This topic is prostitution.  I was recently watching Dateline or 20/20 and I came across a story about a new place to find prostitution flourishing.  That is, in truck stops.  What floored me was that many of these girls are snatched up or mislead by a family member, taken to a truck stop and then forced to have sexual encounters with men twice their age. 

It was also disturbing to know that at anytime these acts could be taking place.  It has been said that while a family pulls into a truck stop for a quick pick me up coffee or bathroom break, a prostitute is 'working' only feet away.

I think that it is important to examine these problems and report on their unknown prevalence in the United States.  I think that often times people are not aware that this kind of act occurs in places other than a third world country.

Until the point where prostitution no longer exists, I will continue to pray for a resolution to these kinds of issues.  As long as people are made aware I think that the war against an injust world has some glimmer of hope.

There are many things that I have gotten out of this course.  I found that through citing my opinions and looking at the views of my fellow classmates, that my voice really can be heard.  It was enjoyable to sit down and reflect on lectures and topics that you find relevant or interesting. 

In some respects I believe that through this course I've gained a greater knowledge of the whole porn world.  I now know that this industry as a whole is not as scandalous and I first thought it to be.  I also have found it interesting that my opinion of porn has not really changed.  While I enjoyed reading others views on these subjects, I found some comfort in sticking to my guns.

So to sum this semester all up….maybe I'll start a blog of my own, maybe when I have children one day I won't freak out if I catch my son or daughter with x-rated material in their possession……maybe I've learned that no ones opinions are right or wrong, they are just that, opinions.

Thank you and goodnight

First of all, I was disgusted when, while searching on google, I came across various blogs glorifying gang banging.  In this blog <ahref="http://www.dailyamateurgangbang.com/"> the many references to gang bangs seriously upset me.  I believe that with certain freedoms in the world come a certain responsibility, to uphold what is right and what is wrong. 

I believe that if you glorify things like gang banging, many impressionable people who may read this blog will think that it is acceptable, and it is not.  This is one of the only instances where I will put my foot down and say that no, porn and all that it represents is bad.  I believe that because people become obsessed with pornography, this can lead to greater and darker habits.  One day a person is just looking or reading about porn, the next they are involved in a gang bang. 

I'm not sure if I am alone on this subject but I would hope that one day, a greater crack down is delievered to these people that are upsetting the balance of good vs. bad on the world wide web.

This spring break many of my friends chose to go to Acapulco.  Yes, this is a 'hot spot' for many students and young aduts but is the fun really so innocent?

MTV seems to glorify the fact that single, good looking, teenagers all go down to these warm destinations to hook up and get crazy.  While I am all for the having fun part, I must say that a lot of the behavior that is exhibited on these vacations is out of character for many and could quite possibly be a breeding ground for illegal porn happenings. 

Having no real proof of this, I was just thinking about the many porn industry types that will probably travel down there to tape their own version of 'girls gone wild'.  I believe that it is very dangerous ground people walk on while on spring break.  It is a real shame that in this day in age people, especially women, have to worry about this kind of thing. 

Does anyone else see the dangers of Spring Break in relation to the darker sides of pornography?

The most recent instance where I've seen it was in an interview done on CNN.  The interviewee was a guy named Justin Berry.  Justin is like your average American male accept that he made thousands off of attracting pedophiles by taking off his shirt and 'advertising' himself online. 

On question I have for people such as Justin is why they feel the need to attract this kind of attention from sick, harmful people that seek to take advantage of people in a sexual way.  Newspapers and the media have largely pegged Justin as a "lonely" teenager, eagar to develop friendships with people online.

What is bewildering and quite disturbing out of all of this is that the Government was so slow to act.  From the time that they found out about Justin, it took them 50 days to do anything about it. 

So I guess my question is, does porn and our technological world go hand in hand with creating the future pedophiles of tomorrow?  How can we stop this from happening to someone we love?  If the Government continues to put these issues on the back burner we may see heightened ocurrences in the near future.

Although I am not surprised by the fact that so many people are using Myspace for to post pornographic content, I must say that I think it is highly unecessary for them to do so.  Facebook is similar to Myspace in a lot of ways.  It connects classmates, old friends, family, etc.  Facebook seems to have largely avoided the pornographic pitfalls of Myspace by including buttons to report suggestive pictures that offend certain people. 

I think that this feature is extremely warrented since so much of the world population connected to these sites finds it appealing to put up porn pictures all over their pages. 

It seems sometimes that we live in a world where running across suggestive poses or actions is inevitable.  For once I would like to see a heavier crack down.  If someone wants to post porn material on these websites more power to them but this means that when a child searches for a friend on Myspace, they don't turn up a picture that they were never meant to see in the first place.

Free Speech is certainly a universal right and something that almost every citizen in America agrees upon.  In regards to the porn world, where does the appropriateness of free speech drop off and become inappropriate?  There seems to be a thin line between this issue. 

People such as Hugo Black thought that free speech should equal free speech.  To an extent, I have to agree with this viewpoint.  Alexander Miklejohn took this one step further and said that the first amendment shouldn't apply to political speech, only commercial. 

I believe that in the pornographic world, there are definately things that should be censored.  There are definately things that go way beyond natural curiosity and satisfaction.  I'll be the first to admit that I haven't quite figured out what a good balance between the two is. 

In 1549 the Index of Forbidden Books and Authors banned at least 500 reading materials because they were offensive to the church.  I think here is an example of an extreme situation where, had the first amendment be in place, the church would not have had the power to limit such materials. 

I think that obscenity is only really obscence when it involves misrepresentation of sex and of children.  To me, obscenity is the clear lack of respect for not only the person who created the porn but for the whole viewing population as a whole.

Internet porn sites and videos are there for a reason.  They are there so people will visit these sites and also so that they will rent these videos.  In my opinion we have too much porn around anyway.  I feel like each time a subject like this comes up the world population takes a step backwards. 

I believe that we are intelligent enough to know that naked news will never produce positive affects.  These people who appear to think of nothing but naked bodies should concentrate on looking for it in places that it will always be like the internet or on video.  Let's hope for everyone's sake that the next 'newest craze' in television won't be naked news……

Women in the porn industry are somewhat respected by their male counterparts.  Money equals respect, especially in the porn world.  If a performer has real 'star' quality, people will buy the video, which means that everyone involved in the film gets a piece of the money pie. 

There will always be those incidents where you hear of women who are treated badly, who are forced into performing.  For the most part, however, these starts are treated very well.  It is not as if these women are strippers.  At the end of the day, most of them will go home to their regular lives.  While some may feel that this line of work is degrading, others will argue that it is an empowering feeling when you are respected in a occupational field, no matter what that might be.

 I believe that men have to exhibit, at least in part, a sense of respect for these women, or else all we would see in these movies is a bunch of males.  I think that men respect porn stars for the 'quality' of work they do.  Without the respect for what these women do, there would be no pornography industry, period.