California Catholic Daily – “For the enjoyment of the student body”
More than 400 students showed up to view a hardcore pornographic film on Thursday night, April 2, at the University of California at Davis. The triple-X rated film was offered under the auspices of the Associated Students Entertainment Council, which is funded by mandatory student fees.
The film’s producer, Digital Playground of Van Nuys, said in a March 31 news release, “Over 2,000 excited students cheered and clapped throughout recent screenings at UCLA, Northwestern University, Carnegie Mellon University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Southern Connecticut State University.” Digital Playground is making the film available free to university students “with the intention of breaking down the popular notions of what adult movies are capable of,” said the release.
Pornography is wrong on two fronts. First, it is objectively sinful to willingly choose to watch pornography for the point of sexual gratification. All visual images, but particularly those that are emotionally or sexually charged, can come to mind unbidden for years to come. The effect on these students will not be short lived, though it may go unnoticed.
Two, pornography objectifies particularly women. It can objectify men as well, but the primary audience for porn is male. The greater the spread of pornography the more women are reduced to mere objects in the mind and behavior of the porn watcher. This objectification does not only affect how the watcher affects women, it arrests their sexual and emotional development at an essentially adolescent stage. The University does a serious disservice to its students by encouraging this.
The idea that this is somehow that a University does not censor student entertainment is ludicrous. Universities have disallowed previous events for one reason or another. A Nazi propaganda would not be permitted, a snuff film would not, and until now, pornography would not be permitted. Further, this is not simply “permitting” this is put forward by the Associated Students which is a group that students are required to fund.
