A dangerous image

Having mentioned Mitt Romney in a post last week, in the interests of being fair and balanced, I thought I should also devote a post to the other leading light of the GOP – Rick Santorum. Apologies to my readers from outside the US for whom this may not be all that interesting. I know the US primaries get a fair amount of coverage in the world press, so at least this shouldn’t be completely devoid of context for most people.

It turns out that Rick is not a big fan of pornography. That isn’t much of a shocker given his position on other social and sexual issues. He’s also not big on gay marriage, sodomy, contraception, pre-marital sex or abortion. His website contains the following:

America is suffering a pandemic of harm from pornography.

Pornography is toxic to marriages and relationships. It contributes to misogyny and violence against women. It is a contributing factor to prostitution and sex trafficking.
Rick Santorum

That first sentence is a sly one. At first I read it as ‘a pandemic of pornography’, which given porns prevalence on the Internet isn’t too extreme a position. But he’s actually saying a ‘pandemic of harm’, which is far less obvious and calls for a much greater burden of proof. Unsurprisingly that proof is not supplied. He believes in a far stricter enforcement of the US obscenity laws. This old interview with ex-federal prosecutor Bruce Taylor should give you some idea of what is meant by that approach (I’ve linked to this interview before). This blog and pretty much every tumblr site on my images page would be in the firing line as obscene.

I wonder how they feel about images like the one below? It definitely causes me to have prurient sexual thoughts, and I’m publishing it with the intent of creating the same effect on others. I’m also not sure I can make a case for it having redeeming social value. It’s beautiful, but I’m not sure simple aesthetics really count in these matters. Otherwise that’d be a obvious get-out-of-jail card to always play. So, from my perspective at least, this is pornography.

It would seem that this is therefore causing me harm. And possibly creating misogyny, violence to women and sex trafficking. After all it can’t simply be the sight of naked flesh that causes harm. Otherwise it’d be dangerous to look in the mirror when getting changed. Similarly sex itself can’t be toxic to relationships, otherwise the human race would be extinct by now. So it must be something special about the sexual thoughts created when looking at images or movies. This ladies elegant profile, her piercing gaze and her strict governess style outfit are destroying my brain and/or morals as I type. Damn.

If later tonight you find that your relationship has been destroyed and you’ve been forced into prostitution as a result of this image I do apologize. I promise not to post such filth again. At least until tomorrow anyway.

Portrait by Ilya KokorevThis is by the photographer Ilya Kokorev. I found it on the Continuous State of Desire tumblr.

Author: paltego

See the 'about' page if you really want to know about me.

6 thoughts on “A dangerous image”

  1. Hi paltego,

    What a fascinating, austere, and prurient image. I can feel the harm engorging my sinful flesh with demonic heat. Soon the sea will part and I will step forward to be engulfed in waves of remorse and, if I’m lucky, rattan retribution.

    Best,

    scott
    Mrs. Kelly’s Playhouse

    1. Hey scott,

      Well don’t blame me if Em gets kidnapped by white slavers and you end up a hairy palmed sweaty inmate in a lunatic asylum. I did warn you!
      🙂

      -paltego

  2. Ah! Brain melting, morals are… a little twisted at times but otherwise fine. That’s an image I always had in my head and wanted to see in person but to see it on the Internet is just dandy too. It is now etched into the back of my eyes like a 3d photo in a crystal/plastic cube. Just found your blog and am really enjoying it.

    1. Glad to hear I’m not responsible for twisting your morals any further from the straight and narrow. And also good to hear you are enjoying the blog. I might be a masochist, but when it comes to blogging a little positive feedback is always nice!

      -paltego

Leave a Reply to paltego Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *