..."non-aggressive" pornography (pornography prominently available in mainstream market), that which excludes rape and violence but graphically depicts all other forms of sex (group, homosexual, switching, anal, oral, etc.) was found to:
- desensitize the viewers to the material's breaking of sexual taboos, causing the viewers to become more accepting of it and much less concerned about its negative effects;
- cause the viewers to regard rape as a more trivial offense, with men particularly showing major increases of sexual callousness toward women;
- increase the viewers' loss of compassion for women as rape victims. In a sense, then, this kind of pornography as male entertainment promotes the victimization of women.
The other day the wife, baby, and I, and her parents, went to the botanical gardens. I was wearing a Cuban-style hat (a sort of a bowler but in straw, not rough straw like a peasant's hat or something, but high quality straw kind of like a wicker chair), and a vintage short sleeve shirt, untucked. It wasn't a Guayabera but the overall effect was sort of 50's-hip-vintage-cuban.
I was filming a bunch of different stuff with my customized video camera which now looks pretty different and unusual in a neat way - that sounds lame but you'll see what I mean in a minute. Anyway it has a great big long lens on it. Without fail, someone will see it and ask me what it is. The day before, the day where I met the deviant coffee chick, three people asked me about it in an hour and a half, and almost everybody else swiveled their necks to check it out. It's interesting, I was thinking it would look ridiculous to have such a monster lens on it but it worked out differently.
Anyway the next day at the gardens, a bunch of people asked me about the camera again. I got separated from the family unit - they went another direction without telling me, which went over real well with me - and as I was walking along a narrow, covered garden path I passed by two hip looking girls in their late 20's/early 30's. One was a tall brunette with a sort of bob haircut, smallish tits, cute face, and the other was chestnut-haired in sort of a Jennifer Aniston cut, pretty average, though on paper she was the prettier one. Still, she didn't do anything for me.
Anyway, the neon sign went off in my head, buzzing: GIRLS .........GIRLS ......... GIRLS ......... GIRLS...but as always I played it cool. I made eye contact with the tall one as I walked by, and she stopped mid-sentence and did a double-take to look at me as I walked by. Then they continued talking, more hurriedly, in hushed tones.
I kept walking but I noticed they had gotten up and had sort of rushed to catch up to me. "Is that a camera?" the shorter one asked. I could tell they thought I was cute and was a boyfriend candidate for one of them, and maybe something else. I started explaning what I had built, and the tall one said, "She's a photographer," indicating the brown-haired one. She sort of fumbled around explaining how it was her previous job (yeah right) and that she is now an actress. "We're both actresses, actually." Oh really. Sounds perfect. Or not! Actresses have to be the biggest problem-girlfriends there are. Them and strippers. Well, strippers/prostitutes/porn stars. I could already tell they were more interested in being the center of attention than in listening to me. Anyway I bantered with them for a while, and the subject turned toward independant films. "Garden State blew my mind," said the tall one. I mentioned the soundtrack and the shorter one said, "Ooh, I have to get that." Tall one responded with, "Oh, we have it, I'll... " she paused. Had she just accidentally said 'we' and blown it? Was she looking to cheat on her boyfriend/husband, and/or move on? She wasn't wearing a ring. And, neither was I. "I'll let you copy it."
They had caught me off guard, "slippin'," or I would have conducted myself differently and gotten their phone numbers or email addresses, and found a way to plant a seed to explain the situation if they happened to see me or had seen me already, with the family. In the end, I was worried that I'd turn around and the family would be right behind me, so I didn't ask for their numbers. They invited me out to ice cream with them, but I said I had to catch up with the people I was with. They told me their full names, though. I should have at least gotten their email addresses.
I've been reading some camera and video and camcorder forums lately, and I notice this one guy trying to customize his camcorder like mine. Here's what he just wrote:
The problem is this : I live in Canada and although $7.50 is very inexpensive, I have to factor in shipping to Canada, money exchange and wait time. So $7.50 end up being like $20+ for something that might be marred, marked or scratched - a second that might be in the end, useless - whereas making one, I can scrour places today and find what I need. Yes, maybe it will be a waste of time, but it will be a grand adventure and learning experience.
That sums up most of the Canadians I have known. Not all, but most. They're willing to waste time and a little bit of money by choosing what they know is the wrong thing, and then try to excuse it by justifying it. I know this guy who wants to build a really fast car, by buying something sporty and dropping in a huge, heavily modified engine. He told me he's contemplating buying this scabrous old beater, just a complete rust bucket, sitting in the snow with a ruined interior, hole in the body, flat tires, the whole deal. Why? Because he can get it for $500. I pointed out how if he spent $1,000 on a better instance of the same car, he'd be way ahead. He agreed, but said something about how he had given the guy his word that he'd buy the car by saying "Ok, I think I want it" over the phone. Give me a break. If you want to masturbate by buying a car (you're just doing it because it feels good) then be a man (or woman) and just declare "I'm buying this piece of shit because I feel like it. You don't like the idea? I don't give a shit!" At least then it'll be only one thing to be ashamed of: the waste of money, rather than two things: the stupid decision AND the lame justifications.
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