I can't imagine anyone making an argument for it's inherent goodness, but hey. I'd like to try something different. I'm going to sit down and buy BP and Jag a beer here, and let's all check our political cloaks at the door. I'll then be carted off to the local pokey for contributing to the delinquincy of a minor. But seriously...

I'm curious what everyone, of every stripe and background thinks about this issue.

On the one hand, you have the freedom argument... consenting adults are free to act in & view materials as they see fit. It's a victimless crime, if it's a crime at all, and hey, it just might help save some marriages.

On the other, you can argue that pornography victimizes women. As much as we like it, every time we watch it, we're supporting the enslavement of some young woman out in California (or wherever the film Private movies over in Europe). Her chains are most likely a drug addiction, but they could be others. Point is, as long as we the consumers are out here (and I'm not necessarily throwing myself into that group, wifey might peek in here at any moment) pimps, erh, I mean agents will be out there preying on young women without a lot of choices in their life.

You could also make the good old fashioned moral/religious argument. I'm open to all viewpoints. But, I want to set a couple of simple groundrules:

1) No dragging other threads into here. If it wasn't mentioned explicitly in this thread, it's an invalid comment.

2) No personal attacks. If Devastatin Dave (sorry dude, I figure you could handle being an example) comes clean and admits he has his wife make 5 movies a day to help pay bills, you can voice an opposition, but no insults.

3) No political baggage. I know I'm as bad an offender as anyone, but please, no 'typical liberal feel-good...' or 'typical right-wing religious nutcase'.

4) Be honest. If you don't want to share your personal experiences, fine, don't but please, dont' misrepresent yourself.

Okay, boys (and hopefully ladies Froggy & Proletariat) have at it.