Lovelace and the Porn Question

The other day, I watched Lovelace, the 2013 film starring Amanda Seyfried as Linda Lovelace, star of 1970s porn classic Deepthroat and later anti-porn activist. The film was a pretty solid watch and I’d recommend it to people interested in seeing a story of a woman manipulated into a world she never really wanted to be in by a despicable man and, subsequently, breaking free from that world and writing a book to bring that man’s wrongs and some of the seedier parts of that world to light. Was it a groundbreaking film or something I plan to rewatch over and over? No. But it was certainly worth a watch.

Over these couple of days since watching it, I have begun to think about what types of conversations a movie about the world of porn could engender on a site like this? From a faith based perspective, as a believer in Christ, what should I believe about porn? From a social justice perspective, what does porn do to further the notion of a rape culture and how does it hurt equality? From other perspectives, what does porn mean to you?

Generally, in Christian circles, pornography is considered sinful and bad. Albeit, that is about as far as the discussion goes. With a similar premise, there’s a blog over at Relief looking at some of the questions that the Church needs to ask and discuss. Is all porn bad? Can pornography serve a positive purpose? Is there a higher percentage of Christians addicted to pornography that non-Christians? Why?

There are so many questions that the Church seems scared to address. Lust and objectification are at the heart of the discussion, but there are more angles and important things to ask.

I want to use this post, in conjunction with a film like Lovelace, to create discussion about pornography. What do you think? Is it black and white? Where is the gray? And, be honest, who’s your favorite pornstar? (Just kidding on that last one… kind of…)

thepaintedman

Founder / Professional Nerd

Justin has been running websites since his first Geocities site in 1994, but only did he ever start covering anything of substance years later. After he stopped regularly running local concerts in Northern NJ and the greater Philly area, he knew he needed to step up his writing game if he expected to continue to get free music to listen to. He writes regularly here and at Cinapse, as well as contributing to a few other sites on occasion. He likes music, film, the Philadelphia Eagles, the 76ers, talking about Criminal Justice, reading Intelligence Report, and his family... not in that order. His beautiful wife is far more talented than he is and his kids far more adorable... and crazy.

Tags: Church, Faith, Linda Lovelace, Lovelace, Lust, Porn, Pornography, Rape Culture, Sin