Are You Somebody’s Daughter?
Somebody’s Daughter is the title anthem for a Christian-funded DVD/CD set, detailing the trials of five individuals attempting to escape the sweaty clutches of pornography. It’s a sweeping ode to innocence, childhood, and the endurance of the human spirit. It is also unaware that the thought of the young, nude, nubile nymphet fellating a dozen men simultaneously being somebody’s daughter is a turn on for some.
Watching this video one is immediately struck by the simplicity of the views expressed here. Certainly this is no surprise, after all one of the main draws of religion is the distinct separation of right and wrong. There is no room for a gray area where porn may not be manufactured using women enslaved by drugs or, perhaps, actual chains.
What’s more prevalent, however, is the 50s-era sensibilities on display. Maybe it’s the way the vocalist enunciates the word “flesh”, drawing out the first three letters before biting down on the last two, but one gets the sense that these people’s daughters don’t enjoy their sexuality and, if they do, then the least you and your filthy, filthy penis could do is refrain from encouraging them. And it certainly leaves no room for the existence of women who enjoy pornography, perhaps even pornography featuring somebody’s daughter.
More than that, though, I must return to the central premise; the idea that the object of one’s lustful desires is “somebody’s daughter” being a functional deterrent for men wishing to sit down with some porn and massage their genitals. The thinking here is presumably, “You have a daughter of your own, how does the thought of some other man massaging his genitals while viewing video of little Sally fisting a man in a rubber suit strike you?” Really, what is this video talking about here? Is it a serenade to the sanctity of our children’s innocence; the preciousness of their safety or merely the thinking that, if someone masturbates to images of my daughter, she has embarrassed me. If this was your daughter, what shame would it bring down upon you, her father? Wouldn’t it be terrible for you and your family if it was discovered that your daughter was a pornstar or a stripper?
Wouldn’t that just be awful for you?
June 4th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Oh ugh. The entire premise behind this video totally angers me. Every time I think we are moving past our stone-age imbecilic and backward attitudes toward positive body image, reproduction, women’s rights, morality and adult consent, some ultra-conservative group comes out with something like this to remind me of how far we still have to go.
June 4th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
I guess I just will never understand why Christians — who abhor abortion — don’t spend all their time encouraging masturbation in all its many various forms. It doesn’t make any sense to be against both at the same time.
It’s like being against the eating of meat whilst also being against the production of synthetic meat grown in vats from yeast.
Also, penis.
June 4th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
I like how there is no mention of male porn stars and the concept of “Somebody’s Son,” and how this site is geared towards saving men from porn, as if all viewers of porn are male, and all actors in porn are female. I guess men who look at male porn aren’t “worth saving” on account of their homosexuality, which is why the site doesn’t preach to them.
June 4th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
This video pretty much sums up the whole problem with the way these idiots view women. Of course if you see women as children then you don’t want to give them any control/ choices/ power, and of course a woman’s sexuality is wrong and shameful if you’re viewing her as a little kid.
They need to learn that women are adults, and there is nothing wrong with adults acting as sexual beings.
June 4th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
The video’s misogynistic viewpoint is absolutely abhorrent, but they hit the nail on the head when it comes to the exact same problems that I, as a woman, have with porn. I’ve never been able to stomach it: any time I view it, I instantly start thinking: “how did this poor girl end up in this situation? what did she want to be when she grew up?” and then I get depressed and can’t enjoy it. My fantasies are actually pretty intense and violent and could be considered degrading to women, but when I see a girl reenact them, somehow I feel bad for her, even though I know that it’s all a show. So instead I just look at drawings that are pornographic, because I know that it’s all a figment of someone’s imagination, and no one got hurt or had regrets from it. I know that there are empowered women who do porn for their own pleasure – people cite Sasha Grey, Justine Joli, – but I don’t know. Those girls are awesome, but I still feel like there must be so many creepy people in that business, I don’t know why anybody would want to make it their job, unless something tragic moved them towards it. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, or don’t understand the industry, but it’s just how I feel.
June 4th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
I’ve been seeing an unusually large deluge of Japanese-created zooish erotica come across the index at the zetatracker (zetatracker.net) lately and it’s quite fascinating to watch – this coming from someone who, as a porn tracker admin, generally avoids porn like Ebola due to chronic over-saturation in it.
These Japanese videos, first, list the name of the woman right in the title – not a fake name, i.e. “Candi Sloppycunt” or whatever – but her real name, with pride. Second, the first 10+ minutes of the videos are the women talking, with clothes on, answering questions, smiling, etc. Alas my Japanese is nonexistent so I can’t say what they’re discussing – but it sure doesn’t look degrading/insulting/dirty.
Then, throughout the whole rest of the videos, there’s places where the woman stops, smiles, laughs, takes a break, etc. She’s really human (no pun intended) – sometimes they hesitate before doing something, they fumble. Yes, there’s “degrading” scenes clearly meant for a fetish audience (drinking you-know-what from a cup, etc.) but somehow they don’t come off as degrading – more like a Jackass stunt.
Compare this to American-created porn, that’s all about power and hate and slurs and angry phrases and pounding and stuff. You know what, I think the Japanese approach is far, far more interesting. I’m not even “into women,” but several of these women have really caught my eye – they have charisma and grace and charm and courage and self-confidence. Not surprisingly, the same is true of their “canine counterparts” – the boys look happy and relaxed and confident and positive and generally having a good, silly time of it.
Moral of the story (apart from the fact that Japanese folks seem to have a BIG attraction to Labrador Retrievers): it’s not “porn” that’s degrading – it’s certain porn producers, and certain “traditions” in some areas of the porn industry. American porn, in particular, is steeped in the self-hatred of sexuality that’s a hallmark of Puritan Amerika. That’s my hypothesis, anyway. Note that this Japanese porn I’m describing isn’t “women owned” or in any way empowered in that way – it just seems like the Japanese producers (who are generally tightly connected with organized crime to some degree – particularly in making this sort of highly non-mainstream content) have learned that making positive, fun, genuine porn actually SELLS better. People LIKE it, instead of gritting their teeth just to get to the “good stuff.”
Standard disclosures apply: I am far from an expert on Normal (i.e. human-human) porn. I can’t really tell the women apart in these Japanese films – but I could describe each Lab in loving detail, etc. Still, I doubt I’m the only one who sees this – and I suspect it might also be true in Normal Japanese porn. In fact, I saw a Czech-produced series of “gangbang” Normal porn videos (long story, don’t ask) and they also seemed to have way, way more genuine energy – the woman who was the “bangee” would take breaks, go to a separate room with a sofa, laugh about stuff, answer questions, clean up and them. . . back to work! It was all way more in the spirit of “good dirty fun” than the American self-shamed energy.
Anyway, my $0.02 from the zooish side of the world.
Cheers,
Fausty | http://www.cultureghost.org
June 5th, 2009 at 4:27 am
Anyone even remotely interested in this topic should go read Jessica Valenti’s recent book ‘The Purity Myth’. Right now!
June 5th, 2009 at 4:28 am
Ross: Thanks for this.
Cappy: Or, regarding how wonderful this supposed heaven is, why they don’t rush to get there.
Bonnie and Fausty: Very good points.
June: My $0.02 is more or less Fausty’s. The U.S. has a feeble handle on the joy of sex. Still steeped in shame, killing most chances of it being anything more than filmed hate fucks.
June 5th, 2009 at 5:43 am
I really enjoy (sarcasm) how the main point for porn addicts to take away here is that they shouldn’t disrespect “girls” because of how their family would feel. How the girls themselves feel about their situation (be it positive or negative) is never even mentioned, so apparently their agency as individuals doesn’t much matter.
Girls (and they’re portrayed as girls, not women) are shown here as only having worth via their association with a traditional family group. The reiteration of the idea that they belong to the family in a possessive sense- they’re “somebody’s daughter”- for me seems to indicate feelings of ownership.
What I see here is “she’s not yours, she belongs to someone else”. What I think we should be seeing is “she’s not yours- she belongs to herself”.
Also: F THE PATRIARCHY
June 5th, 2009 at 6:06 am
More than that, though, I must return to the central premise; the idea of that the object of ones lustful desires is “somebody’s daughter” being a functional deterrent for men wishing to sit down with some porn and massage their genitals.
Not only that, but I find it entertaining that it never occurs to them that somebody’s daughter might herself find it hot to think about fisting a man in a rubber suit.
June 5th, 2009 at 7:58 am
Ross, I love you.
June 5th, 2009 at 8:37 am
I’m really not sure why people think that the words “somebody’s daughter” are going to be a deterrent. The porn-viewing public isn’t stupid – we understand that the actors in porn are somebody’s children. We also, however, understand that in order to have that daughter, her parents had to have done the deed all those years ago. And one of those parents may never have been born if Grandma didn’t get all frisky back in her day.
This video, and website, aren’t any kind of moral outcry, or warning, or call to action. It’s simply a video made for other religious nuts, for the purpose of being outraged together over a topic they have pretty much no understanding of.
These women aren’t being exploited. They’re using their sexuality to exloit the repressed public at large. If sex and masturbation didn’t still have so much stigma attached to it, do you really think the porn industry would be the financial juggernaut that it is today? Frankly, I think it’s a great thing that people worldwide are able to celebrate their sexuality in such an open way, and get paid for it.
June 5th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Actually if I discovered that my daughter was a pornstar I would be a bit pissed. I do enjoy sex in its many forms but porn is like religion; only what you make it. Very rarely do I see porn movies that involve any kind of protection and they seem to like to make people of color and different weights into “fetishes”. I’m no one’s fucking fetish. If you want to bang me then you do. If you don’t, then whatever. I wouldn’t mind if my daughter or son were in a porn movie that had standards and wasn’t sexist. Feminist porn. That’s what they could make and I would incredibly proud. They could also strip, just as long as they know what they’re getting into. I believe they should enjoy sex as much as the next person, but just know what you’re getting your little head into before you go jumping at the chance to make a quick buckaroo.
Also, I wish people would stop lumping every Christian into the same frapping basket. You’d be surprised how different one Christian is from the next if you spoke to one. I’ve learned to not judge someone based on their religion just as I’ve learned to not judge someone based on their profession of choice, their color, their class status or their sexuality.
June 5th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
I honestly thought this was a joke at first.
With lyrics like…”Somebody loves her for who she is inside…”
I just couldn’t stop laughing. I love bad puns.
Plus the imagery touches upon so many porn scene cliches it just makes it all the better. Plus the idea one should perpetually look at grown women as innocent children & teens can’t be serious right? If anything THAT is way more disturbing than even the roughest sex scenes produced today. This has to be one wonderfully executed joke.
But hell this organization is serious aren’t they?
Porn is a funny thing, it’s one of the few industries where the women make more than the men, yet they are perpetually seen as victims of it.
I don’t see Porn as any worse than any other industry. People are exploited in many “legit” industries and ones background and history can be just as messed up. It’s not exclusive that sexual abuse victims go into porn let alone every other stereotype that’s attached to them.
Porn for me has been like Hollywood. I’m a fan of certain performers, love the history of it, and enjoy the end product. Some of those involved in it are personal heroes and see far more benefits from it than problems. Provided one deals with it honestly, openly, and with common sense.
These days you have quality non-traditional stuff being produced all over the world. Some of it is from a very pro-female empowerment perspective and some of it from a very harsh rough male dominant perspective. The days of being able to label it in ONE way are over. So I can see why the above ad would like to make it simple.
There is a serious issue here but the above ad is not how to approach them. It’s just as bad as what it wants to fight against…can you imagine a girl trying to be “saved” by someone who buys into that? Suddenly a girl on girl orgy scene seems like the lesser of two evils.
That above ad would have been laughable in the 70’s and praised in the early 80’s. I can’t take it seriously…it’s been wonderful to read all the responses to it though. In that way it’s been very effective.
“Somebody loves her for who she is inside…”
Indeed they do sir. Indeed they do.
@Alysa…I will check that book out. Thanks for the recommendation.
@R. Sorry but one loses the right to complain about being lumped together in the same basket when you’re fundamentally part of what makes up that basket. At the end of the day a moderate Christian is still in the same bed as fundamentalist Christian on more levels than either is probably too comfortable with. Their still part of a religious majority that produces crap like the video above.
I think they can take the proverbial hit now and again. Turning the other cheek and all that…
June 6th, 2009 at 4:04 am
wow.
Women are all innocent and fragile and need to be protected, so control yourself beardman. So offensive, even if I ignore the idea of their totally hetero world.
June 6th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Thank you, Ross. An excellent post.
Nadya, you took the words right from my fingers.
Simply put, it may come as a surprise to parents around the country, but at some point, probably in their teenage years, their sons and daughters will start having sex. Some of them (praise Jeebus), may even be kinky. They may also enjoy watching, being watched, or finding things that show other people having sex, some of it (hallelujah) also kinky.
This, of course, is an entirely new trend, unprecedented in human history. Certainly nothing like it happened with mommy and daddy’s halcyon generation. Nope. Never.
Of course, this could be an excellent point to open up a rational discussion about the very real pleasures, pitfalls and complications of sexuality: one of life’s thorniest yet most rewarding areas. But that would be insane.
What we need instead is a bucket-load of fear and a chaser of outdated gender roles. That may not be useful, but by fuck if it ain’t profitable.
June 6th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Yay, more patriarchy, yay!! The writer brings up some pretty good points. This sappy ass video is only going to keep you away from the spank material if you’re already a devout Christian parent or someone who is capable of associating your sexual desires with a deep seated guilt of some kind. I guess being an non-theistic, bisexual feminist woman in my twenties who digs indie porn produced by women this makes me fairly immune to adverts of this sort. The add is also totally aimed at men. Where are the guilty housewives driving through the rain in the minivan awash with guilt at the sight of a cock bar? This aside, I find the need to guilt the Christian daddy into keeping a better eye on his precious, helpless little girl offensive here. What about his son? It’s also likely his son could end up in the industry as well. How about an add advocating parents having a frank discussion involving the/both parent/s, their daughter and/or their son? If “values” really need to be discussed fine but let’s not shelter our kids to the point of harm now.
June 6th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
kudos! sexual repression has been SO successful in the religious community. i mean, without it, how would we ever have so many mental and emotional problems? it makes for such juicy material when writing for crappy tv shows. maybe christian fundamentalists are in cahoots with the psychiatric community.
June 7th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Everybody has control over their own actions, whatever gender they may be. Women can be as promiscuous as they desire, and I am sure many enjoy and choose porn as a lifestyle. However, there is a fair amount of sex slavery and forced porn-making going on all over good-old, free-choice America which pornography encourages. Also, pornography veiwing can lead to addictions that can destroy lives and families, I know people that this has happened to. It’s not always about celebrating sexuality and how free women can be. It can involve alot of unnecesary disastrous effects. As horrendously cheesy and terribly targeted this video is, the point (however uncommunicated this video leaves it) is to show that God is loving and sees those involved in this as his children and wants the best for them, not slavery or disease or whatever things may befall them.
Yes, i may sound like an idealistic, asshole christian who judges everything on first sight with an upturned nose and bigass bible in hand. There are christians like that, and there are ones who care about humanity and want the very best for it. We are not all the same, hypocritical, uptight bunch you assume us to be. And i would know, being on the inside of a “religious” group of people.
Tequila–“Their still part of a religious majority that produces crap like the video above.” Its not about the religious majority, its about people loving one another. I will admit the “Church” has given a lot of people shit about their lifestyles in a wrong, judgemental way and have made religion into a big unforgiving organized mess. But if you talk to the right people, they will show you the right answer without breaking out in crappy song.
And we by no means repress sexuality, we encourage self-control, for numerous and good reasons.
On a final note, we, as christians, are not telling you what to do or how women or men should fit traditional roles and none other or trying to run your lives. We are just trying to show that there is a better way and a loving God, take it or insult it, your choice.
June 9th, 2009 at 8:12 am
@Tumor–The jist of the problem is right there in you’re last sentence: “WE are just trying to show YOU that there is a BETTER way.”
“Your” way is different, but in “our” opinion and often experience, that’s all it is. “Your” belief that you are “better” than “us” is what gives us leave to insult you and mock you. It’s “your” superiority and pedanticism that pisses “us” off. Things would get better very quickly if “you” would just leave “us” alone to live our adult lives in peace, and let us cross the “God” bridge when and if we come to it in the hypothetical afterlife. Thanks.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
a majority of these posters are unbelievably hypocritical. for such apparently “open minded” and “cultured” folk, you are certainly close minded and ignorant.
NEWSFLASH: we are all human beings. porn stars are human beings. christians are human beings. of you yourself reading this is a human being. we are individual human beings who deserve respect, compassion and understanding REGARDLESS if our opinions,life style, beliefs differ from yours. no one should ever be “lumped” together in a “category” because they “deserve it.” this sentence has the same rhetoric of those “close minded people” claiming that “all gays go to hell because they;re gay and that’s that.”
wake up and smell the coffee-there’s a huge world out there with 6.5 billion people who are different from you in many aspects. you have to learn to treat others with love, compassion, and respect. a porn star has no more or no less value as a fanatic christian-they are both human beings and deserve as much respect and understanding as the next.
this is the first time i’ve read coilhouse in months, and i can see why i’ve been avoiding it.
June 10th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
@third eye…may not want to open an argument about people being close minded and ignorant by re-enforcing said outlook with an equally close minded and ignorant statement. It’s just bad form.
“…a porn star has no more or no less value as a fanatic christian-they are both human beings and deserve as much respect and understanding as the next…”
Not really no. A fanatic be it christian or anything else would be more inclined to force their views and lifestyle by force than a porn star. Fanatics happily lump themselves into categories and push everyone not with them in the “People to do away with…” list. This element of society cannot be reasoned with using love, compassion, or respect. So NEWSFLASH for you…yes we’re all Human Beings but not all of us act like one.
I will be bold enough to say none here have issues with people having different views, ideas, or opinions…it’s ones ACTIONS that are up for questioning, mockery, and if need be outright hostility. Now if you had read Coilhouse in the past many months you will have noticed many being praised, honored, and openly loved for their actions though. It goes freely in both ways…usually for the positive at that.
I say read back and enjoy what you missed my friend.
June 12th, 2009 at 10:30 am
@Stacey E: That’s it, nail on the head.
June 13th, 2009 at 6:42 am
God, please let there be a day when women’s sexuality didn’t send everyone into a tizzy, or (some) Christians into a self-pitying spiral of “What about me?”…
Can I get a witness?
July 19th, 2009 at 1:31 am
If my daughter worked in the porn industry?
Well. the least I could do is show an active interest in her work.
September 27th, 2009 at 1:35 am
Soo, uhh… no insightful post here, but:
I invoke Rule 34 on ‘somebodys daughter’.