Porn - Red state Utahs dirtiest secret (interview, drugs, activist)

[Raggy dee Ann]

Anyone surprised?

Jones: Thou shalt porn: Utah's dirty little secret revealed - Salt Lake Tribune

[Mike from back east]

Good thread. I'm always intrigued by apparent anomalies like this one, i.e., that the highest porn usage is in a state that is one of the most religious. It makes a person go "Huh, how can that be?"

Here's the link to the entire 12-page report by that Harvard researcher.

Many years ago I did a research paper on sexual double standards. Learned a ton of very interesting factoids along the way. The most jaw-dropping one for me was that one of the old studies (from the 1950's I think) showed that the rate of parent/child incest/abuse was HIGHER in highly religious homes than in moderate or non-religious households. It begs the question: "Is there something about religion that drives people to porn and incest, or does porn and incest drive people to religion so as to put up a false-front for covering their tracks or to find forgiveness, even if only in their own minds."

EDIT: Note too, that on page 9 of the report, for broadband users, that 8 of the top 10 states are RED states. Hmmm.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Good thread. I'm always intrigued by apparent anomalies like this one, i.e., that the highest porn usage is in a state that is one of the most religious. It makes a person go "Huh, how can that be?"

Here's the link to the entire 12-page report by that Harvard researcher.

Many years ago I did a research paper on sexual double standards. Learned a ton of very interesting factoids along the way. The most jaw-dropping one for me was that one of the old studies (from the 1950's I think) showed that the rate of parent/child incest/abuse was HIGHER in highly religious homes than in moderate or non-religious households. It begs the question: "Is there something about religion that drives people to porn and incest, or does porn and incest drive people to religion so as to put up a false-front for covering their tracks or to find forgiveness, even if only in their own minds."

EDIT: Note too, that on page 9 of the report, for broadband users, that 8 of the top 10 states are RED states. Hmmm.

I think people hide behind religion. But then there's also the idea that it's just so incredibly "off limits" to these people, at least in public, that they go look at porn behind closed doors. Maybe it's sort of like how some of the most rabid anti-gay religious people are actually gay themselves.

[mateo45]

Originally Posted by denverian

I think people hide behind religion. But then there's also the idea that it's just so incredibly "off limits" to these people, at least in public, that they go look at porn behind closed doors. Maybe it's sort of like how some of the most rabid anti-gay religious people are actually gay themselves.

No doubt the "forbidden" aspect is a big attraction. Kinda like the reputation Catholicism has toward sex that makes it "dirty" (i.e. "more exciting"), and prompted one comic to say "thank God, I was born Catholic, 'cuz the sex is better!".

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by denverian

I think people hide behind religion. But then there's also the idea that it's just so incredibly "off limits" to these people, at least in public, that they go look at porn behind closed doors. Maybe it's sort of like how some of the most rabid anti-gay religious people are actually gay themselves.

Agree that people hide behind their religion. Sort of like "I go to church so I'm a good person, and you're not." Yeah, right.

There seems a perverse aspect to human nature that when you tell people that is bad, wrong or will hurt them, THAT is exactly what people go seek to find out what it's all about, and/or to prove wrong whichever rigid parental voice told them to NOT do it. The "bad" stuff is usually such things as drugs, alcohol, smoking, sex, porn, gambling, street racing, etc.

For young people, all that churchy preaching about the evils of sex only makes kids want all the more to find out what it's all about, which leads to many unplanned pregnant teens. Same for alcohol. Preachers and parents rant and rail on the evils of alcohol, then send their kids off to college where binge drinking is how the kids say "up yours" to those who would control them with rigid doctrines (whether religious or otherwise).

That highly religious Utah leads the nation in broadband access to porn simply highlights the hypocrisy of the religious right, who enjoy the evil then tell the rest of us we can't have any and we're "bad people" if we do. SSDD.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by Raggy dee Ann

Anyone surprised?

Jones: Thou shalt porn: Utah's dirty little secret revealed - Salt Lake Tribune

Mr Edelman is also a consultant for the ACLU.

[jojajn]

In my opinion, it is the attitude that women/wives are property of the man/husband which stems way back in the origin of most religions. Women have been, and continue to be, objectified by men of religion. We all know that pornography is viewing women as objects.
Therein lies the common denominator!

[mateo45]

Originally Posted by jojajn

In my opinion, it is the attitude that women/wives are property of the man/husband which stems way back in the origin of most religions. Women have been, and continue to be, objectified by men of religion. We all know that pornography is viewing women as objects.
Therein lies the common denominator!

Oh, geez.... we had to go there, didn't we!

Like all those bare-chested Fabio look-alikes on the Romance novels aren't "objects" of desire for their female audience....

[At1WithNature]

This is probably because conservative voters don't have as many outlets to pursue devious acts on a daily basis. they are forced to go to the wild wild west of today. in other words, the internet. they are forced to travel to the corners of their existence in order to find outlets for their behavior where the common liberal will have roughly a half dozen to a dozen opportunities on a daily basis, in person, to committ similar acts of devious behavior. it's a matter of enviornment. one lives in pristine conditions while the other lives in squalor.

[mateo45]

Originally Posted by At1WithNature

This is probably because conservative voters don't have as many outlets to pursue devious acts on a daily basis. they are forced to go to the wild wild west of today. in other words, the internet. they are forced to travel to the corners of their existence in order to find outlets for their behavior where the common liberal will have roughly a half dozen to a dozen opportunities on a daily basis, in person, to committ similar acts of devious behavior. it's a matter of enviornment. one lives in pristine conditions while the other lives in squalor.

...you mean like this kind of squalor?

-like conservative activist Neal Horsley, who has called for the arrest of all homosexuals, but during an interview with Alan Colmes on the Fox News Radio, admitted to having engaged in sex with a mule. "When you grow up on a farm in Georgia, your first girlfriend is a mule," he said.

-Ted Bundy, the notorious serial rapist who murdered 16 women. Bundy worked on the re-election campaign of Washington's Republican Governor Dan Evans. Evans was elected and he appointed Bundy to the Seattle Crime Prevention Advisory Committee.

-Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Dick Cheney's former Chief of Staff, who published a novel containing bizarre sexual content, including bestiality and pedophillia.

-Keith Westmoreland, Tennessee (R), who was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to minors under 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children). Not long afterwards, Westmoreland committed suicide.

-Jeffrey Patti, Republican Committee Chairman, who was arrested for distributing what experts call "some of the most offensive material in the child pornography world" - a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.

Republican Sex Scandals - dKosopedia