Tonight I went to the Women for Decency kickoff meeting with my sister-in-law. The speaker was Jill Manning who wrote Let's Talk about the Elephant in the Room and What's the Big Deal about Pornography? There weren't a ton of people there, but it was nice to see other people who want to make a difference.
Manning told how she was reading 1 Peter 5:8: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." She wanted to learn more, so she studied up on lions and their habits and learned that the only animal the lions can't get are the elephants, so she learned about elephants. She learned that the elephants in a herd are females, young, and injured/ill males. The healthy males are solitary and don't join the pack. She learned that when these herds/packs of elephants are in danger from such things as lions, they form a circle, faces out, with the young or ill in the middle to protect them. She compared us to the elephants in protecting intelligently and diligently our young. So not only are we now lionesses at the gate, we are mighty elephants!
What I found interesting was that a few things she said regarding porn and the acceptance of it, were similar points made by Wendy Shalit in A Return to Modesty and The Good Girl Revolution.
For instance, Manning said women are showing tolerance to pornography by dating and marrying guys whom they know have the addiction -- they think it won't be that big of a deal. Shalit says similarly that if women will allow men to sleep with them without commitment, then men won't feel a need to commit because they can just find someone else to sleep with. We need to stand up to them (society/the porn industry/immoral men) and let them know the expectation whether it's that porn is unacceptable, or that no, men cannot sleep with us without being married to us.
Manning said that our initial response to porn is typically disgust. We don't need training in the subject, we need to trust our instincts. Shalit says typically women do not want to show it all, they don't want non-committal sex, so listen to your instincts -- they're there to protect you!
Another interesting and different point was that Manning said that the porn industry is always whining about being censored. She says it's really the porn industry censoring out the real truth!
2 comments:
Em, I've never ever wanted to want to be an elephant. But your starting to convince me.
Thank you! I loved what you wrote and I too loved what Jill Manning had to say. I agree that there is real power in women linking arms and standing shoulder to shoulder to fight against pornography and protect our homes and families. Kudos to you for all the great information on your blog! Would you consider coming to help us at Women for Decency? You are doing so much good. Thanks so much.
Post a Comment