Our debate with pro-porn blogger Renegade Evolution continues. In one of her emails to us today she wrote [typos in original],
That’s great, see, I actually advocate listening to all sexworkers, even those who hate it. Now, doing the whole “your feelings are important” thing with me is not, oh, going to impress me much because to me you have demonstrated that is not the case, nor are the feelings of other women willingly in this business. If people want to advocate harsher safety measures in the sex industry, better working conditions, for better treatement by law enforcement, making access to net porn harder for kids to get, things of that nature? That shows me they not only care about the people working in the business, but they care for the people who should not be looking at porn and whatnot…those are the folk who I actually think care about peoples “feelings”…
Now, people who are trying to get clubs and stores closed, banned? People who are trying to ban porn? There I am skeptical. Why? Because when you do that, you are putting people out of jobs. The strip club gets shut down, sure, more men might be at home (or maybe just out at some other bar), but the dancers, the waitresses, the DJ’s, the security guys, they are unemployeed. Same for the staff at the porn store, and the performers in porn, along with the tech people, the make-up artists, the web designers, so on, so forth. And in some cases, those people are not going to be able to get jobs that pay a wage they can live on….and some of them most certainly are in it by choice and do not want your help.
So, yes, I am skeptical.
Now, if you want people to hear other peoples voices, that’s fine, but if you are interested in being objective at all, well then, you need to consider that you are stomping all over the feelings of people who disagree with you when you do what you are doing. And you won’t even give really straight answer about it. You know, I could almost respect an attitude such as “Well, yes, we are exploiting some porn performers words/images & stories to our own ends because we think the ends justify the means”, or you know “Hey, we did not actually think about that, sorry”, or even just “shut up you pro-porn asshole!” But, no…
No real answer to my question on WHY that tactic, which I am not going to repeat again, is okay, and then “we care about your feelings and encourage debate”….
Frankly, I don’t see it. If you cared about my feelings, you wouldn’t have put some snarky ass post on your page distorting what I was actually saying to you (which I will repeat here, the fact that the anti porn tactic of using the words of sex workers, especially those whom are pro-porn, without their consent or even noting their feelings on the anti-porn issue is a bit off when the anti porn movement is supposedly so concerned about consent and these peoples feelings is hghly hipocritical), implying that I was trying to prohibit your free speech (which I did at No Time), and oh, you might answer my question….
We replied:
We are not in favor of “banning” porn (except child porn, which is already banned). We are trying to get people to not want it. But let’s talk about jobs. Studies show that many adult enterprises are ‘vampire’ businesses that suck the economic life out of their surroundings. For example:
State of Minnesota, Report of the Attorney General’s Working Group on the Regulation of Sexually Oriented Businesses, Office of the Attorney General (June 6, 1989)
This is a seminal work which investigates the secondary effects of adult businesses from a number of different research perspectives. Not only is the effect on crime included, so is the effect on neighborhood disorganization and disorder, as are the effects on property values addressed. The New York study also concluded that business locations with adult-oriented businesses had a significant loss of sales tax collections (42%) as compared to control areas. Studies of Minneapolis, St. Paul, Indianapolis, Phoenix, and Los Angeles are cited. RICO and organized criminal elements of the industry are also discussed. It was found that dramatic increases in crime rates were directly associated with the introduction of adult-oriented businesses into any community studied. Evidence is articulated indicating that property crimes were forty to fifty percent higher, and sex-related crimes were found to be seventy to as much as 500 percent higher–depending upon the municipality. Other non-crime community issues are also discussed.Economic blight is exactly what is happening in Springfield, Massachusetts right now:
Capital Video’s Springfield Porn Shop Repels Sought-After BusinessesWe are trying to get people to take a larger perspective than their personal pleasures and profits.
See also:
The Blog of Pro-Porn Activism
Apparently we have inspired Renegade Evolution and her allies to launch a whole new blog.
Pro-Porn Free Speech Lover Doesn’t Like It When We Reference Her Public Material in a Critical Context
Many things make no sense in Pornoland. The latest example is the position of Renegade Evolution,
a porn advocate, “a bit pathological about the rights of free speech,”
who objects to our linking to her public statements without permission
(even though she linked to NoPornNorthampton on July 8
with no prior notice) and our referencing her material in a critical
context. A key element of what free speech is about–truth emerging
from open debate–seems to have escaped her.
Porn Actresses: Most Careers Are Short, Few Are Lucrative (explicit language)
Carolyn McKenzie: Disease, Intoxicants Prevalent Among Strip Dancers (explicit language)
The Evidence of Relationships Between Adult-Oriented Businesses and Community Crime and Disorder
Prosperous Minneapolis Commercial Area Blighted by Proliferation of Adult Enterprises
New York City Porn Shops Depress Demand for Neighboring Properties
Des Moines, WA: Adult Uses Cause Business Failures, Scare People Away
San Francisco: Loss of Porn Shop Brings Hope to Tenderloin District