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September 28, 2004
Surfing for sex: private behavior in public
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Lisa-Jean Mugler Opinions Editor |
Today let us broach one of my favorite topics: Internet Porn. As an adult, it’s "yeah, baby!" As a mother of a male teen, well, I kind of cringe and wait for this time in my son's life to pass. Here is a favorite soapbox, short label: personal behavior in public places.
Internet porn covers a few broad areas: personal rights, objectification of (usually) females, the right of government or a community to dictate public standards, and probably a few other topics. For today, let’s stick with Perusal of Porn in Public Places.
Perusing porn in a public place is not a good idea. Especially in a public library, such as the Elsner Library.
And after asking, John-at-the-information-desk said that he does have his occasional, umm … “purveyors.” Not too often, but enough to keep him alert. They provide the frustrating part of his job.
Al right, paranoia aside, have you noticed the ease with which someone from across the room can see what's on a page wherever there is a computer on campus?
For those who might be disillusioned, the people who might think of me as a former nun, I have sort of (accidentally) noticed a couple of “artistic boudoir photography” sites, and they are unusually difficult to mistake for anything else.
If someone is sitting at a public computer ogling naked people, and they have the presumably attendant physical signs, well, surely the people around them will notice that as well as what they are looking at.
Now, if a person is into looking at pornography - artistic or otherwise - heck, that is their own prerogative. No one really wants to know what goes on in anyone else's bedroom.
Our president, however, and many religious leaders (like the most recent guy who we won't name here, but he's certainly going to have a bit of explaining to do to his grandchildren!) seem abnormally preoccupied with what others are doing in the privacy of their bedrooms. Maybe that is because there is a lack of activity in their own bedroom, or maybe they have an extreme fascination with taboo topics.
Regardless, it doesn’t really matter what turns you on; I don't have any interest in your “boudoir behavior.” There is my own “stuff” that I'm not all that crazy for others to know about me: bedrooms are supposed to be private, right?
However, when someone forces me to look at what turns them on, AND when it becomes apparent that they plan on doing something about being turned on, there is where I draw the line and it’s just...eewwww.
So here is the full title of that soapbox: Keep your personal, private part of your life personal and PRIVATE, and use public-approved behavior in public places!
Don't peruse porn at the library or show us your “plumber butt” at school. Don't slobber all over your significant other when you're on the street or be exhibitionist enough to make us want to yell “Get a room!”
When I was little, it was considered a sign of immaturity and social backwardness to display private behavior in public. Adults, we learned, don't pick their noses in public (although it’s only right to acknowledge the car as a semi-private realm).
Adults don't flaunt every asset that God gave them, and they act with restraint and dignity. They act with personal pride, saving the most special things to give to the people closest to them, this is one of the best parts of being that someone “special.”
Although I might like sex, at home with my husband, in private; at school I'd rather think about graphing linear functions and how to finish Latin homework before class. School should be for school thoughts and actions.
To the person who feels a need to display immature, (semi-) exhibitionistic behavior in public, in an apparent attempt to stimulate themselves further ... go home! You DO have a problem. You need some help.
The reason it's called a PUBLIC institution is because it is PUBLIC. Go home to do your surfing for sex. And remember, they sell cute dolls for people like you.
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