Let's talk about sex baby...cyber sex that is!

Cyber sex is an act whereby two or more people can have virtual sexual encounters. People can participate in these sorts of activities with the help of computers and the Internet. Basically, sexually explicit messages are sent back and forth between persons who describe imaginary sexual experiences. This type of Internet pornography is a sort of fantasy sex that is mostly written. However, an individual may also have access to a webcam in which case visual imagery can also be a part of the experience. I imagine this form of sexual encounter could become quite frustrating if your computer locks up or disconnects from the Internet.

Internet pornography is pornography that is distributed via Internet websites and file-sharing. It can be a popular way to find porn because of the accessibility and anonymity.






Pornography Time Statistics


Every second - $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography

Every second - 28,258 Internet users are viewing pornography

Every second - 372 Internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines

Every 39 minutes: a new pornographic video is being created in the United States





Internet Pornography Statistics -

Pornographic websites - 4.2 million (12% of total websites)

Pornographic pages - 420 million

Daily pornographic search engine requests - 68 million (25% of total search engine requests)
Daily pornographic emails - 2.5 billion (8% of total emails)


Internet users who view porn - 42.7%
Received unwanted exposure to sexual material - 34%
Average daily pornographic emails/user - 4.5 per Internet user

Monthly Pornographic downloads (Peer-to-peer) -1.5 billion (35% of all downloads)

Daily Gnutella "child pornography" requests - 116,000

Websites offering illegal child pornography - 100,000

Sexual solicitations of youth made in chat rooms - 89%


Youths who received sexual solicitation - 1 in 7 (down from 2003 stat of 1 in 3)

Worldwide visitors to pornographic web sites - 72 million visitors to pornography: Monthly
Internet Pornography Sales - $4.9 billion

Children Internet Pornography Statistics


Average age of first Internet exposure to pornography - 11 years old

Largest consumer of Internet pornography - 35 - 49 age group

15-17 year olds having multiple hard-core exposures - 80%
8-16 year olds having viewed porn online - 90% (most while doing homework)

7-17 year olds who would freely give out home address - 29%

7-17 year olds who would freely give out email address - 14%

Children's character names linked to thousands of porn links - 26 (Including Pokemon and Action Man)


In the article Internet Porn: Worse Than Crack? Written by Ryan Single (2004), a debate rises over whether or not Internet pornography is more addictive and more dangerous than street drugs. Mary Anne Layden, co-director of the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Cognitive Therapy, argues that "To have drug pumped into your house 24/7, free, and children know how to use it better than grown-ups know how to use it -- it's a perfect delivery system if we want to have a whole generation of young addicts who will never have the drug out of their mind."

In this same article Satinover from the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality argues that "Pornography really does, unlike other addictions, biologically cause direct release of the most perfect addictive substance", he then explains that pornography leads to masturbation, which causes the release of opioids, something that “heroin can't do, in effect”.

It appears to me however that Satinover’s argument is flawed. His argument is that, the feeling you get from masturbating is more addictive than the feeling you get when you take heroin. Even if pornography was to be taken out of the picture than masturbation can still occur and probably would, so is the problem pornography? Also I think it is ridiculous to compare heroin and pornography. Obviously he has never known anybody who has a heroin addiction if he can honestly think that a porn addiction is worse.

Advantages of cybersex and Internet pornography

The following is a cartoon video with the message

that the Internet is for porn.

It is interesting to notice that the female character

is the only one who is against porn.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5430343841227974645&q=internet+for+porn

* One can participant in sexperiences without fear of sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy.

* It is a fairly safe way of exploring sexual desires and emotions, especially for young people.

* Partners who are physically separated can participate in virtual sexual acts.

* People can explore sexual desires (Doring, N 2000) that otherwise would not feel comfortable expressing in reality, especially if they are social unacceptable e.g. rape.

* And, for people who are disabled or widowed, the Internet is an outlet where they can have a relationship where under regular circumstances they could not.

Disadvantages of cybersex and Internet pornography

The following video is a funny example of how cyber sex can go horribly wrong

http://www.funnyhub.com/videos/pages/videos/cyber-sex-gone-bad.html

* Because pornography is such a big industry and avid pornography viewers are always in demand for new exciting images, unsociable pornography can be made. These can be sexual videos with unwilling participants. Such as children, rape victims, incest rape victims and animals.

* People in relationships may be “cheating” with online partners which may put strain on the relationship.

* Online harassment as examined by Nicola Doring (2000) which can have a person scared for their safety.

* Misleading, false identity and/or deception. People can pretend to be whoever they want e.g. whatever age, whatever sex. This in essence is not all that harmful but if the 'made up' person asks to meet with an individual it can be harmful.

* Virtual rape which involves any sort of sexual suggestion that continues when it is unwanted, especially if a person knows an individual does not want to participate and writes sexual passages toward them anyway. I think virtual rape could also be someone sending a nude picture of themselves or a video or them masturbating when the person who they are sending it did not agree for the images to be sent.

* Cyber prostitution especially when it is female prostitution can give people the wrong idea about what sex is and what a female is suppose to do or take from an individual. A similar outcome can be drawn with cyber porn in general. Women can be represented as many representations of femininity. Such as, the rebelious asexual tomboy ; the goodlooking, supermum housewife; and the siren.

There is argument on whether or not a person who is in a relationship is truly cheating on their partner if the other relationship/s is only hyper real. I think the answer is neither yes or no. In my opinion it is destructive and hurtful to the relationship and both partners. Cybersex and Internet pornography can be a good way of exploring ones sexuality and desires that otherwise could not be explored. It is helpful for people who are unable to have relationships under “normal circumstances” and the Internet insures safety when it comes to STI’s and pregnancy. It seems as though it can be addictive but then again so can many things e.g. chocolate. In my honest opinion however, I think Internet porn and Cybersex can breed predators and although the majority of people only look up regular porn, the percentage of people who look up illicit porn outweighs any benefits cybersex and exploring desires can have.

Lock up your kids, the worlds gone INSANE...who gave this guy pen?

David Kupeilan Article

To start let me just point out that everybody is entitled to their own opinion... That is why I can honestly say in my opinion that David Kupelian is a hypocrite!! I feel for his son, I really do, and when his son shifts into his teen years and begins to rebel, as teenagers are most famous for, I would like to see if his “perfect” parenting and boy scout oaths can “bring him back” from the devilish, unthinkable, unspeakable ‘child-molesting monster we call culture’. I don not know that Kupelian can keep his son hidden from the outside world. This would prove unhealthy and detrimental as it will give him a bias view of the world. I mean really I have not come from what he would call a proper home or even a sane family but I do not think that I will be the next in line to be chasing HIV. Kupelian basically alludes that unless you home school your children, enrol them in Christian youth groups and shelter them from today’s sickening world than they will slit their tongue, wrists and eyelids and get genital piercings with connecting chains to other young peoples genital piercings whose parents were baby boomers and who god forbid believed in liberalism.

Kupelian is in denial, the church is no longer the government. Even when it was, we saw a time of what I would call greater damage, when people were hung willy nilly to solve problems. He is basically saying that the freedom that so many have fought for should now be taken away.
Also, I think it charming how he writes that a guy can just show up to a girls door step and get sex... I am quite sure that if a guy showed up at my door step expecting sexual favours than I would call the cops.

While I do not believe that this “bug chasing” phenomenon is safe, I think it is safe to say that the population of this sub-culture would be minute, and it is not fair to generalise and say that all of today’s youths are heading down that path. I do believe however that if a person so desires to practice different activities such as suspension and piercing to reach a higher level of spirituality and consciousness than they are entitled to do so. These kinds of activities are harmless to society and our most important right is free will to do whatever we wish.

Further to this I see many parallels between these activities and going to church and praying etc. They both allow a person to calm themselves, think clearly and achieve a higher level of spirituality. Furthermore there is a long history of self mutilation in Christianity. For example the practice of wearing a “Cilice” involves a person wearing a spiked metal belt around their thigh as a form of penance or as a way of following in the foot steps of Jesus. Indeed sacrifice and fasting etc is at the heart of Christian teachings. How is this any different to what today’s sub cultures are doing?

Above: Cilice

Kupelian is very quick to denounce the beliefs, actions and practices of others. Yet at the very heart of his Christian teachings are love, understanding and above all forgiveness. I believe that Kupelian is being hypocritical and untrue to his own faith by denouncing all other practices and beliefs but his own. Further to this Kupelien states; “During the mid-20th century, a malevolent spirit swept over Germany, leading to unspeakable crimes being perpetrated against millions of Jews and other "undesirables" in the name of progress.” The rise of Hitler during this time was brought about by much brain washing, tunnel vision teaching, propaganda, and registration to movements such as the Hitler youth. The picture that Kupelian paints of his “New America” sounds dangerously similar to Hitler’s vision of Germany during the mid 20th century. An autocratic state where one system of values and beliefs is upheld and all others denounced as leading to the fiery pits of hell. If history has taught us one thing it is that above all, the rights of freedom speech, freedom of choice, freedom of religion and indeed free will itself are our most important civil liberties. Kupelian is no more that a single minded dictator looking to impose his antiquated beliefs upon a world that has past him by.

E-extremism - the internet's darkside

Extremist groups are characterised by ideologies which are then followed by actions that can be mildly or violently expressed. Extremist groups are shaped by common ignorant beliefs and group unity. Extremism is commonly driven by racial purity, anti-Semitism, political hegemony, anti-liberal and anti-government forces.

The Australia First Party (AFP) which was founded by Graeme Campbell might as well be viewed as an extremist party. Upon entering their website one is bombarded with white Australia pride images, one such as Ned Kelly. Some articles you might find are the second anniversary of the Civil Uprising in Cronulla (December 11 2005) AFP is calling on all patriotic people to honour the great moment of Australian democratic liberty and Housing crisis directly linked to (Asian) immigration.

I was in oar when reading the articles posted on the AFP. It seems absolutely ridiculous that the people who write this stuff might actually believe what they are writing and I find it hard to believe that a person could read such racist pieces of writing and think it is rational. In saying this however the website is very cleaver in how they put their messages across-they insinuate their racist messages. Such as “new arbiters of a colour-blind faith in racial diversity” and stating that they can “fix the problem” (Pell, J, Saleam, J & Hale, V, 2008). They AFP seem to put their messages of hate across in such a justifiable manner that their arguments could very well be viewed as completely coherent and based on reason. I think the AFP website is a great example of an extremist website which is using the Internet as an outlet for attracting and recruiting new members.

Another extremist group which uses the Internet as a tool to get their intolerant beliefs out into the world is Aryan Nation. Aryan Nation is an anti-Semitism group that strongly and wholly believe in racial purity. On their website they have writings stating that Jews run everything and further have statements which deny the holocaust. The Aryan Nation group asserts that “Jews around the world intentionally lied for the purpose of gaining emotional and business advantages for themselves”. There was one item on this bizarre site did make me laugh beacause of its sheer abnormality and that was a link titled “Jew Watch” which follows Zionism and its terror and lies. The site also comes equip with a guide on how to commit a hate crime and a step by step program for how to make a bomb.

While both previously mentioned website are both of extremist nature it would appear that they go about their views in two completely different ways. The AFP normalises their hatred, extreme views and racism through professionally written documents with their message being convey as common sense. Aryan Nation uses shock tactics as a means to involve its viewer. Some of the shock tactics I viewed were aborted babies which in a sick way will make me remember their website. One of the most important aspects for these sorts of websites is the ability for networking. Both of these web pages had a huge amount of added links to other similar sites with similar views.

The great thing about the Internet is that one can locate just about anything. The problem is that many aspects can be hard to censor. For instance on television you would never see aborted baby photos or bomb recipes. Also the Internet it a great breeding ground for extremists groups because people all over the world can be members. No longer do groups have to arrange meeting places to discuss actions and beliefs, they can simply log to a site and contribute that way. The Internet is used here as an outlet to recruit persons with similar views or can even convince an easily influenced person of ignorant ideas. Further the Internet is a much more effective way of recruiting members as it a public sphere available to billions of people world wide.

Reflective Essay for LCL100

Since I began my learning at the start of the semester in Learning and Communication Behaviour (LCL100) with Craig McIntosh, I have learnt much about research methods and different forms of communication especially digital communication. Throughout the course we completed class work, independent assignments as well group assignments. I will be discussing the useful knowledge that I have taken from this unit and further what I thought were the good points and the bad points of this subject.

Class work

My Tutor and Lecturer Craig McIntosh posed a question to the class at the beginning of the semester.

‘What is knowledge?’

What is it that people actually know and how they know it, if they in fact do know it at all. One I the statements that I recall mentioning was that the sky is blue. I was quickly bombarded with reasons why that were not entirely true. At night you can see the sky is full of stars stretching across an ever expanding black atmosphere. At sun down the sky can have a cornucopia of colours stretching from horizon to horizon; or white, grey and black clouds can screen some or all of the sky at times. I think this exercise was useful in helping the class understand the concept of knowledge and I mean true knowledge. It also made me realise that when I put anything forward as knowledge, there is a need to back up my point/s with explanation and reference to examples.

During this period we learnt all about knowledge and who makes knowledge etc. We were taught the term epistemology or the theory of knowledge and the three steams of questions to unpack knowledge.
• The way knowledge is structured
• Examination of the nature of the dynamics & progress of knowledge
• The uses of knowledge

The different types of knowledge were also explained in the course. These being Tactic knowledge: subjective knowledge that which we hold personally/individually and,
Explicit knowledge: objective knowledge that which sits outside our consciousness and is therefore rational & measurable. Further to this, it was explained that the pursuit has been to transfer tactic knowledge into explicit knowledge. I understood that in order to have desirable transformation, the personal aspect of tactic knowledge must be detached so all that is left is knowledge in a true socio-scientific context.

A piece of information that I found to be interesting was, the statement about how knowledge is constructed by dominant forces. Such as, in times before freedom of speech when the church was the government, the Earth was seen to be the centre of the Universe and this was a well-known “fact”. Nowadays we know this is not true because we have ways of proving it. Back then however, the church knew that God existed because he placed the Earth in the middle of everything. The church was the dominant force they ruled so they were right.

Individual work

I took in a great deal of knowledge throughout the construction of the Globalisation assignment. I found it not only interesting to research and discuss globalisation but believe the topic was useful knowledge to have learnt. I will now be able to take this knowledge and apply it to other aspects of my University degree. Also submitting the essay digitally online was a process which I had not come across before. It is always good to learn new digital processes especially with the way the world is headed.

Another useful aspect was learning about critical thinking and how to critically think.
Critical thinking was explained as:

‘The process of uncovering the essential elements of an argument or a position that someone holds to be true. It requires the student to produce evidence in support of their position but to also be aware that there may be contrary evidence and as such only relative truth’.

I kept this idea in the back of my mind while writing the globalisation essay. I remembered to back up any statement I was making with creditable information. Also I tried to cover all bases when we were asked to explain when and where globalisation began. Meaning that there were differing explanations and theories on globalisations début and I kept in mind to outlined contrary evidence.

This Reflective essay is also proving to be quite practical. It is making me reflect on the unit, this means going back through previous lecture slides and so on which in turn is solidifying the unit’s teachings in my mind.

Group work

In my opinion group work is always more of a challenge than individual work. The reason being there is organisation, allocation and communication with other students so you are not only worrying about yourself. I understand though that this is good practice for the work force aka “the real world” and it is a good skill have in general to be able to work well with others. Our team split the requirements up into sections and each of us then completed a topic and posted in on the ever confusing wiki space. I think maybe our team could have been a bit more active, but we achieved the goal nonetheless and I enjoyed learning about the globalisation of the sex trade.

The wiki was completely confusing and as I understood many others thought so to. I am not sure if the wikis were put in place to make life easier, or just so the class could learn how to use this recently introduced technology. In my opinion though it made the task harder, but maybe this was just because I had signed up for too many accounts and just got tangled up in the digital web. It is all about learning new material though and I am sure this will also be an asset in the future... somehow.

Library learning

Having the lovely library ladies explaining the library website database was extremely valuable. Being shown and talked through the processes of EBSCO host and Google Scholar etc. has already proved to be an asset for me and my learning. They demonstrated how to gain access to otherwise inaccessible articles and journals. This will be of much greater use to the rest of my University life than to just ‘googling it’. I have already used the library database to acquire article for other classes.

To finish up I would like to say thank you to Craig McIntosh for being a great tutor once again and for always having time to look over my plans and essays and listen to my jive. All in all I enjoyed LCL100... Although I am still not sure about those wikis.

Thank you

Jam it up Consumer Culture

Culture jamming can best be described as a resistance movement against consumer society. It refers to the alteration of billboards and other forms of media sabotage. The logic of culture jamming is to convey easily identifiable images into larger questions about corporate responsibility and fairness. The term "culture jamming" has been around for quite some time making its début on Negativland’s Jamcon `84 (SST) cassette. Negativland had an active role in conducting media pranks. One of their slogans being "Copyright infringement is your best entertainment value". This gives you an idea of their mind set and what they were aiming for with the introduction of culture jamming. Mark Dery ahs been described as the 'best cultural critic alive'. His 1993 essay "Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing, and Sniping in the Empire of the Signs" popularized the term "culture jamming" and further helped to launch the movement. Nowadays the most famous Culture jammers are Adbusters.

Adbusters is a global network whose message is to protest against the ill-treatment and exploitation of a people from corporate businesses. They are a form of online anti-capitalism. Adbusters the magazine is described by the organisation itself as the 'magazine concerned about the erosion of our physical and cultural environments by commercial forces'. It is a not-for-profit, reader supported magazine which has subscribers in over 60 countries. One of the most renowned features of Adbusters is their ranges of black spot V2 unswoosher shoes which they refer to as the ‘mega corporate ass-kicker’. With a 100% organic hemp upper and recycled tire sole they are the natural, people and environment friendly, radical shoes that are made in a union shop located in Europe. This of course means that the continuation of there anti-sweat shop and anti-capitalism theme is maintained.


The following are some examples of Adbusters culture jams.




Below - This culture jam is about how the world is being polluted by
humans and we know it but human kind disregards the fact.
















Above Right - This is a Culture jam against Calvin Klein's perfume range Obsession. Obviously it is making a crack at consumerism and how the portrayal of females in media the can drive females in society to be obsessed with their self image.




The Adbusters website can be found at http://www.adbusters.org/home/




A differing mode of online protest, not dissimilar from culture jamming, has been the recent McDonald protests in the online game The Sims. A deal was struck with between Sims publisher Electronic Arts and the fast food mega-corporation McDonalds which enables Sims players to open up their own McDonald kiosk AND improve their game statistics by consuming McDonalds greasy products. It has been documented that eating virtual McDonald’s burgers will positively affect your “Fun” and “Hunger” game statistics. Tony Walsh, the founder and Chief Navigator of Phantom Compass, has put the word out to login to the Sims and virtually protest outside the McDonalds corporations. Phantom Compass mission statement reads:

‘We design, produce, and develop games and game content for the entertainment,
education, and communications industries.Our goal is to balance tradition and technology in spinning responsive stories,
designing gripping game-play, and crafting playful tools for global participants.

Some of the ways Walsh came up with to protest against McDonalds was to order McDonalds and then express such gestures and lying down and playing dead or to emote vomiting. All this was in order to protest against the low quality of food sold my McDonalds.


In my opinion culture jamming is a positive prospect for society. It relays messages to societies about certain practices of bigger corporations…practices that these corporations do not wish for the public to catch wind of, such as, exploitation and sweat shops. Adbusters have also been known to communicate harmful properties brought about by some products such as cigarettes and alcohol. These are all concepts that would be less accessible to society if culture jamming did not exist. Their non-violent protest are something to be admired, their truthful approach spreads the word to society about those in the corporate world who sugar coat their products. In other words those in corporate control only convey only the messages that they wants their buyer and potential buyers to think in order to sell their products.

My decent into madness

It all began in the winter of 2007. I was asked to join a group of friends on a trip. Now this was no ordinary trip. It was like nothing I had ever known or experienced before. It was up high, it was slippery and it showed no mercy. It was upon a mountain. A snow covered mountain and I found myself strapped into a contraption only known as a snow board.

At first, I could not even stand, as the snow would break away from underneath the board and when the goal of even standing had been accomplished, it was only for a few moments until I would crash back down to earth only to have had achieved a sore backside and the unimaginable frustration which was linked with the inability to snow board.

Since that time my determination to succeed, or more my determination not fail, has driven me to push myself to get back on the horse (so to speak) time and time again.
My new found passion has even led me across waters in the summer time, when it is terribly obviously that there is no snow to be ridden. This was in search of better weather that aka below zero which evidentially means snow fall.

A tale for Mr.Morris

Rohan,
Can I write you a poem?
Do you like sewin'?
Are you still growin'?
How much leprocy on your body are you showin'?

Rohan Alexander,
Have you ever fed a panda?
Do you own a sander?
Wait... there's just one thing i need to ask you
Can I give you a handa!.