Today, I'm writing in honor of the the Morality in Media's (MIM) WRAP Week: White Ribbons Against Pornography, which is also supported by one of my favorite anti-gay organizations, Concerned Women for America (CWA).  According to the MIM website the event, which is being held all week from October 25 through November 1, "WRAP week is intended to educate the public about the extent of the pornography problem and what can constitutionally be done about it." The CWA goes on to point out the truth about all of us "Pornography advocates" who apparently claim that porn is a "victimless crime" are delusional and spreading lies - I'd like to point out that I am a proud advocate and voracious consumer of pornography, particularly of the online and amatuer produced variety and I have NEVER stated that it is a victimless crime.  Mainly, because pornography is no longer a crime in United States - either producing it or viewing it.  Of course, I know there are legal issues regarding the production and distribution of porn and that these laws may vary from state to state.  I'll let my lawyer friends weigh in on this one.

I want to counter their claims (and misuses of research) with the idea that pornography is actually the opposite of "dangerous" and can actually be beneficial to helping...

I had planned to blog about ex-gay ministries and reparative therapy after attending a survivors of the ex-gay movement session at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Creating Change conference just over a week ago.  It had gotten me thinking about my own experiences with "therapy" when I was a teen dealing with my sexuality, and in particular a social worker who I think may have had some unscrupulous intentions during my sessions.  I decided to do some internet research on the ex-gay movement and was fascinated to learn that all of those underwear ads, porn, and masturbation are probably what lead me down the sinful path of the homosexual lifestyle. In light of this revelation, I've decided to put off the ex-gay stuff for a rainy day (don't worry, I'll tell you all about that rascally social worker another time).  Instead, I thought I'd ponder pornography for a bit...

For my dissertation work, I explored young men's experiences with sexual learning during childhood and adolescence.  As you can imagine, the men in my study reported getting information from a variety of sources including parents, school, church, and peers - the information from all these sources was often confusing and contradictory.  There was one source that most of them talked about that left little room for confusion or misinformation and was...

Nobody hates doing this more than me, but I have to bring up a recent episode of the Tyra Banks show (sorry, I know).  This brilliant installment centered on what Tyra referred to as “Gay for Pay,” and featured numerous heterosexual men in heterosexual relationships (some married, some not) who worked in the gay porn industry, i.e., were “gay for pay.”  For what amounted to one very long hour, Tyra and her horrified audience went back and forth over whether the men were really straight, and calling them out as gay or bisexual. Their reasoning; no real straight man would ever engage in same sex behavior, or god forbid, allow themselves to be aroused by any form of homosexuality, under any circumstances.  What was especially infuriating was that if these had been heterosexually identified women up on stage, first off, there wouldn’t have been a show to begin with, and secondly, I doubt people would have questioned their sexuality to the extent they did the men. 

Society may have come along way in terms of our sexual rights and freedoms, but in many ways, it is still as restrictive as ever. Particularly when it comes to male sexuality, the...