to be spelled out in full: (1) the point of the post you are responding to is not a defense of pornography, but is a criticism of a state legislator who postures against porn while doing nothing substantive about it (and, in fact, who can’t even remember which week she is supposed to be posturing). And (2) the fact that you move directly from “Aunt B, you disagree with me to “Aunt B-you must have had a horrible childhood” suggests that you habitually ignore those who disagree with you by explaining them as freaks, sickos, and misfits. That may make you feel better and keep you strong in your own beliefs, but it alienates them and doesn’t allow you much room for learining or growth. And for someone who is urging others to educate themselves, that’s sad.
I’m a luddite that is allowed alot of alliterative alluding.
Smoke that, NM.
Ha, I kind of love finding Mack and NM coming to my defense.
Anyway, I thought it was clear that I have mixed feelings about porn, especially because we use the phrase as a catch-all to mean anything from pictures of women in bathing suits to films of graphic and too-realistic rapes. Why can’t I not give a shit about eradicating the Victoria Secret catalog while still being concerned about women who feel in over their heads?
You can have my Victoria’s Secret catalog when you pry it from my warm, slightly oiled hands….
About that, if you would a.) not peruse the catalog in a bathroom folks might need access to at some point and b.) not fall into a dead sleep immediately afterwards, no one would have to even attempt to pry it from your warm, slightly oiled hands. But as it stands, we kind of need the facilities you’re busy napping in. That’s the only reason we’re trying to move you. I swear.
Jeeesh, sometimes I don’t even make back to the house from the mailbox…
Well, for you, getting back to the house from the mailbox is a long, snow-filled trip worthy of the Iditarod. I’m surprised you don’t have some sort of extensive tunnel system there yet.