By Trisha Navarro
Vitamin P is Part of a Healthy American Diet
“P” stands for PORN.
Now imagine a world without it.
Stop hyperventilating. Just bear with me; I have a point.
In a pornography-free world, no one would have reason to blush in the magazine section of a liquor store. Pubescent boys and girls would never sneak through their parents’ underwear drawers for wittily-titled, backyard-quality videos and plastic-wrapped magazines.
The black and white silhouette of a bow-tied bunny would imply nothing more than, oh, an Easter formal or something. The names Ron Jeremy and Jenna Jameson wouldn't even ring a bell.
And the Internet would be useless! (Just kidding.)
But so what? The world doesn't really need the publication and distribution of nude photographs and shotty footage of well-endowed people partaking in the human reproductive process. Who wants to see hot, naked bodies and wild sex anyway?
There is a reason why many of you out there are raising your hands at the moment. “I sure as hell do,” you say.
Porn sells for a reason. The beauty of the human body is as undeniable as Britney’s implants. And the human body has needs which can only be denied for so long: we die after three minutes without oxygen, two days without water, seven days without food, and as for sex ...
Okay, so we don't necessarily die without sex. But our sex drive works like any of our other physiological needs—deprivation can drive us insane.
Unfortunately, sex is not always available to everyone. That is why we should consider porn as necessary as masturbation is natural.
Will you agree that all legal forms of pornography provide a healthy outlet for any otherwise sexually repressed individuals? That they are a sort of resource for releasing frustrating sexual energy?
So tell me: Why is sexuality such a taboo topic in America?
Granted, the advocates of abstinence have their reasons, be they religious or concerned with population control or based on the fact that safe sex requires a decent amount of maturity.
And trust me; I completely support the pursuit of a virtuous, cozy, healthy America.
But sex should not be treated with disgust. The thought of testicles and a pair of breasts should not have people screaming about hell breaking loose or Madonna taking over the world.
Heck, even a three-year-old can recognize a boob when he sees one (even if his mother didn’t breastfeed him).
Face it: body parts are body parts. Telling people to simply ignore that those organs are there is ridiculous. Especially when the organs sometimes scream for some attention.
And telling people to ignore their sexual urges is like telling yourself to ignore the big zit on the face of a person with whom you are trying to have a serious conversation—it is futile and it only makes the situation worse.
Sure, America is getting along fine with its conservative attitude toward sex, but let’s just contrast our culture with a more sexually liberal country like Denmark.
Even Danish teen magazines are full of nudity and sex. A few copies I have seen contained many of the young models’ pubic areas, and I even came across a how-to article on blow jobs.
This disturbed me, but it also made me think: people of sexually liberal countries are taught to be accepting and comfortable with their bodies and with sex itself at an early age.
In a sense, their casual attitude toward sex allows for a more casual transition into adulthood. I’m sure many of you can cringe with me upon reflecting on the awkwardness of puberty. Even the possibility of avoiding my own teenage awkwardness seems worth any of the consequences that may be associated with public accessibility to nudity and more free sexual expression.
This might seem like a stretch, but a happier childhood usually leads to happier people, doesn’t it?
And don’t we tend to associate happiness with the fact that someone may or may not be getting some? Maybe we need more content people around in order to decrease the rate of crime in America.
Let’s look at Denmark again. In 2000, 497 reports of rape were made. In America, there were an estimated 247,730 victims of rape in 2003.
Not to speculate the correlation between rape and sexual liberalism in a country or anything, since there are a million other factors that can contribute to the overall statistics. But anything to avoid such a horrible crime seems worth a shot.
I move for a more sexually liberal America. True, AIDS theoretically emerged around the same time that America went through its last sexual revolution.
But what if we promise we will be more careful this time? We’ll even go around passing out lollipop condoms and volunteer at the free clinics on weekends. It will be worth it.
