[Sonny]

Morality laws are always suspect to my mind.

Always? Thou shall not kill. Thou shall not steal. Thou shall not bear false witness, etc.

[Sonny]

They don't "Sell" themselves Still, they "Rent" themselves,,, there is a difference between selling and renting...

Yes, selling is a permanent transfer of proprietary ownership whereas renting is a temporary transfer of a possession interest.

The former deals with the buying and selling of a thing the latter deals with the buying and selling of time with a thing.

[Sonny]

Prohibition was meant to legislate peoples morality,, you can't legislate morality, that goes against nature...

Certainly you can legislate peoples' morality!

Most all laws are based upon someone's idea of what's right and what's wrong.

Thou shall not kill, thou shall not steal, thou shall not starve so here are some Food Stamps, etc.

In my opinion the prohibition of alcohol and drugs is just a public relations optic to make religious radicals feel good...

About regulating the rest of us.

The real purpose of prohibition is to drive up price and profits in the face of addicts' inelastic demand curves.

Should prohibition end then the price of these commodities like any commodity will fall...as will profits for the banks to launder.

So once again politics makes strange bedfellows, i.e. religion and banks are in bed together but for different reasons.

[faeluna]

As someone who is currently working in the porn industry, I can tell you that many people have mistaken ideas about the people who make porn. We're not monsters, crazy or drug addicts. My experience has been positive. Most of the people I've meet are very nice and professional. I haven't seen any exploitation, rape or brutality. There are some messed up people in the business, but isn't that true everywhere? Most messed up people don't succeed in the business. The great majority of people I've meet are just like everyone else-except they really like having sex and aren't hung-up hypocrites. There are thousands of us making porn, but millions watching it-including probably you. Why judge us? Judge yourselves.

You're helping perpetuate negative views of women as sex objects. I don't know how you can live with yourself. I won't say anything else to avoid being mean.

[effy2014]

You're helping perpetuate negative views of women as sex objects. I don't know how you can live with yourself. I won't say anything else to avoid being mean.

faeluna -- I understand that you have a very strong opinion against pornography. But you must also understand that there are people -- good people -- who hold a different opinion. Who are any of us to judge? I am sure that Stephanie lives with herself quite well as do tens of millions of others who watch porn.

[rcoreyus]

I don't see "woman as sex objects" to be the problem, but rather portraying women as ONLY sex objects. Its true that porn objectifies women, but it also objectifies men. I don't see athletics as showing the people are ONLY good for physical exertion, and I don't see porn as showing that women are ONLY god for sex.

In this case Stephanie's posts here have been intelligent and well thought out, and I think that help to show that while people doing porn are sex objects they are not ONLY sex objects.

Faeluna - while I don't agree with your opinion of porn showing women as sex objects, I think it is a valid point and worth discussing: it may be that porn provides an image of women that is damaging - even if the people participating in the porn are not themselves damaged.

BTW: "I don't know how you can live with yourself", seems like a personal attack and I think those should be avoided here. This site is remarkable for its reasonable discussions of very sensitive topics - personally I'd like to see it stay that way.

[effy2014]

Certainly you can legislate peoples' morality!

Most all laws are based upon someone's idea of what's right and what's wrong.

Thou shall not kill, thou shall not steal, thou shall not starve so here are some Food Stamps, etc.

In my opinion the prohibition of alcohol and drugs is just a public relations optic to make religious radicals feel good...

About regulating the rest of us.

The real purpose of prohibition is to drive up price and profits in the face of addicts' inelastic demand curves.

Should prohibition end then the price of these commodities like any commodity will fall...as will profits for the banks to launder.

So once again politics makes strange bedfellows, i.e. religion and banks are in bed together but for different reasons.

I don't understand your point. Many of the laws you mentioned (against killing, stealing, bearing false witness) may also be moral issues, but first and foremost, they are necessary laws for the protection of people to live together in a community. There is a clear distinction between those kind of laws and "pure" morality laws against prostitution and alcohol. These activities are not inherently necessary for a community to succeed but societal or religious morals provide the basis for laws against them. As we have seen, such "morality laws" completely fail to eradicate (or even slow down) the behavior. I do agree that religious zealots have way more political power than they should.

[Something_Awesome]

Morality is legislated. Legislated in a way that tells you how you should not act. You cannot legislate how people should act however.

[faeluna]

Sure, it can also objectify men SOMETIMES, but it's always in a positive light. He's a stud, he's masculine, he deserves this.
If you see a shirtless man in an advertisement, it's something like cologne, Hanes, work-out gear, etc.

It is NOWHERE near as common as near-naked women in advertising for completely unrelated items. You name it, there's an ad for it with a half-naked woman.
In movies, it's far more common for women to have big breasts, have ***-shots, cleavage shots, scenes where she needs savings, scenes where she likes a guy for NO REASON, scenes where she puts up with crap no woman should deal with, and scenes where she's present just to look hot. This is also true in TV and other forms of popular media. Count how many games have male characters buffed out in gear and armor, but the female version is in some skimpy metal thong. It's ridiculous! Women are objectified EVERYWHERE and in porn, this is true one hundred-fold at least. Participating in this portrayal of women is nothing but damaging! It's just one more outlet for this negativity, and since it gets millions and millions of views, it's stuck deep in people's minds.

I'm not trying to personally attack anyone, but I can't help feeling that people who voluntarily put themselves in positions to perpetuate these images of women are only adding to the problem.

[jen1447]

Women are objectified EVERYWHERE and in porn, this is true one hundred-fold at least. Participating in this portrayal of women is nothing but damaging! It's just one more outlet for this negativity, and since it gets millions and millions of views, it's stuck deep in people's minds.

You seem to mainly just shout this over and over as a personal conviction. That's fine, but Stephanie's said that she doesn't feel objectified, and you don't acknowledge that. If you somehow think you're more intelligent, clued in, or in a better place to judge than someone's who's actually worn the shoes, you need to show how and why that is. Just stating the basics of a position over and over really does nothing to convince anyone.