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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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 Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 9:52 am Post subject: The Guardian blames western porn for rapes in Africa |
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More precisely, this writer really seems to have it in for LA-produced porn. I guess all that politically-correct Russian and Japanese porn never makes it down to Ghana.
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The moment porn truly stopped being fun came in a remote Ghanaian village � mud huts, barefoot kids, no electricity. The BBC series I was making about the impact of porn had led me via LA to Ghana. One of the unforeseen consequences of globalisation is the shocking effect that western porn is having in parts of the developing world.
The village has no electricity, but that doesn't stop a generator from being wheeled in, turning a mud hut into an impromptu porn cinema � and turning some young men into rapists, with villagers relating chilling stories of assaults taking place straight after the film's end. In the nearest city, other young men are buying bootlegs copies of the almost always condom-free LA-made porn � copying directly what they see and contracting HIV. The head of the country's Aids commission says porn risks destroying all the achievements they've made. It's a timebomb, he says.
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And contrary the stereotype about Guardian readers being suckers for any piece of any anti-western claptrap that gets coughed up, the blokes in the comments section are roasting this writer over the coals.
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Last edited by On the other hand on Fri Sep 04, 2009 12:19 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 9:56 am Post subject: |
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I had this emailed to me about an hour ago. After my eyes stopped rolling like a slot machine I decided to push it from my memory.
How long has rape been against the law in that country?
Also, is the author a believer in differences in mental functioning by race? Why would black Africans respond to porn by raping to a rate greater than others? |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 10:11 am Post subject: |
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How long has rape been against the law in that country?
Also, is the author a believer in differences in mental functioning by race? Why would black Africans respond to porn by raping to a rate greater than others? |
Well, one of the few commentators who doesn't totally dismiss the op-ed writes...
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| It's disingenuous to pretend that the effect of western porn on a traditional societies is the same as it is in a modern society where it is regarded as normal and in which women have some autonomy. |
I can agree that the effects of one type of art can vary from culture to culture. If you showed an American World War II-era racist anti-Japanese cartoon to a film studies class in Toronto, the students likely wouldn't go and burn down a Japanese restaurant after watching it. But if you showed that same film at a Korean soju tent the day after the World Court hands Dokdo over to Japan, the audience might very well be prompted to do something like that.
But yeah, even if the guys in the soju tent DID burn down the local saki bar, their actions could be seen as flowing from a whole bunch of other stuff that's going on in their culture, to say nothing of their own free will. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 10:28 am Post subject: Re: The Guardian blames western porn for rapes in Africa |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
More precisely, this writer really seems to have it in for LA-produced porn. I guess all that politically-correct Russian and Japanese porn never makes it down to Ghana.
| Quote: |
The moment porn truly stopped being fun came in a remote Ghanaian village � mud huts, barefoot kids, no electricity. The BBC series I was making about the impact of porn had led me via LA to Ghana. One of the unforeseen consequences of globalisation is the shocking effect that western porn is having in parts of the developing world.
The village has no electricity, but that doesn't stop a generator from being wheeled in, turning a mud hut into an impromptu porn cinema � and turning some young men into rapists, with villagers relating chilling stories of assaults taking place straight after the film's end. In the nearest city, other young men are buying bootlegs copies of the almost always condom-free LA-made porn � copying directly what they see and contracting HIV. The head of the country's Aids commission says porn risks destroying all the achievements they've made. It's a timebomb, he says.
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And contrary the stereotype about Guardian readers being suckers for any piece of any anti-western claptrap that gets coughed up, the blokes in the comments section are roasting this writer over the coals.
link |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 10:32 am Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
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How long has rape been against the law in that country?
Also, is the author a believer in differences in mental functioning by race? Why would black Africans respond to porn by raping to a rate greater than others? |
Well, one of the few commentators who doesn't totally dismiss the op-ed writes...
| Quote: |
| It's disingenuous to pretend that the effect of western porn on a traditional societies is the same as it is in a modern society where it is regarded as normal and in which women have some autonomy. |
I can agree that the effects of one type of art can vary from culture to culture. If you showed an American World War II-era racist anti-Japanese cartoon to a film studies class in Toronto, the students likely wouldn't go and burn down a Japanese restaurant after watching it. But if you showed that same film at a Korean soju tent the day after the World Court hands Dokdo over to Japan, the audience might very well be prompted to do something like that.
But yeah, even if the guys in the soju tent DID burn down the local saki bar, their actions could be seen as flowing from a whole bunch of other stuff that's going on in their culture, to say nothing of their own free will. |
I don't know. This fits nicely into the blacks can't control their junk social panic. A few months back there was a survey from South Africa where some absurd % of men admitted to being rapists. There was no mention (that I saw) if this behaviour was outside or in line with historically normal behaviour. There is lots going on here.
HIV in Africa is wildly over estimated anyways. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 10:43 am Post subject: |
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| I don't know. This fits nicely into the blacks can't control their junk social panic. |
Yeah, that's the main problem with the author's thesis.
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| HIV in Africa is wildly over estimated anyways. |
Is this perhaps a case of the NGOs wanting to exaggerate a problem in order to boost their funding, coupled with a lot of the western public willing to let the hyperbole go unchecked because it fits into people's pre-set ideas about what Africans are like? |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 10:50 am Post subject: |
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| Is this perhaps a case of the NGOs wanting to exaggerate a problem in order to boost their funding, coupled with a lot of the western public willing to let the hyperbole go unchecked because it fits into people's pre-set ideas about what Africans are like? |
That would be my assumption. Also, the World Bank and WHO assigns an "hiv pos" diagnosis to every TB case. TB is highly infectious. And others too. AIDS is an impaired immune system and the signs/symptoms of AIDS are nearly identical to the signs/symptoms of someone who sleeps where he shits, etc. They diagnose by survey and symptom, and not enough by testing. And when they do test, they test at-risk populations (gay males, female rape victims and prison populations) and extract to the larger society. I believe they do this because HIV has become an industry. AIDS/hiv has always been surrounded in a layer of propaganda to protect homosexual males from the "dirty" pejorative (I entirely understand why this was done, though I wouldn't have done it) and as such a sophisticated understanding of the situation is lacking. |
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Cheonmunka
Joined: 04 Jun 2004
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 10:57 am Post subject: |
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| Well, it's a good thing they ain't watching Japanese porn, there'd be new outbreaks of cholera. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:03 am Post subject: |
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| Cheonmunka wrote: |
| Well, it's a good thing they ain't watching Japanese porn, there'd be new outbreaks of cholera. |
Funniest thing I've ever read on this site. Bravo. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:04 am Post subject: |
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| mises wrote: |
| Cheonmunka wrote: |
| Well, it's a good thing they ain't watching Japanese porn, there'd be new outbreaks of cholera. |
Funniest thing I've ever read on this site. Bravo. |
Yes, that was well played. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:08 am Post subject: |
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| Also, the World Bank and WHO assigns an "hiv pos" diagnosis to every TB case. |
Just so I've got this straight. If I live in one of the countries under World Bank monitoring, and I test positive for TB, I will be listed as having AIDS, even though I might test negative for HIV? |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:12 am Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
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| Also, the World Bank and WHO assigns an "hiv pos" diagnosis to every TB case. |
Just so I've got this straight. If I live in one of the countries under World Bank monitoring, and I test positive for TB, I will be listed as having AIDS, even though I might test negative for HIV? |
If you are a native in Botswana or something and come down with TB they won't test you for HIV unless the clinic you are in is specifically targeted for survey. They'll just assume hiv and start treating (or not) it. This is how the regulations in the WB and WHO are written (or were written, when I studied the issue a couple years back). |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:29 am Post subject: |
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| If you are a native in Botswana or something and come down with TB they won't test you for HIV unless the clinic you are in is specifically targeted for survey. They'll just assume hiv and start treating (or not) it. |
But then when they tabulate the overall numbers for publication, they include all TB sufferers as HIV-positive, even the ones who never took the TB test? If so, I could see how that would muddy up the picture, unless in those countries TB really DOES correspond with HIV in almost all cases. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:35 am Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
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| If you are a native in Botswana or something and come down with TB they won't test you for HIV unless the clinic you are in is specifically targeted for survey. They'll just assume hiv and start treating (or not) it. |
But then when they tabulate the overall numbers for publication, they include all TB sufferers as HIV-positive, even the ones who never took the TB test? If so, I could see how that would muddy up the picture, unless in those countries TB really DOES correspond with HIV in almost all cases. |
I believe the criteria was TB and/or a diminished immune system = hiv. I don't know if they actually test for TB or diagnose by symptom. Testing is expensive. |
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Sergio Stefanuto
Joined: 14 May 2009
Location: UK
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| Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 12:07 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks, OTOH. Another classic!
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The porn producers aren't deliberately pushing their products into Africa. But the tide of black market DVDs on sale at street markets and hardcore clips viewable at internet cafes is almost unstoppable. Surely this multibillion-dollar industry needs to take some responsibility for the human costs?
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What does the fact that it's a multibillion dollar industry have to do with it, I wonder? |
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