Who knows what porn is? Not the Family Association, apparently

In the same edition of the Herald Sun that thought it front-page worthy to advertise that Mary Korp - the woman in a coma after being found in the boot of her car - was a member of a 'sex site', carrying the implication that the paper just might think she was 'asking for it' (whatever it is), there is an opinion piece by Kerrie Allen. Who is she? Well, she's a 'research officer' for the Australia Family Association.

Her piece, entitled 'We don't want Debbie to do Melbourne', seemed to deny that the musical version of the classic porn film Debbie Does Dallas could be humourous or satirical, simply because of its subject matter. 'Since when has exploitation been humourous?' she asks. Dr. Allen asserts that pornography is exploitative (of WOMEN and woman alone, note)and that the presence of the musical in Melbourne is sending a bad message to 'our daughters'.

Now, I don't want to dismiss her point because there are definitely things about pornography that have effects, good and bad, on our culture. However, she's kind of throwing mud everywhere and seeing what sticks. Somehow, even though the musical is not 'pornography' (which, as Bill Hicks immortally told us, no-one can define) - and in fact is just a musical version of the story and not a live sex-show at all - Dr. Allen goes off on a tangent about porn itself. It's kind of like using that the musical 'Assassins' to illustrate that murder is bad.
Bear in mind that the story itself isn't that different from scores of teen flicks spanning decades. I can only conclude that Dr. Allen is using the Debbie does Dallas musical, irrelevant as it is to discussions about the adult industry, to reopen a debate about that which she sees as having only negative effects on that most weak of sexes - the female.

That's right, folks; porn, which pays female actors exorbitant amounts of money for relatively little work (compared to the males), is only abusing 'our daughters'. I am not a very big fan of this positivist shit. Oh, 'our daughters' are being exploited by porn. You know, women are so stupid that they can't make their minds up about anything and even consensual sex is actually rape, since all pornography is exploitative. And only to women.
Give me a break! According to Jim Emerson, quoting a 60 minutes report from September last year, Americans alone spend $10 billion a year on adult entertainment "which is as much as they spend attending professional sporting events, buying music or going out to the movies."
The adult industry wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the huge amount of money poured into it every year by the industry EXPLOITING men. 'Oh, those men know what they're doing!' I hear you say? Well, SO DO THE WOMEN. How about that?

I don't appreciate Dr. Allen's rhetorical questioning that is used where there should be evidence, but isn't. "How many mothers and fathers in Australia would like to associate porn with part of their daughters growing up and becoming women?" This is a straw man argument. She redefines the issue in her terms and then tears it down, as if she was actually saying something.
She also uses that 'research indicates' phrase that is often used to mask unreliable studies. To be fair, Dr. Allen uses this saying 'research indicates no person's understanding of sexuality or experience of relationships can remain unaffected by porn' which is completely obvious and needs no verification since EVERYTHING in the social and cultural spheres cannot help but affect everything else. Sure, porn affects relationships and sexuality. But you know what else does? Catholicism, politics, Disney, Protestantism, Brittney Spears, Archie and Jughead Comics, Guy Sebastian and....*drumroll* FAMILY.
But, let's pick on porn, just because it's such an easy target.

There are a lot of problems with pornography. I grant you this. But polemics like Kerrie Allen's are so extremist that they lump all adult film, literature and entertainment into one category and then label that bad. You will never get the Australian Family Association to admit that there just might be more to sex than lights out, wedlocked and passionless missionary; nor that there just might be more to pornography than 'exploitation'.
Don't be fooled by Kerrie Allen's royal 'We' and arrogant claims to the moral highground, when those morals are corrupted by ignorance, dogmatism and, interestingly enough, paternalistic condescension.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050210/REVIEWS/50211001/1023