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| US Senate Hearings: Americans Masturbate Too Much |
| 2005-11-21 |
| Sen. Sam Brownback has no trouble talking about sex. In hearing after hearing, he has brought forward experts in sexual dysfunction, lawyers fluent in the constitutional regulation of sex, and even journalists who have studied American sexual behavior. His concerns are varied, ranging from the horrors of international sex slavery to child exploitation. But on Thursday, he convened his third hearing in just over a year on another sexual topic altogether: porn. "I think most Americans agree and know that pornography is bad. They know that it involves exploitive images of men and women, and that it is morally repugnant and offensive," Brownback said, kicking off a hearing of the Senate's Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights, which he chairs. "What most Americans don't know is how harmful pornography is to its users and their families." With those words, Brownback kicked off a 90-minute discussion of hardcore sex scenes, self-gratification and its negative impacts. "This is not just a simple, benign form of expression, but rather a potentially addictive substance," explained one of the subcommittee's panelists, Jill Manning, a sociologist from Brigham Young University. "People watch a movie, read a book, listen to music, but they masturbate to pornography. In that difference, you have a different stimulation to the brain." She went on to explain that the experience of masturbation activates about 14 neurotransmitters and hormones, causing a quick chain reaction of brain activity. "There have been some experts who have even argued that, in and of itself, overrides informed consent when encountering this material," she said, apparently suggesting that an adult's own sexual self-stimulation can lead to a loss of judgment. Pornography, she continued, had been shown to increase the risk of divorce, decrease marital intimacy and cause misunderstandings about the prevalence of less common sex practices like group sex, bestiality and sadomasochistic activity. Men are not the only victims. Women, she said, make up about 30 percent of the audience for online pornography. The problems caused by porn can strike at the heart of a marriage. Another panelist, Pamela Paul, who recently wrote a book about the role of explicit sexual material in American culture, spoke of a fateful decision faced by some married men every day after work: They must choose between masturbating at a computer and finding sexual satisfaction with their wives. "If they go to their wives, well, just practically speaking, they have to make sure they have done all of the chores around the house they were supposed to do. They need to have a half-an-hour conversation about what they did that day," said Paul. This courtship could take up to an hour and a half. By contrast, she said, it takes "five minutes to go online..." Or, they can do the healthy thing, and post to Rantburg! |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #25 LOL GK - idle hands and all... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-11-21 23:46 |
| #24 ROFL! "I met him once but I did not shake his hand." Saved the best laugh of the day for the last moment, lol. You're a sage, AC! |
| Posted by: Slomotch Ebbager8829 2005-11-21 23:44 |
| #23 Back in the early 80s, my university had a history prof who was the world's foremost authority on (prepare yourselves) Masturbation in the Victorian era. He had written not one, but two, books on the subject. I met him once but I did not shake his hand. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2005-11-21 23:31 |
| #22 This sh*t comes from not having enough to do. |
| Posted by: GK 2005-11-21 21:52 |
| #21 Yep, nasty old predator, carrot whacking men are the problem...we are the only ones who fantasize. She's from Kanada and studied in France. What can you expect. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2005-11-21 21:01 |
| #20 Demeaning our precious bodily fluids? Bastards! -Gen Ripper |
| Posted by: Slomotch Ebbager8829 2005-11-21 20:10 |
| #19 Which reminds me, I have to flush the brake fluid soon. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2005-11-21 19:40 |
| #18 I'm glad Congress is devoting time to this. After all,it's not like there's more important issues - for instance war, terrorism, natural disasters, killer flus, etc. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2005-11-21 19:06 |
| #17 What's the frequency, Sam? |
| Posted by: BH 2005-11-21 18:56 |
| #16 Shipman, the font just looks small, you need glasses. What's the count by the way? |
| Posted by: John Q. Citizen 2005-11-21 18:46 |
| #15 Yeah, can somebody put a number on what's considered too much. Just doin research for a friend.. oy |
| Posted by: macofromoc 2005-11-21 18:35 |
| #14 Where's Clinton's Surgeon General when we really need her? We need her expert opinion on masterbation. |
| Posted by: Elmereth Ulaing6090 2005-11-21 18:28 |
| #13 Why's the font so dman small? LOL Shipman. |
| Posted by: lotp 2005-11-21 17:47 |
| #12 "US Senate Hearings: Americans Masturbate Too Much" Should read: "US Senate Masturbates Too Much." How about gettig some meaningful work done and forget about how many times people are whacking off. What idiot calls for these hearings? |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2005-11-21 17:40 |
| #11 I wear glasses. Am I spanking the monkey too much? |
| Posted by: Elmereth Ulaing6090 2005-11-21 17:29 |
| #10 |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-11-21 17:01 |
| #9 I observed the 14th Anniversary of my Grampaw's death last week. I'll never forget what he told me while out fishing one saturday afternnon. "Mary a woman with small hands" I asked him why and he said "'Cause it'll make you pecker look bigger". I miss my Grampaw. He never said anything about wanking, though. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2005-11-21 16:34 |
| #8 Doesn't .com have some picture that would be appropriate for this story? |
| Posted by: Gliter Chosh6645 2005-11-21 16:14 |
| #7 Sam's spending too much time at www.asstr.org . He should have com hitch him up with a fine lady of the night in Vegas and get the hangup out of his system. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-11-21 16:10 |
| #6 The late, lamented "Spy" Magazine had a humorous sidebar feature called "The Fine Print" in which they would take a deeper look at what Congresscritters were saying in the Congressional Record. One month they had the text of a speech by Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), in which he painstakingly listed each entry of a list of objects removed from human rectums. It went on for PAGES AND PAGES. I was laughing so hard I was crying. Dana, Dana, Dana, get over yourself already. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-11-21 16:01 |
| #5 Why's the font so dman small? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-11-21 15:50 |
| #4 So the hearing consisted of wanking about wanking? |
| Posted by: Jonathan 2005-11-21 15:36 |
| #3 Brownback, what a waste of a good cumshot. Food is a potentially addictive substance to some people too, are you gonna outlaw that as well? How about gambling? Alcohol? Games? Checkers? Breathing? How about doing something of value, like stop stealing our oxygen and adding to the CO2 levels? Moron. We do not masturbate too much and I'm off to shave my palms. |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-11-21 15:25 |
| #2 And it sounds like a few others are not masturbating enough! DW (fwap, fwap, fwap, fwap) |
| Posted by: Dolphin Waxer 2005-11-21 15:20 |
| #1 Geebus this is a waste of time and money. Please grow up and deal with some real issues. We have a first admendment it cover this. Finance a fence on the border to the south. Sexual slavery and Human trafficing is a real issue you can deal with that if your hung up, but lose your stupidty. |
| Posted by: Mahou Sensei Negi-bozu 2005-11-21 15:04 |