Please remain seated til the seatbelt sign is turned off.

It's the end of the semester and I must say it's about time! As far as I can remember, I've not put in as much effort in my other classes as compared to this one. Well, not as consistent perhaps. Weekly blogging, lectures, and readings. Especially when the topic is hushed-hushed, every information is a new one. Most of them are anyway. No week goes by without the ooohhs, and aahhhs. So much so that I doubt I can be surprised any further.

Right from the Casablance test to the Miller test, and everything in between and beyond gives a whole new meaning to pornography. Before, porn was just a word. Tagging with it are images of various sexual acts that are of pure animalistic desires. To me, the biggest bring home point is not what I have learned but rather how I will perceive porn. What use is information if it doesn't educate? In a way I feel that I have matured during the course of the class. The blogging forces me to think from multiple standpoints and be able to see where each party is coming from. 

And it's not easy to have ~400 people at one time, talking intelligently about porn for 14 weeks! So here’s a pat on the back for each and everyone!

"When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing.” –Enrique Jardiel Poncela

Can I build a fence around myself?

You may probably remember "The Pie" episode from Seinfeld, in which Seinfeld's girlfriend refuses to share a pie with him. Anyway, there's this small part integrated within the episode where Elaine gets freaked out with a mannequin that looks exactly like her. Incase you didn't catch this one episode, here's a little excerpt which I credit to http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/ThePie.html

KRAMER: (to the gang) There's a clothing store downtown. They got a mannequin in there that looks exactly like Elaine.
ELAINE: Get out!
KRAMER: It's uncanny! It's like they chopped off your arms and legs, dipped you in plastic, and screwed you back all together, and stuck you on a pedestal. It's really quite exquisite.

STRANGER: Do I know you?
ELAINE: Hmm… No you don't.
STRANGER: Yeah! You were wearing a G-string and one of those bras with points.
ELAINE: The mannequin!

(Jerry and Elaine enter and see the mannequin getting spanked by another mannequin)
JERRY: Boy, the resemblance is uncanny.
(Elaine goes to the saleswoman)
ELAINE: You think you can pose me however you want? That's my ass in your window!
SALESWOMAN: It's our store and our mannequin, we can do whatever we want with it.
ELAINE: No! You take down that mannequin right now, or I'm pressing charges. (Jerry goes along) Yes, this is my attorney.
SALESWOMAN: (to Jerry) Yeah? What law am I breaking?
JERRY: Well, I believe there's some legal precedent – Winchell vs. Mahoney,
ELAINE: Uh-huh
JERRY: The Charlie McCarthy hearings.
ELAINE: Uh-huh. Are you taking this down?
SALESWOMAN: I'm getting the manager. (she leaves)

RICKY'S BOSS: Ricky, we've been getting a tremendous response to your TR-6 mannequin.
RICKY: TR-6? I prefer to think of her as… Elaine.

Just thought I should add in the fact that Paul Winchell is a ventriloquist and Jerry Mahoney his wooden dummy. As for Charlie McCarthy, "he" is a puppet of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen.

Well, I thought this small section on resemblance possibly sprouted from the case of White v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (1993). Vanna White of Wheel of Fortune, sued Samsung, citing Samsung infringed her right of publicity by "appropriating" her "identity" in an advertisement which starred a robot dressed in a wig, gown, and jewelry implicative of White's hair and dress.

I remember catching this particular Seinfeld episode sometime last year I think (Yes, I'm slow). As usual I didn't give it much thought and just laughed my way through. So when Dr. Halavais mentioned about appropriation, this somehow popped in my head. Clearly, Elaine's privacy has been violated. If you were her, you too wouldn't want your face on a mannequin, free to be dressed and posed in any manner.

One thing which I can say is that there's tons of laws out there, protecting rights of which some I don't even know exist. When law students reply that they READ law, you can be sure that's exactly what they are doing!

Many of us scramble through the Internet or seek legal advice after suspecting that our rights are violated. At times we may not even know we've been infringed. There's so much factual information on intellectual property laws, privacy laws, and appropriation statute which I cannot all cite onto this post. Not to say you'll be tired out by the length, I'd get finger-cramps from cutting and pasting, and citing. Instead I shall leave a few of the links below.

§ 652C Appropriation of Name or Likeness. Restatement of the Law, Second, Torts, § 652 Copyright (c) 1977, The American Law Institute

Photographer's Guide To Privacy: New York

Privacy and Publicity Rights

 

Virtual Global Taskforce

Just 2 days ago, the launch of the new Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre marks the most significant development in child protection in the UK. CEOP is a member of the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT), which is made up of law enforcement agencies from around the world. Other members include the Australian High Tech Crime Centre, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the US Department of Homeland Security, and Interpol. Industry partners comprise of Microsoft, MSN, AOL UK, Vodafone, and BT.

Operation PIN was launched in December 2003, with the main aim of deterring pedophiles and criminals from searching for images of child abuse online. The operation involves creation of dummy websites containing such pictures. Anyone who attempts to download the images will have their details recorded and passed on to the relevant authorities.

VGT also allows children to report suspicious activities online directly to a police officer. This online reporting facility currently operates in Australia and UK, and will soon be operational in Canada, and US.

VGT eNewsletter, Issue 1: Spring 2006

Porn stars pray to…???

Well, the blog which I came across isn't solely on pornography but the author did put up an interesting article on the American Bible Society's disapproval of New Testaments with covers that say "Jesus Loves Porn Stars."

Well, the cover can be misleading when read at surface value. But neither are the pastors in the wrong. It's just that both the parties are looking at the same coin from opposite sides. If Jesus really does love everyone, what's in a profession? I don't have much knowledge of the different religions but I'm tolerant of each and every single one. One thing which I seriously cannot comprehend is religious war. Why would people in the right mind kill just to prove that their religion is the absolute?

If there is a Will, there is a Grace.

Homosexuality has been present since the dawn of time. Such relationships have been recorded in China since approximately 600BC. Same-sex relationships in ancient Greece were a social institution variously constructed over time and from one city to another.

Homosexuality in Japan, variously known as shudo or nanshoku, terms influenced by Chinese literature, has been documented for over one thousand years and was an integral part of Buddhist monastic life and the samurai tradition. This same-sex love culture gave rise to strong traditions of painting and literature documenting and celebrating such relationships.

Among many Middle-Eastern Muslim cultures, homosexual practices were widespread and public…In Persia homosexuality and homoerotic expressions were tolerated in numerous public places, from monasteries and seminaries to taverns, military camps, bathhouses, and coffee houses. In the early Safavid era (1501-1723), male houses of prostitution (amrad khaneh) were legally recognized and paid taxes.

Homosexuality was common, if not celebrated back then. What happened in between then and now? The modern gay movement has to work triple hard to strive themselves as equal beings in the eyes of the society. As mentioned by Mr. Lucas, gay people are portrayed by the media in a skewed manner.

I do not see what is the big fuss on gay porn. If there is one, it should be similar to that of mainstream porn. It's weird that a society can accept gay people, but look away in disgust when they have sex. It's a package! You accept them, you accept that sex is present too! In my opinion, they are no different from any of us except for their sexual orientation.

On the other hand, I can see why the gay media is openly distancing themselves from gay porn. Being gay doesn't mean you are naturally in approval of gay porn. Like I said, these people are no different from the heterosexuals. So here are my questions to Mr. Lucas,

In view of the gay media distancing themselves from gay porn, do you feel betrayed in a way by your people?
What do you foresee in the attitudes of the gay media towards gay pornography?

Pedophile Anonymous?

For every cause, there is an effect. Similarly, an action produces a reaction. Well, the tree doesn't sway if the wind doesn't blow. So, there should be an explanation for pedophilia, no matter how ugly the activity is and all we want to do is let them burn in hell. If we can be sympathetic of rapists and murderers, there must be people out there who are sympathetic of pedophiles. The world-is-such-a-beautiful-place me even went as far as thinking wouldn't it be great if organized support groups exist to "help" these societal rejects.

To my absolute disbelief, the Google search came up with nothing relevant. Either that or I wasn't looking hard enough. The closest that I could find were pedophile activist groups but that wasn't what I was looking for. I was looking for a support group that will "cure" pedophiles, as what Alcholics Anonymous do for alcoholics.

Surprisingly, most of the groups were associated to gays and lesbians. It seems that gay men constitute a high percentage of pedophiles (about 1 out of 36 men). Since we are discussing about child pornography, a picture of abuse and violence is conjured in my mind. Upon reading the so called pro-pedophilia acticles, I'm beginning to see a sliver of light. But of course some of their reasonings can be pretty absurd, if not weird.

Then in 1990, the Journal of Homosexuality produced a special double issue devoted to adult-child sex, which was entitled "Male Intergenerational Intimacy" (1). One article said many pedophiles believe they are "born that way and cannot change" (p. 133). Another writer said a man who counseled troubled teenage boys could achieve "miracles… not by preaching to them, but by sleeping with them." The loving pedophile can offer a "companionship, security and protection" which neither peers nor parents can provide (p. l62). Parents should look upon the pedophile who loves their son "not as a rival or competitor, not as a thief of their property, but as a partner in the boy's upbringing, someone to be welcomed into their home…" (p. 164).

Now I can see why pedophile activists are not making any progress. If you are a parent, would you accept reasonings the likes of this? Hell, no!

On the other hand, it is mentioned that not all pedophiliac activities involves non-consensual parties, and that it should only be abuse if the child feels bad about the relationship.

If psychology indeed recognizes consensual pedophilia as harmless, then civil law and social norms will be under pressure to follow the lead of social science…as indeed they did on the issue of homosexuality. When psychiatry declared homosexuality normal, our courts and theologians began to re-write both civil law and moral theology based on what psychiatry said it had discovered through the medium of empirical science.

In my opinion, pedophilia will continouously receive massive criticism not only from the conservative activists and groups but from the society in general. I do not have immense hatred for pedophiles, neither do I encourage them. But I do look down upon child abusers. Obviously this is too complex an issue to be able to draw a clear line between the two.

Excuse me, how do I say as*hole in Spanish?

I love pictures. If given a choice, I would rather flip through a comic than read a novel. What's that saying they say? A picture speaks a thousand words, or something that sounds profoundly close. Hilarious as the two pictures may seem, but it really does show the degree of children's exposure to sex. Ok, enough said about that.

So, what about using curse words? Is it considered vulgar and not "proper"? As mentioned by Walfredo, f*ck is such a commonly heard word. To me, the word has lost much of its "vulgarity value". To make things worse, it's so convenient to substitute f*ck in sentences, and at the same time able to express the emotional depth.

Who the f*ck do you think you are?
Oh, this is so f*cking delicious.
Are you f*cking serious about it?

This reminds me of something that happened probably some 10 years ago. Having just returned from a vacation to Italy, I was fascinated with the language. So at the bookstore, I thumbed through an English-Italian dictionary. Guess what were the first few words that I looked up. Yup, they were bastard and stupid. I pride myself in being able to speak a few languages, and funnily enough the curse words seem to stick around longer than the rest. Maybe you've realized too that when learning a new language, it usually starts off with hello and good morning. Next thing you know, you'll be wanting to learn how to swear in that language.

Tangled In-the-net!

It's always about the children! Have you realized that? Campaign against smoking, drug-use, alcohol consumption etc., have all been in one way or another, aimed at protecting the children. If pornography does not harm the children, I don't think it would render as much attention. Unfortunately, pornography is down with two strikes. Not only is the ease of availability stirring a hurricane, but the cause for concern is the sexual abuse of the children.

Sen. Mark Pryor mentioned that there's not been strong effort public relations campaign the likes of smoking and drug-use, against pornography and child predators. I find that it's a very subjective and even sensitive issue to be campaigning against. Yes, it can possibly be done on child pornography but not on mainstream porn. We are well aware of the physical health hazards concerned with smoking and drug-use. Everyone agrees that the two forementioned activities have an effect on the society. It is medically proven. As for the effects of pornography, there is no scientific/medical evidence that the physical state of health is at risk. So, to start a big-scale campaign against pornography based on societal values and ethics is just not going to work.

To combat child pornography on the internet involves the global community as a whole. Single efforts cannot sever the far-reaching hands of the internet. In order to effectively take down child pornographers, the global community must be working on the same page. Obviously this is easier said than done. Cultural or governmental differences sometimes makes it difficult to even be on the same book, much less the same page!

The problem with the internet is that information is relayed too fast! (I must be nuts to be saying this as each time I'm willing it to go faster). The conventional mails can be intercepted by the postal offices, and it takes at least a few days to reach the recipients. As for the internet, the blink of an eye is all it takes to reach every deep corner of the world. Imagine if you have to physically duplicate gazillion hard copies of child porn, seal and mail them out. I'll have to file for Chapter 11 before I even get pass New York State.

Vulgar?

Would you consider this poster to be vulgar? Well, apparently the Hong Kong subway department seems to think so. This is actually a movie poster, with the design apparently meant as a positive promotion to women's public health. Just a note, the movie is an adaption of a novel telling the story of a woman with breast cancer. Anyway, the poster is banned in the HK subways.

Cultural differences are still pretty apparent. In a way, everyone is trying to get their foot onto the bus of technological advancements. But are the cultural values riding on the same bus too?

My neighbor lives in Timbaktu!

mrdennis mentioned on how the world is essentially getting smaller, with the example of the formation of EU. When EU came about, the positivities were highlighted in terms of travel and the most obvious being the common currency used. It never quite occured to me that pornography had any piece of the cake. I don’t think Vatican City will be joining EU, ever.

The internet definitely has made the world really really small! An email is received almost instantaneously. Imagine that you’re virtually connected to the world, with just a computer and an internet connection. Common as it may seem but when you really sit down and think, it’s quite amazing. It doesn’t matter if you live in Germany or Indonesia, cyberspace becomes a common playground. Swatch even went as far as creating the Swatch Internet time, which I never quite understood how to read.

Distribution of porn becomes so much easier, especially with P2P networks. Those living in countries with bans on porn can simply log onto P2P networks and download them off the web. It’s a child’s play really. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to do that. Well, you don’t need to be a scientist at all! Ram into walls? Forums and tutorials are there to help.