F.Y.I: Almonds are a member of the peach family.

• THE METROPOLITAN • OCTOBER 22, 2009 • NEWS • A7

Questioning pornography’s place

Adult films social tured, showed his film on the same phy becoming more and more main-

value scrutinized subject and took questions for more

by guest speaker
By Andrew Flohr-Spence
spencand@mscd.edu
Robert Jensen wants people to
take another look at pornography —
a critical look.
“Pornography is a very impor-
tant mirror on the culture we live
in,” said the author and University
of Texas at Austin communications
professor, who has studied pornog-
raphy for twenty years. And what it
shows, Jensen said, isn’t good.
“We may not be as civilized a
society as we think we are,” Jensen
said.
Based on his study of the chang-
es over time in the plots, content and
featured sex acts, and from inter-
views with producers of the films, he
asserts that pornography is becom-
ing increasingly sexist, racist, brutal
and antiquated stereotypes toward
women and minorities are common.
Tracing the industry’s introduc-
tion of new sex acts into the films
and a new genre that does away with
any plot altogether, Jensen said that
the progression of porn in the last
decade increasingly shows women
being dominated and subordinated
by men.
“And we’re just talking about the
legal porn here,” he said.
An installment of the Distin-
guished Lecture Series sponsored by
the student activities departments
of Metro, UCD and CCD, Jensen lec-
than an hour.
The program, entitled, “The
Price of Pleasure: Pornography and
the Decline of Masculinity,” was in
support of his recent book, “The
Price of Pleasure,” which looks at
the progression of the pornography
industry over the last several decades
and analyzes it from a feminist per-
spective.
Asserting that new develop-
ments in pornography show a grow-
ing lack of empathy for women, and
for people in general, Jensen asked
the crowd to remember that real
people had to perform the acts in the
films and that each time a person
watched a film he or she was sup-
porting a “very cruel economy.”
Metro Senior in Communica-
tions Kara Sutton said Jensen had
a lot of good points, but she didn’t
think pornography is bad in all cases.
“It really depends on the person’s
sexuality,” she said.
Jensen said that porn lets people
find sexual release in private and that
was not necessarily a bad thing.
“I know men who are obsessed
with it and I know others who won’t
touch it … there is a whole spectrum
out there … and it’s just like every-
thing: if it goes too far, then it is de-
structive,” Sutton said.
“I would certainly agree that
pornography is incredibly damag-
ing,” UCD Denver psychology major
Patrick Furlong said.
While violence, in his opinion,
would never disappear, Furlong said,
what bothered him was pornogra-
stream.
“I don’t see the connection just
to men though … it’s just inherent
in the nature of people … pornogra-
phy and violence has been around as
long as humans,” Furlong said. “Un-
fortunately technology is spreading
it uncontrollably.”
UCD Political Science Majors Erin
Bailey and Brittany Groom said they
thought what Jensen said was in-
teresting but “he only scratched the
surface.”
The two attended the lecture as
part of a course titled Race, Class,
Gender: Law and Public Policy, but
said they found the lecture more in-
teresting as women than as political
science majors.
“I really liked his point that it’s a
mirror of society,” Bailey said. Citing
Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential
campaign and the current political
climate, Bailey said she thought the
U.S. was currently confronting many
of the topics Jensen said porn exploit-
ed, such as sexism and racism.
“People are really learning to re-
evaluate their actions … everybody
knows about this really disgusting
stuff, and it’s good we start to talk
about it,” Bailey said.
“Getting uncomfortable is good,”
Groom said. “It makes you think.”
And people getting uncomfort-
able is exactly what Jensen hopes will Robert Jensen, author of the book “The Price of Pleasure,” speaks
come from his work on the subject.
about the link between pornography and masculinity during his
presentation “Porn and the Decline of Masculinity” in the Multi-
“If this lecture today leaves you
Cultural Lounge Oct. 16. More than two hundred people crowded
disturbed, I am happy,” Jensen said into the Multi-Cultural Lounge for the event, forcing administra-
at the end of his speech. tion to move the event into the Tivoli Turnhalle. Photo by Mark Farnik
• mfarnik@mscd.edu

On the street By Ben Wiebesiek • Photos by Dan Clements

People around the nation were fixated as the “balloon boy” saga unfolded Oct. 15 in Ft. Collins.
The Heene family claimed their six-year-old son was carried away in a helium-filled balloon. The
sheriff’s department has since concluded the situation was a hoax to garner media attention. What
is your perspective of the “balloon boy” saga?

“That dad is a clown for doing that
to his kid. His kid is going to be
labeled for life now. My understand-
ing is the whole family is pretty
messed up. It’s unfortunate that
the dude would want to go through
that much to just get a little bit of
air time. Especially to mess with the
FAA. It sucks to be them I guess.”
Jake Spooner
Metro, Junior
“A boy that is in a balloon! I think
there are more important issues out
there than a boy trapped in a bal-
loon. Such as the new world order
and the economy crash. There are
so many other things we should be
worried about than a boy in a
balloon right now.”
Bryan King
UCD, Freshman
“It’s just publicity. They were on
‘Wife Swap’ like a week ago. It was
kind of retarded. For him to have
been in the garage for so many
hours not saying anything, I don’t
think that was true. A little boy
can’t stay quiet for that long.”
Jimena Santiago
Metro, Sophomore
“I didn’t pay attention to it. This
was a waste of a lot of money be-
cause the whole police department
had to go out. And the media made
a big deal out of it too. Maybe they
should have researched the story
more before they reported it.”
Carsen Snyder
UCD, Junior
“To spend all that money, it was
close to $40,000 in expenses with
all the helicopters, ambulances and
police officers. For five minutes of
fame, $40,000 down the drain. It’s
a waste of time. Especially when
there are other needs out there.
There could have been a huge fire
out in Ft. Collins while everybody’s
worried about this kid that’s 700 ft.
up in the air.”
John Yohannes
Metro, Sophomore