To the Editor:
It is difficult to know where to begin commenting on Kevin Arnold's column on EndPorn ("EndPorn Has An Agenda," April 30). I don't know very much about this debate, but I know that personally, as a woman, I find pornography degrading and disrespectful. It makes women (and men, as well) feel like we are just a body, and as if that was the only part about us to be admired. It sets impossibly high standards that the majority of us can never meet. Pornography is shameful; it is demeaning to all people because it turns us into objects to be lusted after.
Arnold seems to think that there are many women that would be willing to learn from pornography about sex, but I can't help but think most women would be turned off by the idea that their partner is seeking sexual satisfaction from a magazine or that he wants her to learn something from airbrushed photos of naked women or videos of staged sex.
EndPorn may have an agenda, but it is one that seeks to help porn addicts regain respect for women, their bodies and sex. And to be honest, I find it pretty funny that Arnold is so convinced EndPorn is part of some tactic being used by "the Christian ultra-right," as if these students were part of some larger political conspiracy to "influence the social agenda," whatever that means.
Sex and the human body are not shameful, but what is shameful is the mindless exploitation and degradation of women that pornography necessarily requires. I'm curious to know if many men who look at porn are interested in bettering their "sexual health," as Arnold implies, or if they are really looking at pornography as an alternative to having sex. I doubt it, but I'm not a man so I don't know.
I do know that I'm a Christian and I would think twice about dating a man who even looked at pornography, much less one who was addicted to it, so maybe this letter is just my attempt to influence "the social agenda."
