Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!aero-c!nadel
From: turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: does healthy, mutual erotica exist?
Summary: In literature, that which is safe is worthless.
Message-ID: <19180@cs.utexas.edu>
Date: 13 Apr 91 18:05:06 GMT
References: <1991Apr8.175404.9017@aero.org> <1991Apr10.020732.12773@cavebbs.gen.nz> <3290@titan.tsd.arlut.utexas.edu>
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In article <1991Apr10.020732.12773@cavebbs.gen.nz> tfarmer@cavebbs.gen.nz (Thomas Farmer) writes:
> Could the side that does believe in "healthy, mutual erotica" 
> give me some examples in the field of film and video? 

Almost all of it.  Of course, I would give the same response
if asked what erotica is sick and useful for criminal purposes.

The problem lies in the question.  Asking what pornography
is healthy is similar to asking what books are safe to read.
It is utterly impossible to assess this independent of the
reader.  Some psychotic might read the tale of Little Red
Riding Hood, and under its influence, go out and kill old
ladies with an axe.  For others, de Sade is healthy reading.

Any book and any film that is 'safe' and 'healthy' for all
is necessarily bland, puerile, and worthless.  This is true
of works that are erotic, and those that aren't.  The 
pornography that is guaranteed safe is also the pornography
that is guaranteed to be vacuous and worthless.  Conversely,
any pornography (and any other fiction) that is worth reading
will carry some small amount of danger therein.  

Perhaps we can settle this whole debate by having the surgeon
general issue stamps that read "Warning: the contents of this
book (or film) might affect your thoughts and influence your
life in ways that cannot be predicted".  A government
committee would decide what books deserve the stamp.  Any author
whose works are not so stamped will know right away that they
have nothing useful to say, and so they should cap their pen,
stop wasting good paper with their attempts at writing, and
turn to other kinds of work.  (Even good children's books carry
some element of risk.  Go read anything by R L Stevenson or
"Where the Monsters Are", and you will find that they are not
totally innocent.)

Along these lines, I find it curious that no one has yet
responded positively to my earlier question about the magazine
"Yellow Silk", which is commonly mentioned as a source of 'safe'
erotica.  I asked if anyone found it erotic.  Does anyone on
reading this magazine find they have to put it down to turn their
hands to more lascivious purposes?  Or is it so devoid of
anything erotic that it can be read straight through without
pause?  No one has yet admitted to finding it sexually exciting.
Perhaps we should sue this magazine for false advertising.  It
seems that it would pass through the government committee
unstamped. 

Russell