Hi All,
Reading about sex and pornography is not something i really expected to do at uni but i found this article intriguing. In fact i'm sure we all enjoyed reading this article (?) The reason i say that is because in a classroom setting (and in many social circles) the topic of porn is tabu!! Am i right? And i believe that we certainly (as humans) have the desire to be risky and understand something we may otherwise know nothing about.
This article outlines the demographic of who, where, how, and why internet porn is being accessed and who is making it.
WHO: the general consenses is that porn is made for the middle aged heterosexual male who holds fantasies of sexually active and available women. However, during research for this article it is found that porn on the net can be somewhat liberating for those who have varied tastes in sexual preferences. During the 70s and 80s porn was found in magazines and on video and generally contained images of a limited female body type. Now that porn is on the net and is 70% of it is amateur porn it seems to 'cater' for a wider audience. Now, those who share particular 'fetishes' can share them and find like-minded folk.
A large part of this article talks about the fact that people can now make their own porn and experience exhibitionist attributes at first hand. "The internet has allowed a remarkable blurring of the categories of 'publisher', 'distributer', 'performer' and 'consumer'". The article explores the desire to voluntarily immerse oneself in 'interactive pornography' and states that with this avenue women especially are increasingly more comfortable to perform sexual acts that they had previously only ever fantasied about... ie: group sex, lesbian sex, oral etc.
WHERE: The question of porn invading the home through the internet is raised. In the past access to porn was available through magazines and video's bought from adult shops but now that many households have internet access porn becomes part of the private sphere. This has its up sides and its downsides. Firstly, of course there is more comfort in the private sphere... who would not rather using the simple click of a mouse to access porn rather than entering an adult shop and all its stigma attached? Unfortunately though, feminists argue that porn 'is a perverse outsider forcing its way into suburban homes'.
I close with this quote from the article: " Undoubtedly, the internet facilitates anonymous sexual experimentation. Whether it is seen as a positive or a negative factor will depend on your point of view".
Please feel welcome to start up some conversations about this article and your thoughts on it as i will be regularly checking the blog this week.
Thanks.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Tutorial Presentation: The Good, the Bad, and the Virtual
The ethical issues surrounding mediums like print and television media have been complicated with the onset of the internet. This new form of media has radically changed the presentation of information and therefore has brought a new set of ethical dilemmas. Ethics are standards of behaviour that are ‘right’. In The Good, the Bad and the Virtual, Mark Poster highlights many of the concerns critics shares over the internet; “the new medium will undermine the ethical basis of society”. Poster notes how internet sites are “easy to construct and cheap to maintain”, enabling people to display sites that have ‘disturbing material’. In this ‘age of information’, it raises a number of questions over the ethical systems online and more importantly, do they exist?.
The ethical and moral elements of journalism have been altered online. The internet is a very different medium compared to print media. Print and Television media are usually limited geographically as they are mainly distributed locally (i.e. city, state, country). Certain codes of ethics must be complied to ensure journalists attain and present information in a fair and unbiased way. Although this does not always happen, journalists are held accountable via these forms of media. The internet, on the other hand, is widely accessible. There is also anonymity on the internet as anyone can write news items. Similar ethical issues arise with the presentation of information. Mark Poster referred to a semi-code of ethics which exists on the internet, known as ‘netiquette’. However, he further stated that “the practice of coaching newbies in the ways of netiquette could not keep up”. To see some of the rules, you may want to view this webiste on netiquette. This system of ethics is difficult to maintain on such a large scale and is almost impossible to police. Consequently, there is broad spectrum of views and information presented on the internet, often biased. The anonymity has generated a greater sense of freedom to say what you want, no matter how offensive. Pornography is also more widely accessible on the net. Do you think that the ethical elements behind pornography have changed online? If so, how?
An ethical issue raised online is the distortion of identities. Poster identified a case involving FBI agents who posed as underage girls in chat rooms to catch potential sex-offenders. However, when they caught the perpetrator, he was released based on the argument “that his actions ‘were grounded in an online fantasy world’ and were not reprehensible morally and legally” (Miller 1999). This clearly illustrates how the ethical dimensions radically change online with the separation of worlds into ‘virtual’ and ‘real’. Poster further stated how the justice system “accepted the distinction between real and virtual pedophilia”. Do you think there should be a world wide system of ethics that applies to everyone?
Because characteristics of the internet differ from the traditional forms of media, ethical systems have been thought to be medium-specific. A number of complexities arise from using the internet as the boundaries between the public and private sphere are blurred. Mark Poster notes in his article, that what was previously confined to the private sphere has overflowed into the public via the net. An example of this was a sex change operation which was video recorded and posted on a webcam. This raised a number of ethical issues, including questions regarding censorship on the net. Do you think it was ethical to allow for this operation to be broadcast on the World Wide Web? Do you think ethical systems should be medium-specific?
Thus, the expansion of the internet has given rise to many ethical dilemmas in cyberspace. Do you think ethical systems exist online?
The ethical and moral elements of journalism have been altered online. The internet is a very different medium compared to print media. Print and Television media are usually limited geographically as they are mainly distributed locally (i.e. city, state, country). Certain codes of ethics must be complied to ensure journalists attain and present information in a fair and unbiased way. Although this does not always happen, journalists are held accountable via these forms of media. The internet, on the other hand, is widely accessible. There is also anonymity on the internet as anyone can write news items. Similar ethical issues arise with the presentation of information. Mark Poster referred to a semi-code of ethics which exists on the internet, known as ‘netiquette’. However, he further stated that “the practice of coaching newbies in the ways of netiquette could not keep up”. To see some of the rules, you may want to view this webiste on netiquette. This system of ethics is difficult to maintain on such a large scale and is almost impossible to police. Consequently, there is broad spectrum of views and information presented on the internet, often biased. The anonymity has generated a greater sense of freedom to say what you want, no matter how offensive. Pornography is also more widely accessible on the net. Do you think that the ethical elements behind pornography have changed online? If so, how?
An ethical issue raised online is the distortion of identities. Poster identified a case involving FBI agents who posed as underage girls in chat rooms to catch potential sex-offenders. However, when they caught the perpetrator, he was released based on the argument “that his actions ‘were grounded in an online fantasy world’ and were not reprehensible morally and legally” (Miller 1999). This clearly illustrates how the ethical dimensions radically change online with the separation of worlds into ‘virtual’ and ‘real’. Poster further stated how the justice system “accepted the distinction between real and virtual pedophilia”. Do you think there should be a world wide system of ethics that applies to everyone?
Because characteristics of the internet differ from the traditional forms of media, ethical systems have been thought to be medium-specific. A number of complexities arise from using the internet as the boundaries between the public and private sphere are blurred. Mark Poster notes in his article, that what was previously confined to the private sphere has overflowed into the public via the net. An example of this was a sex change operation which was video recorded and posted on a webcam. This raised a number of ethical issues, including questions regarding censorship on the net. Do you think it was ethical to allow for this operation to be broadcast on the World Wide Web? Do you think ethical systems should be medium-specific?
Thus, the expansion of the internet has given rise to many ethical dilemmas in cyberspace. Do you think ethical systems exist online?
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