(In the spirit of Valentine's Day, I thought this was rather appropriate. It is a film that focuses on both violence and sexuality on a day of love and compassion.)
“There is a widespread agreement in America that the family is in crisis” (D’Souza 153).
That is quite a statement to make. However I do agree with it to some extent. And I partially blame the media and pop culture. Still, we cannot simply erase the problems by getting rid of the sources altogether. The process is slightly more complicated than that.
After reading many others’ ideas on censorship of sexuality and violence in the media, it seems that most are at a consensus that there should be censorship to some extent, despite the American ideal of freedom. And I too agree with that. However, we must respite the wide range of opinions and mindsets that are found in the United States.
I am not a big television viewer, but I do watch it when I work out.
Just the other day, while on the elliptical, I was flipping from channel to channel trying to find something entertaining to watch. And sure enough, “Road Trip” was playing on one of the free movie channels. Having seen the movie previously, I was shocked to see it being played on a station that anyone, including children could see. I continued to watch and was pleasantly surprised when I saw that they bleeped out foul language and eliminated crude sexual parts. Of course, it isn’t impossible to figure out what that what the person’s mouth says isn’t what you hear, but the problem of inappropriateness was mainly taken care of. (Pictured is the cover of the unrated version available of Road Trip. Luckily, this was not the version shown on television.)
I read a book written by Jenna Jameson (pictured to the left), playmate, porn star, and owner of a strip club in Scottsdale, Arizona. In this book, she chronicles her life and upbringing, as well as a detailed depiction of the sexual world and the craziness that comes along with it. In one part of the book, she describes the “baby steps” she took and someone could take to become a porn star, including “teenager wants to be a model….he thinks she’s special…dating a tattoo artist and biker…becomes a stripper…starts modeling nude [because] it’s just like real modeling, except with stripping added in…starts acting in soft-core all-female adult movies”[1]. Wow. A full out description of how to become a porn star. When I read this, I though to myself, “why would she ever include this in her book? Who REALLY wants to be a porn star?” And then I realized that many people do. Of course, I have absolutely no interest in pursuing a career of that kind, however some, in fact many, do. Just because I find the idea to be repulsive and degrading does not mean that everyone does. This leads me to my conclusion that although I don’t agree with some of the sexual exposure of today’s society, and violence exposure on the same token, I don’t believe that we can or should eliminate it. As Wiley said, “my distaste is my preference.”D’Souza states that “conservatives must pressure liberal Democrats to decide how they want to be perceived by the American people” (D’Souza 292). I believe that the liberals, who are allowing and promoting sexuality and violence to some extent, already understand how the world perceives them. They know that many, such as the Islamic Muslims, disagree with their views and freedom of expression. And they support censorship to some extent. This is how America should be. Those who want to find the vulgar sections of life can and those who want nothing to do with it, can avoid it. That is why we have more than one channel on television, millions of different kinds of books, movies and music, and different political parties. We can all choose what we want and stand by it.
[1] Jenna Jameson with Neil Strauss, How to...Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2004), 126.
[2]
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