Letters to the Editor
Anne in NYC
Published Letters: 314 Editor's Choice: 37
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“the notions that porn is degrading to women”
[Read the article: Who put this feminism in my porno?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I’m often board by porn, and sometimes surprised by what other people are up to, but I don’t find watching it degrading. I think most adults can separate their bedroom interests from how to behave in the real world.
The argument against porn that is more convincing is the ‘actors’ in these films are really prostitutes and are often taken advantage of. I do think there is probably some truth to that – but I’ve also seen enough amateur porn to know that some people really get off on knowing they’re going to be watched by other people. It can be kind of an ‘I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine’ kind of situation. Like anything else you’ve just got to shop around for the thing that suites you.
I’m not about to go looking at porn at work so I can’t really comment on the stuff we’re specifically talking about. But I have a pretty good feeling feminist porn is not my thing. But cheers that a community that otherwise wasn’t enjoying it now is.
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really missing that ‘anonymous’ feature…
[Read the article: Who put this feminism in my porno?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]“I wonder why you think that feminist porn isn't your thing.”
I got to see some at a film festival a few years ago. It was too ‘respectful’ and tame to me. I ended up snickering a lot. I think there was a Pirate involved in one of the shorts. For sure there was lots of soft lighting. It just wasn’t my scene. But I don’t expect everything to be exactly my cup of tea.
“I do think porn does shape the way men and women see sex.”
I do agree with that statement. I just don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. It can be – but you could say that about any segment of the media: Fox News has shaped lots of people in a bad way, but before we damn all TV we should remember how PBS has been so educational. I think it's live and let live.
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No time, no interest
[Read the article: Are women less willing to speak their minds?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I run when I see one of these people I run too. If you stopped for that sort of thing you’d never get from point A to point B – and when I’m on my way home from work nothing slows me down. It’s certainly due to the fact that she’s pretty that she’s even getting men to stop for her. And it’s no small wonder the women with these men are annoyed to be held up.
I think she’s really misinterpreted the reaction of the women in these clips. I watched for body language, sans the sound, and I saw women looking at her with distrust and annoyance. That little side step and downward smile women keep giving her? That’s the same uncomfortable move I use to get away from crazy people who start chatting me up. And it turns out that’s the move to use with her – because if look straight ahead and keep walking she’ll just chase after you with her mike and then use that footage without permission.
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got me crying at work
[Read the article: When rape is just another workplace dispute]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is all so upsetting I really don’t know what to say.
I do know that every person who responds to this post with statements like ‘she should have read the fine print’ are forever going down in my little black book as PURE EVIL.
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Craziness
[Read the article: Hey, Obama boys: Back off already!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I’m a pro-Clinton (not by much – they are very similar candidates IMO) and I see a lot of truth in this article.
But what really proves the article’s point are these letters in response to it! I just read a random sampling and wow – Obama supporters can be super crazy! It kind of like listening to a bunch of Dittoheads – it’s not the welcoming, smart conversation I expect from my fellow democrats.
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who's greedy?
[Read the article: In court, J.K. Rowling nearly cries over Harry Potter Lexicon]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I might enjoy reading free Harry Potter fan fiction but if one of those people starts charging for me for it that crosses the line. It’s not the fact that this person wrote the book that makes it bad – it’s that he’s charging for it.
And as much as I love JK I don’t think we can compare an encyclopedia of her work to a Ulysses companion. Ulysses is some complicated shit. I’d have had a hell of a time understanding that without a literary guide. But organizing JK’s text in alphabetical order, without adding any new insight, is just someone obsessing over the detail. Do I really need to know that exact spell to get it? And if JK wrote the spell who is this person to point it out and expect payment? I don’t think JK’s coming off as greedy at all. To me she comes off like someone protecting her work and I’d be doing the same thing.
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This isn’t about abortion being wrong
[Read the article: Indians prefer boys]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It’s about women being completely undervalued. And it’s super freaky that it’s women (you would hope – I suspect some major arm twisting) who are making these determinations.
But I do wonder what the outcome of this is. Is it a fad? Will populations fall? Will Indian women of a certain age become more valuable? Will traditions that are passed from mother to daughter be lost? Will men look to other countries for brides and how will those places be affected? Will traditional Indian society change with so many foreign women in their midst? I’m looking for a silver-lining but it’s hard to find as I think these questions out. You want populations to fall because people are well educated and wealthy and it’s a choice – not because they can’t find a date.