Was listening to the radio while driving between Baltimore and Philly a couple days ago and I hit the area where I can't get a clear signal on any of my presets for either city. (I make the journey far too often since I am in an apartment in Maryland and most of my family and friends live in or near Philly. Plus, I have been trying to find a job up there so I can be closer to said friends and family.) In any case, I hit the scan button to see what turned up and I heard someone talking about porn. Naturally, I was curious to see what it was about so I hit the button and listened. It turns out that I had found myself tuned in to one of the many, many religious/family values broadcasts clogging the airwaves these days. I usually can't listen to these stations for more then a few minutes before either becoming bored with the lack of content or perplexed with the veiwpoints expressed. However, in this case they brought up something I hadn't thought about before. The woman on the show was saying how she realized that the soap operas and romance novels that she used to be so interested in were really porn for women. Then she went on to explain how they were immoral because they promoted adultry by romanticising it. How the female characters always are married to terrible, boring oafs and meet some fantastic guy and start having terribly romantic affairs.
While I clearly don't think that porn is a bad thing, I think that they might be on to something. It's unfair that traditional porn is scorned and yet romance novels and soap operas are merely laughed off as drivel. Especially since I know of several women who take issue with their men looking at pictures and videos, while they are watch their soaps and Lifetime and all that. It seems to me that if one member of an exclusive couple isn't allowed to get off thinking about someone else, neither should the other.
However, it seems to me that in most realistic, honest relationships there are going to be times where the fantasy of something different is more appealing then the reality. That's OK, just as long as the people in the relationship work it out with their partner(s?). Otherwise, the relationship is in trouble anyway.
Trying to attribute the huge divorce rate we have nowadays to porn in any form is silly and myopic. It also requires people to think that divorce is inherently bad. It's not. Some relationships just don't work.
Now I'm rambling
The point is, don't be a hypocrit. Oh, and right wing talk radio is funny.
While I clearly don't think that porn is a bad thing, I think that they might be on to something. It's unfair that traditional porn is scorned and yet romance novels and soap operas are merely laughed off as drivel. Especially since I know of several women who take issue with their men looking at pictures and videos, while they are watch their soaps and Lifetime and all that. It seems to me that if one member of an exclusive couple isn't allowed to get off thinking about someone else, neither should the other.
However, it seems to me that in most realistic, honest relationships there are going to be times where the fantasy of something different is more appealing then the reality. That's OK, just as long as the people in the relationship work it out with their partner(s?). Otherwise, the relationship is in trouble anyway.
Trying to attribute the huge divorce rate we have nowadays to porn in any form is silly and myopic. It also requires people to think that divorce is inherently bad. It's not. Some relationships just don't work.
Now I'm rambling
The point is, don't be a hypocrit. Oh, and right wing talk radio is funny.