MASON: Pornography debate loses meaning with celebrity appearance

The debate on pornography held by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's University Program Council proved that sexism and stupidity are alive and well on campus.

When my friend Maddie caught up with me in the Black Friday-length line, she said, "Sorry, we were stuck behind a group of guys chanting ‘Ron Jeremy, Ron Jeremy!' and a waft of Axe body spray."

While I was waiting in line I was repeatedly cut by young men as they met up with their friends in front of me. At one point I said, "If you want to be in front of me, you need to ask me." They weren't listening though.

The auditorium was pushing capacity limits as we waited for the debate to begin. I could hear rumbles around me discussing Ron Jeremy. To be fair, it's understandable why. He is a pop culture icon. A celebrity (and I grit my teeth as I say that), and horny co-eds are into that. When the two speakers were introduced, the screams for Ron Jeremy were deafening in comparison.

Why were these students here? They weren't here to hear a debate. At least not the majority. They were here to gawk at the man who calls himself "The Hedgehog." They wanted to have a bite of his has-been fame. They didn't care about Susan G. Cole and her prolific writings and activist work. They didn't care that Cole was an activist for them – while Ron Jeremy was an activist for himself and an industry.

They don't even care. The purpose of the debate was lost on most.

Toward the end of the debate, a female student who defined herself as a feminist and who was supposed to be asking a question – laid into Cole. She expressed her enjoyment for porn and scolded Cole for telling her that isn't a part of her sexuality. Cole attempted to explain several times, in between interruptions by the student that nothing is natural anymore. In our society our sexual identities are no longer ours. She challenged the student, and others, to consider their own sexuality. To consider the fact that things like porn are robbing us of our own sexual experiences.

If the student could have shut up for a moment to listen and consider what Cole was saying, maybe she could have learned something for herself. The sound people finally shut the student's microphone off while she was speaking. She wasn't there to listen. She was there to be the star – to refuse to give up what she considers her sexual identity. What she didn't realize is that Cole was trying to give that back to her.

Cole's arguments were that the sometimes violent ways women are treated in porn are perpetuating certain stereotypes. She said a study showed that men who saw porn involving forceful sex on women believed that women wanted forceful sex – believing the ideals of porn over what their actual partners said.

If you've been unfortunate enough to stumble upon the Internet phenomenon of "Two Girls One Cup," I pose this question: Do you think those women were enjoying themselves?

Cole also pointed out a mock rape trial in which a jury exposed to porn found a rapist not guilty because they thought the woman was lying. I'd like to find more research on this topic, but that's scary. It's scary that someone could violate a woman's body and the law could find her to blame – due in part to their exposure to the porn industry's attempts at making money.

Capitalism tends to reign supreme, even in matters of legality.

Cole also pointed out that Jeremy is an old and unattractive man making money in porn, while women of his age and attractiveness level wouldn't find work there. Jeremy tried to combat this fact (that ugly women can't be porn stars) by listing older women who run their own porn companies. However, his defense was lost since he also referred to those women as MILFs in the same sentence.

At one point Cole pointed out a scene in one of Jeremy's movies where a woman was talking too much, so Jeremy shut her up with his genitals. A chorus of low-toned snickers rose from the audience. "That's the sound of contempt for women," Cole responded.

The crowd shut up. Until Jeremy began talking again.

Jeremy defended the scene later by saying in a later scene that same woman shut him up in the same fashion. The point Jeremy is failing to realize here is that men are not oppressed. Women are. It is different in the current social situation, and that's unfortunate.

On Facebook, (I really need to delete that thing) a friend's status referred to the two debaters as, "Ron Jeremy and a lesbian." Heated from the debate and the discussion I had with my friends afterwards, I jumped on the opportunity to express my disappointment in the word choices. Susan G. Cole is so much more than a lesbian, and it saddened me to see her reduced to the extent of her sexuality, especially while Jeremy received the honor of his own name. He's no more worthy of his name than Cole is of hers.