All in all I liked this course a lot.  It really opened my eyes to a lot of things I would have never thought about otherwise and I feel like I am a little less sheletered and a little more aware of reality.  I think it is really bold and brave of Prof Halavais to offer such a controversial class.  I really enjoyed reading the differing opinions on different topics and I especially liked it when I got to read a convincing argument from the other side of the fencepost.  It really gets you thinking.

I also really enjoyed the way the course was set up.  As a distance learning class I really loved being able to do things on my own time.  It allowed me to learn better because I could do my work when I was comfortable and had time.  In addition, blogging is an easier way to express oneself without being nervous about speaking in front of a large group in public.  I felt I could be myself and say what I meant, and that I could communicate more honestly with strangers than I would in the normal classroom setting.  I feel like I met more people and heard more honest and thoughtful opinions.  Especially for a school like UB, I think that is a huge bonus.

The only thing I would say is that I did enjoy blogging more when there was a little bit more of a projec to do, like researching other blogs or making the timeline.  I felt it difficult to find something fresh to say each and every week on more than one occasion, especially on topics that I didn't really have a strong thought on.  I understand these 'assignments' cannot be available all the time, but I did welcome them.  They often helped me think about things that were more relevant to the material being offered.

This class has been a lot of fun and very interesting and provoking.  When subjects of this nature come up in real life I feel now like I really have something substantial to offer.  I will miss reading some of your blogs and wracking my brain for something worthwhile to say on some pretty important issues.  Thanks guys and good luck with the final!

The new laws seem to cover some pretty important things.  While porn (as we know) is difficult to define and means different things to different people, there are a few things that are DEFINATELY porn in everyone's mind.  These things will at least be marked so that people can at least be aware and try to protect themselves and their children.  I especially like the fact that sites that will show up on a search for children's items will be filtered and prosecuted.  I feel it is particularly essential to protect the children and keep them innocent and clean to grow up away from porn so that their lives can be pure for at least a little while.

While I am sure that the new laws won't solve all the problems, and they may create a few, I still like to see the attempt.  I also think that the laws will help at least a little.  It helps to try and inform and protect people.  I really like to see that despite being such a tough subject, the Bush administration is at least trying to do a little something.

The author then goes on to justify this practice because an 18 year old can legally act in porn and its much better for pedophiles to see 'fake child porn' than real child porn with REAL children.  Apparently pedophiles are going to look at child porn regardless of its legality so it may as well be fake instead of real.

True as that might be, are we serious here?  Can you really suggest that we should PLACATE TO PEDOPHILES?  Basically, the idea here is that if an 18 year old (or anyone of age) is young enough looking and acts to be 13 to put on a 'fake' child porn show this is somehow better than real child porn. While it is true that no children are being harmed in production, the pedophile who looks at this stuff is still getting a hard on over kids and may be encouraged to do something in real life.  Sick.

By taking the real children out of child porn we are not helping them.  Though it may sound less horrific, its basically just placating to pedophiles by providing them with something to get their fix with.  Maybe instead we should just arrest them instead of giving them something that 'isn't quite as bad.'

The blog entry is more of a news release stating that a Disney employee left pictures of child pornography on his computer which his roomates later found.  They reported this to Disney who fired him shorty after.

I am very happy to hear Disney's reaction to this.  While I  am kind of of the school of 'whatever floats your boat' I do have an 18-month-old niece whom I love very much.  The thought of her at some point being used for porn makes me sick (I almost cannot type it here).  I couldn't imagine how parents or anyone who loves a child who had been used for porn could even make it through one day with that thought in the back of thier heads. 

I do understand that there are some sick people out there.

In any case, this guy works with kids and for kids; imagine what he is thinking anytime a school tour comes through or even anytime he sees a kid with Mickey Mouse that is probably posted in the office.  It gives me the shivers.  Disney did the right thing in firing this man promptly, and I would hope any other organization might also do the same.

I very much enjoyed your article on gay porn.  As a very Catholic, very straight, and very sheltered (I attended private all-girls Catholic school for most of my life) young woman, I often forget how little I am exposed to the other side of the story.  Your article was a very good look at a topic that I would normally rattle on about without even considering how it would be from another perspective.  Thank you for providing that perspective for me to think about.

 Earlier in this class Prof. Halavais discussed gay porn and how quite often straight men participate in gay porn because the money is better.  It seems as though it is very important to you to provide both safe but entertaining sex for the gay community.  I was thinking during this topic that it would be difficult to truly enjoy oneself during sex if a person was engaging in an activity with a gender they do not typically prefer.  However, as you say men cannot fake it and that your sex scences are always showing great sex for gay men to see how it can be true in reality as well.   I was wondering how many of your actors are straight versus gay, and if you think their personal sexual preference makes a difference in acting ability.  Is the sex better if both actors are gay, or worse if both are straight, or does it simply not matter?

I was also curious on your thoughts on another topic.  I blogged earlier about the effects of porn on men.  Many people talk about how porn objectifies women and makes rape acceptable in the minds of some.  The ways porn can hurt a women is a topic that is discussed constantly.  But does porn do the same at all to men?  For example, do you think gay porn (and not necessarily in your films but in other films as well) perhaps puts negative thoughts into the heads of those who view it?  Do you think straight porn can put into a woman's head how men should be expected to perform during sex, perhaps putting addded pressure on men?

Thank you for your time and input in this course! 

As a little kid in grammar school, or even one in high school for the most part, we live life thinking that if we swear all the world will come crumbling to the end.  I remember that gasp of horror when one of these words came out of a friend's mouth, and of course the worry afterward about Suzy Snitch tattling to the teacher.  And if she did, the grounding, the parents to school, the detention or sent to the principal… it was a bad bad thing.

Honestly though what is really the big deal about saying "oh damn it!"  or "what the hell!"  or even "this 20page paper is a bitch"?  No one is getting hurt, and it doesn't really mean anything.  Calling someone some specific words can get nasty and offensive, but calling someone fat can be just as mean, and no one thinks of fat as a swear.

Anyway growing up that way is really just putting those words off until later in life.  Keeping kids from swearing is just society telling us that kids should be kept from swearing.  Honestly it just doesn't seem to matter, and most times I hear little kids swearing it ends up being a funny story the parents tell at the PTA anyway.

 A good friend of mine has three great girls whom i adore.  The eldest is nine, middle just turned eight, the youngest three.  They are cute and smart, but also shy and often lack self-confidence.  This friend of mine is the wife of a doctor and so she has this guy (whom I dated a little) who is at the house every day basically just doing whatever she wants.  Wash the cars, plant shrubs, go shopping, drive her trailer to Florida, whatever her heart desires.  Over the last 2 years he has become sort of a part of the family and sometimes picks up the kids from school and babysits.

This kid always seemed like a nice guy to me.  Not really dating material, but I always gave him snaps about being nice when I talked about him.  However, last week, the eldest child told her mother that the other day when this guy was babysitting, he showed her pictures that he had taken with his phone and sent to her laptop.  The pictures were of a party he held at their house the previous year when he housesat while they were on vacation, and included two lesbians making out with no clothes on on their living room couch, among other several inappropriate things.

Now this guy has been a loyal and decent employee who everyone has always liked.  But now we hear this story about something incredibly unacceptable and even maybe illegal and I have to wonder.  Is this the first stupid thing this kid has done?  Is there more to it than what we've been hearing?  The whole thing is just weird.  And it just goes to show you that you really have to be careful with who you leave your kids with.  Make sure you know them really really well.

I remember these arguments.  They are the same things we learned at the beginning of the course when the question at hand was "What is pornography?"  The answer was just about the same as the answer to "What is obscenity?"

So the question that I must then ask is, what is the difference?  Obscenity and pornography seem in my mind to be basically the same thing; defined different by all, but placed in the same categories by each individual.  If each porn to one person can be nothing to another, and obscenity to one person can be nothing to another, then where does the line separate each one?  Couldn't one person consider one certain instance to be both pornographic and obscence?  Is there really a difference at all between the two? 

So I read the Morgan article.  For those who didn't, Morgan describes rape as "any time sexual intercourse takes place wen it has not been initiated by the woman out of her own genuine affection and desire."  She goes on to say that rape occurs every night in the US when a woman has sex with her husband instead of reading or sleeping just because she is afraid he will leave her or stop loving her.  Morgan says woman are under intense pressure for sex all the time.  Plus, porn is the theory, rape is the action.

I take this opportunity to say that you feminist psychos can just chill out and really think about the absurdity of that line of thinking.

Come on people.  Last time I checked there were a few times in life when we had to do things we didn't want to (hell do you really think I want to be writing this blog over watching TV?).  You can't always get what you want and life is hard.  Deal with it and stop crying about how hard women have it.  Women hold the power if you ask me.  And ps, I am a woman.

Men have it hard too.   Right now, I'm thinking of two really decent guys I know who work their asses off, and therefore they are able to provide for the nice things their families can enjoy… including their wives.  To be totally honest, seeing all they sacrifice so their children can enjoy wonderful things, I think they deserve to do whatever keeps them happy and able to work that hard everyday.  If it means watching porn, then go for it, and if I were their wives, driving my Jag in my fur, or simply waking up each day with a smile, I'd say whatever keeps him happy to keep me happy.

Second of all, the rape thing in the house.  Again, we should sacrifice for those we love.  My last boyfriend was a great guy. He always picked me up, always opened all the doors, brought me candy, called me and made the plans, paid for dinner, listened to me talk (I know why did I break up with him? ).  Did he really want to do all those things for me?  Probably not, and if he did, it was because he wanted to make me happy.  And I usually expect no less than that kind of treatment from any guy I date, because quite honestly I deserve that.  Well maybe you can argue that he does that stuff out of 'fear' too, maybe he feels pressure to do that because of losing me.  Hey, he spent a whole lot of money on me doing that stuff, and that is never any fun.

So basically, after treating me so well and working hard all day to make that money to do so, he deserves to get a little from me.   How many times did he want to when I would have preferred to sleep?  A lot.  How many times did I initiate it?  Not a lot.  How many times did I initiate it because I knew he wanted it?  A few.  But not because I was afraid, because I wanted him to be happy, just like he wanted me to be happy.  Thats how it works when you love someone… give and take.  Did he rape me all those times he initiated sex and I felt like reading?  Come on.  Get off your soapbox and get with reality.  Sometimes life is just life and nothing more.

My second favorite is the blog by jaimobuema.  I find that I tend to agree with the topics discussed in this blog and it helps me to phrase what I am thinking. http://caliact.wordpress.com/

Finally, the blog by pornocali is great.  The writing makes a point and is often funny.  It makes me think and keeps a smile on my face at the same time.http://pornocali.wordpress.com/