BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

BY NAOMI WOLF In the end, porn doesn't whet men's appetites—it turns them off the real thing. At a benefit the other night, I saw Andrea Dworkin, the anti-porn activist most famous in the eighties for her conviction that opening the floodgates of pornography would lead men to see real women in sexually debased ways. If we did not limit pornography, she argued — before Internet technology made that prospect a technical impossibility — most men would come to objectify women as they objectified porn stars, and treat them accordingly. In a kind of domino theory, she predicted, rape and other kinds of sexual mayhem would surely follow. The feminist warrior looked gentle and almost frail. The world she had, Cassandra-like, warned us about so passionately was truly here: Porn is, as David Amsden says, the “wallpaper” of our lives now. So was she right or wrong? She was right about the warning, wrong about the outcome. As she foretold, pornography did breach the dike that separated a m...

Yeah, I'm fat. Obese almost. And I don't like it. But the comments I get (some posted online) don't bother me as much the those expressing them hope I would. What bothers me is the willful stupidity & inability to engage their brains of these commentors. Before I moved to the house I'm in now, I lived in a luxury condo building. One of my neighbors, when I first lived there - was named Robert. He was younger than I and lived with his older mother. He was not well but often looked fine. I asked him once why he didn't date... his response, "I won't be around long enough to be a good partner for someone." He was right. Every few years Robert, who was tall and thin, would hobble around looking like he weighed over 300lbs. The condo gossips would talk about how "fat" he was and how he was "yo-yo dieting." I got tired of telling people it was his illnesses. You see Robert had numerous surgeries, medication as well as havin...

First I didn't go looking for this article, it was sent by a friend. But I feel compelled to blog about though I know not everyone will agree with me. I am no prude and I try not to engage in sanctimonius judgment of others. But I am somewhat appalled at the way the media tries to sanitize & excuse what these women do for a living; partly because the partners find it acceptable. I always feel sad that pretty women have to make their livings in this way. I am well aware men watch this stuff -- you can tell because they find "real" women ugly or 'not good enough.' It's bad enough we live in a sexualized society -- and it's bad enough when people who cheat either blame the other party they cheated with, lie about it or say they were 'driven to it' by a 'bad marriage' or some other nonsense -- but writing about this as if its O.K.? Every guy wants a porn star in the bedroom. I am fine with that... but there are limits to what I find acc...