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May 13, 2003
One of the fields that you stumble into when surfing the net for material on 'bodies' is porn. Most of the porn sites are American and the industry parade itself as once being the dark side of sexuality due to the traditional oppression of erotica that has now come into the light of the day. The porn sites are all about entering, membership low rates, new images and meeting the customers needs. Some even say they are free. The sites are ranked for the customer's convenience.
In Australia people tip toe around porn whilst the public debate splutters on around censorship and liberty as what was once seen as a perversion of the erotic comes to be accepted as a part of everyday life. Erotica has always been a part of European literary and artistic culture and is often seen as a part of the sacred. Some things are still closed whilst others talk in terms of sex education
Now academics are researching the everyday world of porn. They are finding that the attitudes of those for whom porn is a part of their everyday life is quite different from the way the public debate has been structured in a utilitarian culture:---porn does or does not do harm. It is little more than dipping a toe into the dark waters. Things will have shifted when the writings of the Marquis de Sade have entered the university curriculm, and are discussed in philosophy departments as an integral part of the liberal Enlightenment.
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One fails to instantly draw the link between de Sade and philosphy.. enlighten us, o wise one!