Ethel Morman Sings The Blues

Not so prodigal son Josh Duggar blames his marital infidelities on the evils of pornography. I expected the Independent Fundamental Baptists, the mother church for the Duggar Clan, to be behind #pornkillslove. That will teach me to jump to conclusions. It’s not the Baptists at all. It’s the Latter Day Saints (LDS) and a project of their prodigal child, Clay Olsen.

Olsen is the CEO and founder of “Fight the New Drug,” a non-profit based in Salt Lake City, UT, “a youth activist movement dedicated to raising awareness on the harmful effects of pornography and other forms of sexual exploitation through science, facts, and personal accounts.”

No, this isn’t aimed at philandering husbands, it’s aimed at teenagers. What the abstinence/purity movement is to pre-marital sex, this is the porn version.

They repeat their opening salvo ad nauseum:

In real life, real love requires a real person. Research has found that after men are exposed to pornography, they rate themselves as less in love with their partner than men who didn’t see any porn. On top of that, another study found that after being exposed to pornographic images, people were more critical of their partner’s appearance, sexual curiosity, sexual performance, and displays of affection.

Let’s stop right there and substitute “fragrance ad” for pornography. Or magazine cover. Or a swimming competition. Or a store mannequin. Or a date night movie. Or a romantic novel.

They follow that up with another gem, “Pornographers pretend that what they’re selling is Love 2.0. It’s like love, they say, but easier.”

I have been a pornographer since 2003. I have sold my product in many ways. I have sold many products. Love was never one of them. Let’s take a moment to consider their premise: the idea that porn, a product, could contain love. They are wrong. And they are wrong about a lot more than porn.

That very idea that love can found in porn could only exist in the mind of someone who was looking precisely there and hoping to find just that. The lady doth protest too much, me thinks.

As a culture, gay men celebrate our sexuality in ways our heterosexual counterparts aspire to. Gay porn allows gay sexuality to be celebrated when almost everything else seeks to vilify it. This is to neither glorify nor diminish gay porn for what it is. What it isn’t, is love. We’re not the ones who are confused here.

#pornkillslove targets teens. I am glad the internet wasn’t around when I was a teenager: I might never have left my room. There is a need being addressed. Of course I am not advocating porn for anyone under age. I am also never an advocate for providing them with wrong information.

Is there a legitimate thing as pornography addiction? Definitely. The operative word is addiction, not pornography. Addiction is an equal opportunity employer in every way.

In the Duggar household, for example. Their internet and television access is carefully filtered. Modesty extends to the Duggar sons wearing shirts when swimming. No visible nipples ever. No kissing before marriage. The “Sister Wives” dressed for the girls.

Certainly nothing so sexually repressive could ever come back to haunt such an insulated, isolated family could it? It’s not like anyone who couldn’t let his nipples show at the pool could possibly go on a porn binge once he moved away from mammy and pappy … right?

You can try and remove and restrict all references of sexuality to teenagers but it does not stop them from developing sexually. Incomplete and incorrect information does not help them develop a healthy attitude about sex, sexuality and boundaries no matter what age, faith, gender. gender identity or sexual persuasion.

Adults are likely to come into contact with pornography. #pornkillslove more than deprives, it diabolizes a healthy human response.

Life is about balance. Sexuality is part of life. Pornography is the expression of sexuality. Not love. Those of us in adult entertainment understand that very clearly. #pornkillslove enters a false correlation and connotation of porn being anti-love into the national conversation of our young people. No one can learn think or speak intelligently on a subject in which they have not been given the benefit of the access to the truth.

Porn and love exist in different realms but are not mutually exclusive in this one.

#pornkillslove Misinformation for the post-millennials …

Tags: #pornkillslove, anti-porn, misinformation