I propose the founding of Porn University, which would form a cornerstone for erotic studies. Nearly every type of art has been studied exhaustively on an academic level, but not porn, which even in modern times suffers the Spanish Inquisition of conservative and religious intolerance. The art form now deteriorates under the wing of financial gain and flounders on the Internet.
At Porn University, established in a liberal, forward-thinking community, courses would be taught on the history of pornography, drama, video production, the art of filmmaking, and especially scriptwriting. Other classes would study porn on an abstract level. High tuition fees and tough classwork would weed out the horny kids and dirty old men. The first graduates would be the ones to turn the tide and begin pushing porn back to excellence as an art form. There would also be departments that study sociological, psychological, political, and theological issues on porn and the related subjects such as love, relationships, and art as a whole.-- mrnesbit, May 19 2001 Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction http://www.indiana.edu/~kinsey/A serious academic program whose work includes pornography studies. Its pornography collection, though only a small portion of its library, is still said to be the largest in world history. [Uncle Nutsy, May 19 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004] Since a University is a collection of colleges concerning different subject matters...wouldn't Porn College be a better name here?-- dgeiser13, May 20 2001 Universities and colleges are at the forefront of the push for politically correct behavior, yes? At PU, men and women should be equal, with no gender bias in the roles they are assigned--who's on top would be the least of it. Women would be encouraged to shoot blue movies degrading men, PETA would no doubt become involved over a graduate project involving sheep, surreal movies which only ever show the feet of the actors would abound, and in a landmark court case a female professor would be compensated because she was not chosen to head up the gay men's studies department.
In other words, a right royal balls-up. P-U indeed.-- Dog Ed, May 20 2001 For goodness sake, Mephista, I was making fun of a P-U, pee-yew, as in stinky idea. (I think mrnesbit proposed it strictly tongue-in-cheek anyway.)
Straight: pornography is *not* an art form (a surrealist porn movie showing only the actor's feet? Get real, it's satire--Peter Greenaway can do that kind of thing but no pornographer could) and yes, porn degrades women--ironic justice, then, if a course at PU were to put men through the same degradation. Ironic too that one could expect PETA to protest the sexual abuse of sheep but not women (or men). And a woman heading a department concerned only with male homosexual eroticism would be about as clueless as the male scriptwriters and directors who pretend their porn movies show women having fun. (As-if, huh?)
I would be overjoyed to have true gender equality--I have always thought Barbara Bush is a hell of a lot smarter than George the First, and I'll bet Hillary wouldn't have f***ed up nearly as much as Bill. I hope Janet Reno takes the Florida governorship from Jeb Bush, too. She's tough and smart.
Don't confuse my satire with my opinions. I often shoot from the lip and post things I later have to either retract or clarify: this is one such clarification, isn't it. I hope no one else misinterpreted my original intent quite so thoroughly.-- Dog Ed, May 20 2001 I've been told that Oberlin College once had an Experimental College course (i.e., one taught by students) entitled American Sinema, emphasis on the "Sin." I doubt it was as extensive in interdisciplinary focus as mrnesbit would like.-- toomuchmike, May 20 2001 The exploitation of women in porn always gets the blood boilin'. While in many cases the results are truely tragic (and unconscionable), it seems that the heat in the debate would be better used to cook, I'm sorry...bake, ideas that ensure women make more than the 80 cents on the dollar they currently are "allowed". Not to mention their denied access to the worlds of politics and religion. My guess is that porn is just what it is because that's what those who make it and use it want it to be. Would anybody really want to sit down to a "serious" porn movie? "Hey, whadya say after the turkey this thanksgiving we all mosey over to the living room. I rented that new "Saving Ryan's Privates" movie..." Besides I could never handle the pressure of picking a lab partner on my first day at PornU.-- braineddy, May 29 2001 Not all porn even HAS women. I must remind people that there is gay porn (not that I've watched it and not that there's anything wrong with that).-- pogoman59, Feb 15 2002 man imangine the parties that would go on there, a bunch of beutiful people all confortable about thier bodies, you could get laid... like.. ALL THE TIME!!!! but you must keep in mind that most turn to the porn industry for money when they're poor. so they wont have money for a University/college. pornstars might charge more for movie to pay off student loans thus their could be less redily avalibal over the net for free ( without filling out servays or looking at endless ads, kinda free) for the sake of horny teenagers everywhere this must not happen...-- i-Mer, Feb 15 2002 Porn has a bad reputation for the same reason rap music has a bad reputation: not because the basic idea itself is flawed, but because of poor implementation. Want to see good implementation of rap lyrics? Try Lucas or Salt-N-Pepa. Want to see good (magazine) porn? Try Naughty Neighbors magazine. It is good precisely because they are trying to look sexy, not slutty, and they are not picture-perfect. Who wants to boff a doll or a mannequin anyway. As for video porn... I think there should be no script. Just go at it, for Pete's sake. And the women should not lie there limp, or give fake moans. They should give ACTION. Oh... Can anyone suggest any good porn made for women? I am male, but it would be interesting to see.-- juuitchan3, Jun 22 2002 random, halfbakery