March Blog- Sex in Victorian period vs. present

For my March blog, the topic that I’ve chosen is how sex is different in the Victorian era compared to sex now. After reading a few articles I’ve been able to distinguish multiple differences between then and now. During the Victorian period sex was a subject that wasn’t spoken very publicly. In today’s time sex is regarded as a more open topic to talk about, and isn’t as frowned upon if you have pre-marital sex. If you had pre-marital sex in the Victorian era you were looked down upon, especially if you had a child before marriage. If you get married before the child is born, you wouldn’t face too many problems. Another difference I found is the level of skin exposure of today, compared to back then. In that time both sexes didn’t show much skin when they went out in public, as compared to modern time where it’s acceptable for both women and men to show more skin in society. But when the Victorians weren’t in public they made up for it by making extraordinary amounts of pornography. Masturbation was also taboo in the Victorian society. This wasn’t due to the religious community, but it was actually the medical community that discouraged masturbation. They believed that whenever a man masturbates, it’s the same as losing large amounts of blood. In a woman’s case they believed that masturbation was insanity-provoking. This topic was taken very seriously and they went as far as to develop anti-masturbation devices to prevent it from ever happening. But in today’s society masturbation is regarded as beneficial to your health because of a lot of reasons such as it lowers blood pressure, and raises testosterone in men. Homosexuality was also a frowned upon topic back in this period, more for men than women.[1] Women were assumed to be more non-sexual, so two women living together wasn’t seen as odd or in bad taste. It’s safe to say that these relationships weren’t always platonic. There have been records of women who did have lesbian relations with other women in private. Throughout this era until 1861, homosexual acts between men were considered a capital offense. In today’s world homosexuality is still on a fine line in some places, but overall it has been accepted in society as a normal thing. Some states in the US still have banned gay marriage, but this law has been removed from more and more states in the past decade.[2] After looking over the critical information about distinguish how sex is different in Victorian period to present, we can clearly see that people had dissimilar ideas and theories between time periods.

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[1] "Sex and Sexuality in the 19th Century." Victoria and Albert Museum , 2014. http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/s/sex-and-sexuality-19th-century/ (accessed March 31, 2014).

[2] Belleau, Jennifer. "Five Crazy Facts about Sex in Victorian Times." Socyberty, 10 27, 2010. http://socyberty.com/sexuality/five-crazy-facts-about-sex-in-victorian-times/ (accessed March 31, 2014).

Utopian community - Bhargav Patel

Which Utopian Community would I prefer to live in?

   Utopian communities were formed in the 19^th century in which they had their own ideals and principles of live, marriage, love and sex. There were four Utopian communities which were mentioned in depth in class. The Utopian communities we talked about in class were the Nashoba, the Shakers, the Mormons and the Oneida. I don’t agree 100 percent with any of the ideals of the Utopian community but if I had to choose, I would like to be a part of the Nashoba community.

   The Nashoba community was founded in December of 1826 by Frances Wright. Fanny as she was known, first thought of creating a community in 1825 in which slaves would work to buy their freedom to go back home while being civilized and educated in the process. Fanny could not find investors for her plan. She eventually bought 2000 acres of woods near the Wolf River in Tennessee with her own money (about $10,000). The land was suggested by Andrew Jackson who took it from the Chickasaw Indians. Fanny named the land Nashoba the Chickasaw word for wolf.¹

   There are a few reasons on why I chose the Nashoba over the other communities. The Nashoba community was started with a noble thought of abolition. Unlike the norm at the time the Nashoba had the idea of individualism and elevated love and desire. As mentioned in class most other communities had very conservative views while the Nashoba had free thinkers and more open to different possibilities.²

   Relating to our overall topic about the history of sexuality the Nashoba were the most liberal when it came to sex and marriage and the relationship between them. The Nashoba thought that love was the pre-requisite for sex. There was no need for marriage to have sex and express love to one another in the Nashoba community. During some of the discussions in class we talked about how sex was viewed as something evil that should only be done to reproduce after marriage etc. But the Nashoba were very liberal and open minded about sex and felt that everyone should be able to have sex without being stigmatized.²

   I agree with most of the ideas and views that the Nashoba follow. They were opposed to organized religion, slavery and did not require marriage.² Though they weren’t the greatest group of people in the world. Slaves were stilled required to pay for their freedom and Fanny herself kept slaves (she was sort of a hypocrite). Slaves had to pay $6,000 for their freedom and 6% interest annually.¹ Slaves could not be trustees or make decisions and had to leave America once freed.

   So the Nashoba like the other communities had their share of pros and cons but in the end the pros outweighed the cons in that time period. I would have loved to be part of a free thinking community in a time where people were very conservative and stigmatized love and sex. But like I said, they weren’t perfect.

References

1.     1.  UL Lafayette , ""The Cause of Human Improvement": Frances Wright and the Nashoba Community." Accessed March 31, 2014. http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~lxm8207/FannyWright.html.

2.     2. Moore, Crystal. "Utopian Communities ." Accessed March 31, 2014.

Porno!

Aleisha Murrell

March blog

Porno!

 

Learning about the impact of porn and how it shapes the behaviors, attitudes and views of people, and how it impacts the way men think and treat men was beyond interesting. I had never given any thought into it and never even knew it could turn into a serious addiction. Porn releases dopamine and oxytocin, which makes porn watching feel pleasurable and holds their attention [1]. Porn can actually make specific sections in the brain shut down from being so focused on sexual arousal that the brain completely abandons paying attention to any other details. Intense watching of porn can lead to addiction. Those who are addicted to porn neglect work or school, spends huge amount on videos, and becomes depressed/isolated from their friends and social life. Studies show that they become controlling and can have low self-esteem [1]. Before I had this class and read over this PowerPoint I never realized that a constant overload of porn can have the same ill effects of someone that is addicted to cocaine. As stated earlier it releases dopamine and can lead to withdraw symptoms, like any drug. I had always thought that porn was a leisurely activity that mostly men enjoyed watching because it was entertaining. I thought it was like how I watch YouTube tutorials on make-up, I enjoy watching them in my spare time, it can be good entertainment, but I would never get addicted from YouTube. There was a fascinating survey in 2012 that stated 56% of the 1,500 men said their porn searching has become “increasingly extreme or deviant” because they are constantly looking for more extreme forms of porn, than the last, to arouse them [1]. I can see now why porn leads to addiction and why users neglect their social life. Watching degrading porn increases porn users dominating and harassing behavior toward women and gives them less compassion for rape victims. They often have increasingly hostile/aggressive fantasies [1]. Sadly, I understand how watching porn can lead to men being more dominant and have harassing behaviors toward women. I have seen porn before and it is very degrading and shameful. The way women will use their bodies and have men control them in the bed allows porn users to have an altered perception of how women should be treated. From the PowerPoint, it stated that porn revenue is larger than all combined revenues of all professional football, baseball, and basketball franchises [1]. This fact was very mind-blowing to me. I knew that a lot of people watch porn but I had no idea it was that popular. By the 1960s, Pornos had started to go a little bit more mainstream [2]. There was full-length movies were being released in theaters. Which bring me to a court case In 1992 In Denver [2]. The Court upheld one provision and overturned another in a 1992 federal law designed to protect children from exposure to "patently offensive sex-related material" on certain cable television channels. It struck down a provision permitting cable operators to ban indecent programming from public-access cable channels, such as those made available to community groups, but upheld a provision permitting operators to ban indecent programs from channels leased to commercial programmers [2]. It also struck down a provision requiring cable operators who chose to allow indecent material to be broadcast on leased channels to segregate that material to a single channel, and to block that channel unless the cable subscriber requested to have it unblocked [2]. When I read this court case it makes me think back to when I was younger. My channels were blocked. I had never watched porn and was not even interested in it until I was much older. I feel that if more adults would take some precautions and do things like have blocks on the sex channels porn would be less popular than what it is. I believe that if more people aren’t exposed to porn until they are much older it will not be so popular, and less people will be getting addicted and interested into porn. I believe that I knew less information about porn because I wasn’t exposed to it until I was in college. Reading this PowerPoint was quite interesting and taught me plenty, it had me realize the porn industry and the ill effects it has on people.

 

 

 

Citation:

[1]. Crystal Moore, “Sexual Commerce in Contemporary America,” LBST 2101 UNC Charlotte Moodle 2, Accessed March 11, 2014, https://moodle2.uncc.edu/course/view.php?id=58852           

              [2]. PBS, "Frontline: American Porn," Accessed March 31, 2014,                 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/porn/prosecuting/overview.html

Sex and the MPAA

by Jesse Nussman

Recently I watched a documentary on Netflix called This Film Is Not Yet Rated, which examined the many problems with the MPAA rating system. I am sure we have all at one point thought “why did that movie receive that rating?”1. Jack Valenti founded the MPAA in the late 60’s; however, in many cases the MPAA system is flawed. The subject that the documentary put the most emphasis on was how the MPAA is so strict on sexual content. Many find this baffling, as the MPAA seems to be more lenient on violence than they are sex. In fact, the rating system in Europe works in the opposite way. 1.Europeans are stricter when it comes to violence but are more open minded when it comes to sex on screen. It seems ironic that something as destructive and negative as violence can be seen as more suitable for audience members than two people enjoying sex. 2. Just last year the French film Blue is the Warmest Color received controversy because of its NC-17 rating, which prevents because of one sex scene between two girls. For those readers who don’t know a NC-17 rating basically means that anyone under the age of 17 is allowed to see it, even with a parent or guardian. 1.In fact, nearly four times as many films received and NC-17 for sex as opposed to violence. In the documentary director Kimberly Peirce describes her frustration with the MPAA over the initial rating of her movie Boys Don’t Cry. She explains how, in her opinion, there is a taboo in the movie industry about showing female pleasure on screen seeing as several films given NC-17 ratings, including hers, got them for scenes involving a close up of female orgasm. In the documentary Kevin Smith also discusses his opinions about the MPAA’s negative attitude toward sex. He exclaims that it he finds it ridiculous that the system finds sex so damaging to the psyche of younger viewers that they feel they should stamp it with a rating that would prevent audience members from even seeing the movie with a parent. 1.Mark Urman, head of US theatrical and thinkfilm suggests that what makes a sex scene worthy of an NC-17 is all in the hip. 1.Sex scenes in R rated movies are generally up close and from the shoulder up, while anything where you can see thrusting results in an NC-17. Whatever the reason it seems clear that sexual content has been considered taboo by the MPAA and is highly criticized.

11.     Dick, Kirby, "This Film Is Not Yet Rated," DVD,    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8N3EztyOoA.

22.     Susman, Gary. "Whatever Happened to NC-17 Movies?." Rolling Stone,    November 26, 2013. http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/whatever-happened-to-nc-17-movies-20131126 (accessed March 31, 2014).