Hoping to pass

  I read the rubric and understand that I am supposed to be blogging at least 2x a week.  I definitely have not been, but I think that is because I read everyone else’s and do not feel that I can write something that will not sound just like everyone else’s.  I am afraid to sound like I am just repeating everyone else, just in different words.  I am definitely trying harder the second time around, and will make at least the minimum.  I will definitely try a lot harder to make my blogs on time.  I guess I just felt like I got way too far behind and didn’t know what to do since it goes by how much you blog during the week.  I do try to make my blogs interesting and am trying to be more thought provoking.  I am making a far better effort and just want to pass this first time around.

Not your mom’s Tupperware party…

  While I thought porn was simple to market (it appeals to our sexual desires, and we all know that sex definitely sells), I didn’t realize that the market had to change and find new ways to distribute.  Just as you must find new, innovative ways to sell any regular product, porn must be innovative and find ways to appeal.  The market is saturated with porn, so in essence, one must find a way to appeal to the majority of the market in order to make a profit. 

   Due to the drive for a profit, producers and others in the sex industry have supplemented the porn industry by making sex toys, lingerie, etc. more accessible.  They have sex toy parties which show off the toys and allow possible consumers to have a hands on show of the product.  Much like how Tupperware and many other home based products drove up their sales, they bring the product home and make it easily available.

  That is why like any other profit seeking market, the distributors do demographic research and try to exploit their findings by making whatever porn is most desirable.  Most porn producers and distributors make porn geared towards the male audience.  When a woman is thought of in the porn industry, she is usually only thought of as a possible star, not really as a profitable market. 

 

 

Frontline reaction

  I was apalled by the sex trade that Frontline exposed.  I always knew of some sort of prostitution ring but never actually knew the extent of the whole situation.  These women are preyed upon and sold into an underground sex slave ring.  Many of these women are not seen by their families again, and lose their identity as people.  They are now objects that have a face value of roughly $600.  Can you even imagine that you are deemed worth maybe $600?

  The sex slave trade further solidifies the fact that women are still perceived to be less worthy then a man.  Seeing as how these women are sold in bunches of 7 or 8 for one lump sum, into a life of slavery.  They are sold no less by another woman (at least in the case that we saw) who capitalizes on the market.  She befriends them, promises them work abroad and decent money, then sells them for whatever she can get. 

  I had actually naively thought that as a species we were above enslaving people for our own personal gains.  These women are desperate, they think they are being offered an opportunity to better themselves, and are never seen again by their friends or families.  Once they realize what has happened many just succumb to the culture and become what they must in order to survive.  Just think, wanting a better life is what got them into this, now they just want to survive! 

 

porn thoughts

While some consider pornography an art form, there are many whom do not share the same feeling.  Some see porn as degrading, and immoral.  While in some respects porn can definitely be degrading, there are a few situations where it has not been.  For example, Jenna Jameson would not be a household name if it weren’t for the porn industry.  The same goes for Ron Jeremy and a few others.  Porn is just like any other profitable industry with one huge exception: the porn industry sells exactly what people want, sex.  Sex sells (as evidenced by barely dressed women selling hamburgers!!)  Sexuality is a part of human nature and it is no surprise then that the porn industry is such a giant because it appeals to our innate desires and drives.  What better market could an industry look for other than what is innately a human drive.

Important date in porn history

John Cleland was serving time in Fleet Prison where he wrote Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure in November of 1748.  A second installment was published in February of 1749.  Fanny Hill is considered the first “erotic” novel, and has become one of the flagstaff battles over the censorship of erotica.  The novel is written in the form of memoir, and it follows the life of an English prostitute during the 18th century named Fanny.  In the beginning, she is saved from the life of prostitution by a young, upper class man.  After his departure, Fanny turns to prostitution to survive and actually enjoys it.  The novel was banned in the US until 1966, due to it’s erotic nature.

comments on porn

I guess I don’t know where to start, except by noting that sex clearly sells.  No wonder then that the porn industry is such a driving force.  Porn is a taboo sort of subject, everyone knows about it, many observe it, but most do not talk about it.  The times that porn is talked about is usually because someone was caught viewing something morally wrong (like kiddie porn).  Also, the porn industry is mentioned because it is such a driving entertainment medium that really cannot be ignored.  How can a multi billion dollar force be ignored?  I would suppose that the moral majority currently in charge would likely choose to ignore this industry, or better yet hope for it’s demise.  Since it’s unlikely that such a strong industry would fall, the moral force in this country would have quite a battle ahead of them.  Maybe it would be in their best interest to leave well enough alone, and not view it if you do not wish to.   

my very first blog

Hello all!  I hope you’ll forgive me but technology has never really been my thing and I just got mine set up for this class.  So this is really just me testing the waters of my new found blogging ability!!

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