How a Porn Star Became More Credible Than Trump

A piece in Vanity Fair takes a look at why Stormy Daniels is viewed by many as more credible than Donald Trump (I never give him the title "president" since it diminishes the office).  True, Trump is a pathological liar and lies about countless things where only someone brain dead and utterly incurious would know in a heartbeat - or after a quick Google search - that the words flowing from Trump's lips are complete lies or, at best, half truths.  Instead, the piece suggests that porn and porn performers have become more respectable and that as a consequence stigma that once might have destroyed Daniels' credibility has greatly abated.   Indeed, the Bible Belt has the highest use of Internet porn.  Here are article highlights and I'd like to know what readers think:

It wasn’t so long ago that the sort of person who made their livelihood by starring in a film called Sexbots: Programmed for Pleasure, or who staged a nationwide strip-club tour under the banner “Make America Horny Again,” would have had some serious credibility issues. Yet ever since she emerged as a fetching national figure, Stephanie Clifford, the adult-film actress and exotic dancer known as Stormy Daniels, has resoundingly appeared more credible than [Trump]the president. It’s the result, certainly, of Trump’s own complications with honesty, . . . . And it also has something to do with Clifford’s sangfroid as a canny, press-savvy entrepreneur and entertainer.

She seemed preternaturally collected during her much-hyped appearance on 60 Minutes. Indeed, after federal agents raided the office and hotel room of Michael Cohen, who offered Clifford $130,000 in hush money, it is [Trump] the president who has seemed ruffled and the porn star who seems demure. One presumes they will both be watching her appearance on The View on Tuesday.

But Clifford’s credibility also owes to a less obvious transformation that took place during the 1990s, when the culture, if inadvertently, was beginning to normalize porn. Long considered a medium that degraded women, exploited actors, and de-valued sexual intimacy, pornography began gaining mainstream traction in the 1980s. It became inexpensive and ubiquitous thanks to videotapes, cable, satellite, pay-per-view, and CD-ROMs, developing into a multi-billion-dollar industry.

After the introduction of the World Wide Web, in 1991, a new boom followed: online porn, which opened the kimono to every age, demo, geographic region, and kink. And with a culturally progressive president occupying the White House, porn prosecutions—which had been on the rise under Ronald Reagan—virtually dried up.

At the same time, baby boomers were coming of age, and many of them, children of the counterculture, considered porn a form of pop-culture camp. The guy and gal next door suddenly realized that they, too, could make a career for a while by getting down and dirty in front of a video camera.

The 90s was also a period of peak erotic indulgence and adult entertainment. Massage parlors and “spas”—fronts for sexual favors—set up shop in suburban strip malls. Several thousand gentleman’s clubs, many of them decidedly upscale, operated across the heartland. The stories and struggles of exotic dancers, adult-film performers, escorts, and sex workers—who were often socially and economically disadvantaged to begin with—surfaced in the press and on the screen.

Which is another way of saying that Clifford’s stock-in-trade had become rather ho-hum—a career so common that it would not disqualify someone like her from comporting (or posing for pictures) with a future president—a man whose name until recently graced Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal, once home to a strip club.

All of this occurred against the backdrop of the tabloidization of the news. In the 80s and 90s, news items that involved infidelity, crime, violence, or graphic footage were referred to, among America’s editors and news directors, as sexy. . . . . Meanwhile, TV newsmagazines and supermarket tabloids were turning the nocturnal exploits of public personalities into addictive serials.

And now, of course, Clifford seems almost a conventional player in a Trump-era news cycle that has brought us Anthony Scaramucci, Don King, and the Mnuchins taking selfies at the U.S. Mint. During these crazy days, a scandal with a porn star is at least a crisis [Trump] with precedent.

Add to all of this Trump's own sleazy escapades and serial adulteries, and perhaps the author is on to something. 

Jeb Bush Invested Florida Pension Fund Money In Porn Purveyor

The Christofascists truly do not like Jeb Bush and it is beyond entertaining to watch them dredge up whatever dirty they can find to damage Bush - even as sane and rational people worry instead about Jebbie's use of his idiot brother, George W. Bush, as his top Middle East adviser.  Jebbie's knuckle dragging opponents are agog about the Bush Florida administration's investment if state pension funds in a film distributor, Movie Gallery, a small portion of whose inventory included  X-rated titles.  The International Business Times looks at the investment history while Jebbie was governor of Florida.  The irony, of course, is that evangelical Christians in the Bible Belt have the highest use of Internet porn and, back in the era of Jebbie's term as governor of Florida, these same folks were likely making high use of Movie Gallery's x-rated products.  Here are excerpts:

Conservatives in Florida were aghast: State documents said that Gov. Jeb Bush and other overseers of Florida's pension system had shifted retirees' money into a company called Movie Gallery, one of the largest film rental firms in America. Most of the titles were standard comedy and action fare, but a fraction were X-rated titles. 

In short, the state of Florida was investing taxpayer money in pornography. 

Bush recently released 280,000 emails from his two terms as governor, and buried in the trove are exchanges about the Movie Gallery investment that highlight the tension between Bush’s stance as a firm social conservative and his readiness to align himself with the Republican Party’s pro-businesses sensibilities -- even at the cost of right-wing ideals.

“Have you people lost your minds?” one outraged voter wrote in an email to Bush and the State Board of Administration (SBA), which made the investment. Another angry voter emailed that pornography was “enslaving men and women to its addiction.”

The Bush administration would not let political ideology shape pension decisions, the director explained, saying the state’s pension trustees were “required to act solely in the best interest of the [pension] beneficiaries.”

With right-wing heroes like Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz and Rick Santorum moving to enter the 2016 presidential race, Bush's backers are working to present the former Florida governor as a reliable conservative. They note that he publicly opposed same-sex marriage, funded crisis pregnancy centers and backed proposals to fund vouchers for private and religious schools.

In a mass email, AFA founder Donald Wildmon touted his group’s new website www.stopmoviegalleryporn.com, and urged the AFA’s 200,000 members to sign a petition and express their anger at Bush for moving $1.3 million of state money into the company.

“Movie Gallery shades hundreds of its stores with ‘back rooms,’ filled with thousands of videos and magazines exhibiting morbid depictions of sex,” Wildmon wrote. “By investing in Movie Gallery stock, the state of Florida is giving its stamp of approval on hard-core porn. Tell the Florida Board of Administration to get out of the porn business by divesting itself of Movie Gallery stock.”

 Also picking up on the story are The Drudge Report and The Hill. 

San Francisco Archbishop: Church Employees Must Not Masturbate

If the caption of this post sounds insane, welcome to the insane and neurotic world of the Catholic Church hierarchy that remains obsessed with all things sexual no matter the reported statements of Pope Francis.  Among the most insane sitting archbishops is San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone - yes, the one of DUI fame and purported "father of Proposition 8" - who has issued a pronouncement binding on employees of Catholic institutions and schools within his archdiocese that bans among other things pornography and masturbation.  How exactly Cardileone would enforce this mandate is left to speculation.  The San Francisco Chronicle has details.  Here are highlights:

The conservative Roman Catholic archbishop of San Francisco has developed a new document for Catholic high school faculty and staff clarifying that sex outside of marriage, homosexual relations, the viewing of pornography and masturbation are “gravely evil.” 

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s document applies to faculty and staff at four Catholic high schools: Riordan and Sacred Heart in San Francisco, Marin Catholic in Kentfield and Serra High School in San Mateo. It states that administrators, faculty and staff “affirm and believe” the controversial statements, which will be part of the faculty handbook.

The document goes on to say that marriage is between “one man and one woman,” despite California law allowing same-sex marriages. It also notes that sperm donation, the use of a surrogate and other forms of “artificial reproductive technology” are also gravely evil.

The document notes that while not all staff at the schools are Catholic, they are “required to stand as effective and visible professional participants and proponents of truly Catholic education.” Those who are not Catholic “must refrain” from participating in organizations that “advocate issues or causes contrary to the teachings of the church.”

Anyone as obsessed with all things sexual as is the case with Cordileone must have severe psycho-sexual issues of their own.  Especially since research has shown that the most vociferous homophobes are the ones most "turned on" by gay porn.   Part of me cannot help but wonder how soon until Cordileone is under investigation for sexual abuse like Archbishop John Nienstetd.

   

Mark Regnerus Says Viewing Porn Increases Straight Male Support For Gay Marriage

Remember sociologist Mark Regnerus who conducted a slanted and biased study on gay parenting earlier in 2012 that was embraced by Christofascists and gay haters as proof that gay parents were detrimental to children?  Not by chance the "study" had been funded by far right groups with documented anti-gay agendas.  While the study was subsequently largely denounced and shown to be a biased hatchet job on gays, Regnerus continues to be making a name for himself as a nut case.  His latest claim is that watching pornography makes straight males more supportive of gay marriage.  A piece in Huffington Post looks at this latest batshitery from Regnerus.  Here are highlights:

Could watching porn make straight men support marriage equality?  That's what Mark Regnerus, who became infamous earlier this year when he published a now widely discredited study that supposedly found children of gay parents are worse off than those of straight parents, claimed on the Witherspoon Institute website late last week.

In his piece Regnerus states that porn "undermines the concept that in the act of sexual intercourse, we share our 'body and whole self ... permanently and exclusively'" and "reinforces the idea that people can share their bodies but not their inmost selves, and that they can do so temporarily and (definitely) not exclusively without harm."

He also notes that porn does not "discriminate" or rank one kind of sex act over another and therefore viewers are treated to a "veritable fire-hose dousing of sex-act diversity" (can this guy paint a picture, or what?) and end up believing that sex has nothing to do with "marital meaning."

Regnerus reveals that "of the men who view pornographic material 'every day or almost every day,' 54 percent 'strongly agreed' that gay and lesbian marriage should be legal, compared with around 13 percent of those whose porn-use patterns were either monthly or less often than that."

What's more,

The same pattern emerges for the statement, "Gay and lesbian couples do just as good a job raising children as heterosexual couples." Only 26 percent of the lightest porn users concurred, compared to 63 percent of the heaviest consumers. It's a linear association for men: the more porn they consume, the more they affirm this statement. More rigorous statistical tests confirmed that this association too is a very robust one.

What about women you ask? Regnerus avoids the topic of why women support marriage equality all together. He notes that, "women typically aren't as into porn as men are, and yet women in general tend to support same-sex marriage more readily than do men. A recent Gallup poll noted that 56 percent of women favor it, while only 42 percent of men do. No, this theory is not about women..."

It is telling that Regnerus published his findings on a far right website.  And obviously, Regnerus seems to have the theory backwards: prissy Christofascists don't view porn while those not obsessed with sex as something foul and dirty likely not only are more inclined to watch porn and not be far right religious zealots.

Santorum Promise War on Pornography If Elected

My, my. Rick "Frothy Mix" Santorum has apparently missed the studies that show the biggest users of Internet porn are those among his Christianist base - especially in the Bible Belt. Otherwise, why would he be promising a "war on pornography" if elected to the White House. Doesn't he realize that the "godly Christian" set loves to meddle in the sex lives of others but truly loves to watch Internet porn. Maybe it's how they bring excitement to their outwardly prudish, Puritan like unhappy lives. But I digress. This declaration will only serve to underscore Santorum's religious extremist image and ought to signal to voters outside the Kool-Aid drinking crowd that Santorum's own subliminal obsession with sex - especially gay sex - will push him to try to control their sex lives as well. Huffington Post looks at this latest batshitery from the (in my view) mentally disturbed Santorum:

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has promised to initiate a war on porn if elected. “America is suffering a pandemic of harm from pornography. It contributes to misogyny and violence against women. It is a contributing factor to prostitution and sex trafficking,” the former Pennsylvania senator wrote in a statement posted on his campaign website.

Santorum has chosen the porn industry as his latest target in his effort to be viewed as the most conservative candidate in the GOP primary, ahead of opponent Mitt Romney. He believes that current obscenity laws should be more stringently enforced.

The statement also took the opportunity to slam the Obama administration and its handling of the issue so far, stating that the president has “refused to enforce obscenity laws” and that the Department of Justice "seems to favor pornographers over children and families."

Not everyone agrees with Santorum's analysis of how the industry affects Americans. Steve Chapman, a writer for the Chicago Tribune took issue with Santorum's claims, which he describes as "just wrong."

"Santorum doesn't seem to notice that as porn has become ever-more available via the Internet, the prevalence of rape has plunged. Since 1991, the national rate has fallen by 86 percent -- compared to a decline in overall violent crime of 65 percent," Chapman wrote.

The porn industry is a billion-dollar-a-year business nationwide, and with the rise of the internet and technology it has become one of highest-grossing industries in the world.

The cited Chicago Tribune piece goes on to look at just how off base some of Frothy Mix's claims are in fact. Not that Santorum lives in a reality based world where hard facts and data matter. For Ricky, it's all about his Catholic upbringing induced bizarre views of sex (I know of what I speak - it took me years of therapy to undo the damage done by the priests and nuns). Here are some column highlights:

I can understand if Rick Santorum wants to prosecute pornographers on the grounds that explicit fare encourages non-marital sex, promotes the use of birth control or saps vital fluids. I would think he's off-base, but he'd at least have a plausible case.

When he claims that pornography "contributes to misogyny and violence against women," though, he's just wrong. All of the evidence argues the opposite.

Santorum doesn't seem to notice that as porn has become ever-more available via the Internet, the prevalence of rape has plunged. Since 1991, the national rate has fallen by 86 percent -- compared to a decline in overall violent crime of 65 percent.

A state-by-state study by economist Todd Kendall of Clemson University found that "the arrival of the Internet was associated with a reduction in rape incidence. However, growth in Internet usage had no apparent effect on other crimes." He concluded, that "in contrast to previous theories to the contrary, liberalization of pornography access may lead to declines in sexual victimization of women."

Santorum, however, is one of those people who just knows pornography has bad effects, because he finds it morally offensive. But when reality contradicts your ideology and religious assumptions, it's wise to reconsider them.

Of course, another explanation could be that Santorum wants to eliminate temptation for himself. If there's no gay porn, then he can't be day dreaming about watching it.

Porn in the USA: Conservatives are Biggest Consumers

When I happened across this story on New Scientist it reminded me of my teenage years - among my friends who had the biggest problems with consuming too much alcohol, they always seemed to be the ones from families where drinking was forbidden. A case of the forbidden fruit being always more attractive than what is allowed in moderation. It seems that the same applies as well to online pornography. The states that are the most religiously and politically conservative are the ones where there is the highest per capita consumption on line porn (Utah, home of the Mormons has the highest per capita consumption). It parallels the fact that evangelicals talk the most about applying the Bible literally, yet they have the highest divorce rate of any religious denomination. Why does the word HYPOCRITE spring to mind? I'm not trying to be mean, but give me a break. Publicly these folks obsess about sex being bad, but apparently in private cannot get enough of it. Here are are some story highlights:

*

Those states that do consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious than states with lower levels of consumption, the study finds. "Some of the people who are most outraged turn out to be consumers of the very things they claimed to be outraged by," Edelman says.

*

The biggest consumer, Utah, averaged 5.47 adult content subscriptions per 1000 home broadband users; Montana bought the least with 1.92 per 1000. "The differences here are not so stark," Edelman says. Number 10 on the list was West Virginia at 2.94 subscriptions per 1000, while number 41, Michigan, averaged 2.32.

*

Residents of 27 states that passed laws banning gay marriages boasted 11% more porn subscribers than states that don't explicitly restrict gay marriage. . . . States where a majority of residents agreed with the statement "I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage," bought 3.6 more subscriptions per thousand people than states where a majority disagreed. A similar difference emerged for the statement "AIDS might be God's punishment for immoral sexual behaviour."

*
Eight of the top 10 pornography consuming states gave their electoral votes to John McCain in last year's presidential election – Florida and Hawaii were the exceptions. While six out of the lowest 10 favoured Barack Obama.

*

"One natural hypothesis is something like repression: if you're told you can't have this, then you want it more," Edelman says.

Gay Porn Offer Prompts Multimillion Dollar Lawsuit

The facts of this lawsuit don't quite add up to me. When does a free offer for porn go out unsolicited or when one has not previously purchased porn from another vendor? Especially one not covered in warning language? I've certainly never received an offer like this one that did not have plenty of warning language. Has anyone else? I cannot help but wonder if dear old dad didn't order the stuff and now is trying to (1) cover it up and (2) make a fast buck in the process. Naturally, nut job James Dobson and fundies at Focus on the Family are saying that the 12 year old girl will be "scarred for life" after mistakenly opening the gay porn mailer addressed to her father. Personally, I suspect she will be more scarred by being exposed to the hate and lunacy disseminated by Mr. Dobson, et al. Here are some highlights from PageOneQ (http://pageoneq.com/news/2008/Right_wing_Daughter_of_Big_Brother_contestant_scarred_for_life_by_her_fathers_gay_porn_m_0226.html):

In May of 2007, sandwich shop owner and former Big Brother 2 contestant Kent Blackwelder, according to Family News in Focus, heard a "frightened gasp" and a "desperate call for Daddy" after she opened what she thought to be a Disney mailer, but turned out to be a graphic advertisement addressed to her father, promising a free DVD, from a company called Specialty Publications.

The suit accuses Specialty of violating postal law by neglecting to print a warning of sexually explicit content on the outer envelope. The Blackwelder family, as a result of the accused omission, says to have suffered "great pain of body and mind," citing "shock, horror, humiliation and embarrassment, as well as anxiety." The suit, therefore, seeks $350,000 in compensatory damages, plus $3.5 million punitive, in addition to an injunction compelling Specialty Publications to comply with postal regulations.

"The envelope," as the lawsuit describes, "contained on the outside the message 'New! Free DVD enclosed!' There were no warnings on the envelope that the envelope contained sexually oriented advertising." The free DVD being offered was titled "Titan Men's Farm Fresh," and was promised as a reward for a paid subscription to "Freshmen," a gay pornographic magazine.

Blackwelder seems down on his luck according to the local newspaper. No doubt $3.5 million would be a nice pick me up:

Now her father, an ex-mortgage broker, current deli owner and one-time contestant on the reality television series "Big Brother" (http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jan/24/porn-offer-prompts-lawsuit/)

Romney Caught In Porn Flap

It's not enough for the fundies that Mitt Romney is Mormon and, therefore, not a real Christian. Now Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, a gay hating and anti-pornography group based on Ohio, is after Romney for issues during his tenure on the Marriott board of directors. I've done some reading up on Burress and he is a total wack job. Tony "I work with the Klan" Perkins is not much better. Here's part of the 365gay article:

Two anti-pornography crusaders, as well as two conservative activists of the type Romney is courting, say the distribution of such graphic adult movies runs counter to the family image cultivated by Romney, the Marriotts and their shared Mormon faith.

"Marriott is a major pornographer. And even though he may have fought it, everyone on that board is a hypocrite for presenting themselves as family values when their hotels offer 70 different types of hardcore pornography," said Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, an anti-pornography group based on Ohio.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a leading conservative group in Washington, said: "They have to assume some responsibility. It's their hotels, it's their television sets."

For the full article see: http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/07/070507romney.htm