It is the opinion of Bertrand Russell that ‘… there ought to be no law whatsoever on the subject of obscene publications’. He bases his argument on two general grounds. He argues, first of all, that, despite the intentions behind any relevant legislation, the material which will be in effect censored will not be the targeted pornography so much as more worthy literary and academic works. He argues, secondly, that, given that pornography will, even in spite of its illegality, be available, it is better that it be available legally.
Which leaves one to consider whether or not pornography should be illegal, and whether Russell is correct in stating that there should be no legislation concerning ‘obscene’ publications and what, (if any), would be the ramifications of non-enforcement .
After thought.
Sex is a great leveller and there is a lot to be said about the human need to connect.
Going by his line of argument, should murder also be legalized, just because people will never stop committing those, even it may attract the punishment by death!
This phenomenon is neither a new thing nor restricted to any particular mistake/crime. Mankind has the history of falling for this right from Adam and Eve, and will continue to do so. But, this does not mean that all those acts should be allowed.
The chaos should not be allowed just because we cannot have absolute perfectness. That is a lame excuse. More or less, or even some perfection is far better option than total chaos.
I have considered Bertrand Russell a wise man, but there is question mark on that now, if he said so.
“His book, Marriage and Morals prompted vigorous protests and denunciations against Russell during his visit to the United States shortly after the book’s publication. A decade later, the book cost him his professorial appointment at the City College of New York due to a court judgment that his opinions made him “morally unfit” to teach”.
The mind boggles.
Russell was an enthusiast for women’s liberation and the cause of feminism. However, he was not an uncritical enthusiast. For instance, he writes: ‘The attitude of Mary Wollstonecroft was thoroughly modern, but she was not imitated in this respect by the subsequent pioneers of women’s rights. They, on the contrary, were for the most part very rigid moralists, whose hope was to impose upon men the moral fetters which hitherto had only been endured by women’. (p.69) Marriage and Morals.
This is a trite question on it’s surface but thee is a hiddenness to it, and itm corresponds to the hidedenness of the sex act, parts which we do not as a rule think about.
In Italy, for intance, as soon as anyone looks at a young man, be it a woman or man, he will as a rule start to touch his penis. The hiddenness is thus exposed, not the organs per s, but the repessed thought. The thought is onnected to the perception of looking at.
Voyerism is a form of this, repressive looking, and pornography is a validation of voyerism en=masse.
There is no good or bad in it, except maybe, as one study pointed out that there is an inverse relation between the use of pornography and number of sex crimes related witin the perimeters of the study.
A great majority of Italian men tend to think women who are not Italian are whores and can be treated as such, especially women tourists. This attitude is more prevalent in the South, such as Naples and worse, Sicily, but as you go further up towards Rome and say Florence men and women become more sophisticated. On the whole I think there is a great deal of sexual unhappiness in Italy, which can only be the result of repression from the Catholic church. This repression, the ‘hiddenness’ as you say, only prolongs an unhealthy immaturity in a person and a constant preoccupation with sex.
I think there is a tendency anywhere to assume that tourists are more likely candidates for casual unattached sex, wheresoever they are found - at least within a Christian Europe setting.
And I think the justification is valid, as many people see a holiday as an opportunity to meet a person from outside the normal friend/dating circles, for some fun. There is a certain sort of anonymity you can enjoy in a foreign country that you don’t get at the local pub/club/disco etc at home.
I do not think “non Italian women are whores” is what they think, at all - at least not generally.
He doesn’t just say make it legal because it will be available anyway.
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He’s saying it would do less harm if there weren’t such secrecy and stigma associated with it, which I don’t find to be much of a controversial statement. He also emphasizes in the same book that there should morality and self-restraint in regard to sex, so one can assume he would think the same about pornography.
Also, the harm of pornography is a bit more complex and difficult to assess than the harm of murder. Terrible analogy.
And herein lies the problem, pornography disconnects.
We all have natural drives and it builds up as if like an energy, then when two people meet and also have the right criteria [well, if they don’t just wanna bang], there is an attraction as if like positive and negative polarity in magnets. It isn’t that as you get m/m and f/f [in both form and nature [feminine female with another feminine female] being attracted to one another.
If one uses that ‘energy’ up [as with porn], then you are not going to be attractive or attracted to people to the same degree. Hence the connection isn’t being made as it otherwise would, and you wont find someone so easily. ergo masturbation is disconnecting.
I’d go further, lengthy durations of this disconnectedness will lead to schizoid behaviours. Hate to use such terms but i mean it only as a guide.
I don’t see what you are saying here.
If an adult man, with a healthy libido does not masturbate or get his balls emptied through sex regularly, then he is doomed to obsess about sex day-long. This is not healthy for his social and professional life. I don’t see what you mean about being disconnected. You might as well say that about literature or films.
What do you mean?
In an ideal world you would have a loving partner that provided you with enough opportunities to keep your equipment in regular use, but in most cases a woman will not be happy with the amount a sex that most men require (on average).
Then the question becomes is it better to suppress sexual urges and live in frustration, or to take your self in hand when necessary?
And if you chose porn, are you capable of isolating what you see from everyday life? Most of us can separate the violence and horror of cinema, so most will also do with porn.
I seem to think he died in 1976, after a long career. Do you know when he said that? I imagine before the 1960s.
One has to wonder what he would make of it all now.
Seeing is believing, eh?
But posting a 70 year old staged photo does not make your argument.
Here’s the other side of the argument… Italian women not being whores.
The age of the picture is of no relevance, human nature does not change.
Have you ever been to Naples and Sicily?
and your staged pics do not make your argument, do you really think the majority of Italian women look like that.
You must have had fun researching.
Some things you should know about Italian women
Italian women might drink alcohol but do not get drunk. It would be unseemly and in poor taste and god forbid we might look foolish.
Italian women eat. A lot. Unlike their Los Angeleno counterparts who lunch on salads with dressing on the side and sip strictly unsweetened iced tea, we pile our plates, we go back for seconds and we never skip dessert. Somehow, there were no fat people in the room which brings me to number
Italian women do not drink sodas. It’s not served at parties because it would clash with the food anyway. And it makes you burp, another activity frowned upon.
Speaking of which, Italian women are absolutely convinced there is no better food than Italian. They will proclaim it to anyone who would listen, they will politely venture for ethnic on occasion and then pronounce their sentence: Italian food is just better.
Unlike French women, who need to be chic no matter the occasion, Italian women dress well, but they have to be comfortable and they skew towards the classics rather than the adventurous. When I went through my pirate phase I put a lot of friendships on the line but I mercifully got over it before it was too late.
Hair and make-up. Little makeup – too much is “clownesque” in their view and hair should be neat but not overcoiffed that’s toooo American. During my brief survey, I found that to be true of everyone present.
Italian women like to talk. Preferably loudly. Sometimes inappropriately.
Italian women cherish motherhood, even those who are not mothers themselves. I stood out as the proverbial sore thumb. But they do make good and caring mothers, I will have to admit to that. To a fault.
Italian women would never wish to be anything else other than Italian – but that goes for their male counterparts too.
Italian women make good friends – maybe it’s true of every culture but because they are so warm, accustomed to large families and they love to talk and eat, they tend to find ways to coexist with rivalries, gossip, stubbornness and, sometimes, even hypocrisy.
