Reply #262: No, we don't exist in a vacuum. But consenting adults fucking in front of cameras

[Warren DeMontague]

doesn't cause teen bullying and suicide.

I think VALUES are important: namely, values like compassion, kindness, understanding, and also TOLERANCE and FREEDOM.

I've had all sorts of crap and name-calling thrown at my head in this thread simply because I have consistently, repeatedly, stood up for a very simple and (to me) self-explanatory position: that consenting adults should be free to do what they want in their bedrooms and in front of cameras, and other consenting adults should be free to watch them- again, if everyone is a consenting adult.

For this, I get called every name in the book, I supposedly hate women and endorse rape, and I don't care if bullied teens commit suicide. Jesus.

Some people clearly disapprove of other people's consensual sex activities- you don't need to look too hard to see it, here. You have at least one poster in the thread who likes consensual adult bondage (ie being tied up) yet others believe that any depiction of that consensual adult activity somehow harms "all women" and exerts a mojo-like quantum influence on the ability of women to achieve pay parity.

I think if the problem is SPECIFIC ads, like the one Dolce and Gabbana ad from 6 or so years ago that is continually pulled out as "Advertising is promoting rape and bondage!!!" then yes, challenge that company and challenge that ad campaign. I've often said that the answer to bad speech is good speech, MORE speech. This is not a mere academic exercise for me; I come from a Jewish family in the Midwest and I remember when the Nazis marched in Skokie. I understand that the 1st Amendment is only as good as the right of the most offensive voices to be heard.

I also think there have been good campaigns aimed at promoting self-esteem in everyone from teen girls to GLBT youth, in recent years. I wholeheartedly support those campaigns.