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Submitted to Our Parish Times in April/May of 1999.
Edited for internet publication in December 2000
Pamela Lombard's editorial, "A woman's perspective on pornography" (Our Parish Times, May 99) pointed out what she and her husband believe to be pornographic material. She cited a few examples of that material to which she suggested several alternatives. After some underlining and notations of my own, I have a few thoughts for her and her family.
Mrs. Lombard wrote that she was "dismayed" at the "explicit advertisements" of R-rated movies during a family show like "Tool Time." I wonder if she would be equally dismayed upon viewing historical works of art with her family, some of which portray nude men or women. Better yet, what if she and her family viewed one of the many nude statues in any of our museums. And what of viewing ads for a popular suntan lotion where a little dog tugs at a girl's bathing suit. Would any of those situational examples cause a reasonable person to be as dismayed as Mrs. Lombard was during the "explicit advertisements" of R-rated movies? I donŐt think so.
Mrs. Lombard also comments on the airing of the Valtrex commercial, saying that she was "surprised and a bit sickened" that the commercial made herpes "sound like an everyday occurrence." That commercial does no such thing. What it does do is take a very sensitive and tactful approach to marketing a drug which helps treat an embarrassing and often painful disease. That Mrs. Lombard finds this ad sickening when it was so obviously tactfully produced is a mystery to me (just so you'll know, herpes can be spread by means other than sexual).
I doubt the Lombards enjoyed their Valentine's day dance as immensely as Mrs. Lombard says they did. Referring to the band's rendition of the hit song "Love Shack", Mrs. Lombard recounted the lyrics "were more than [her] husband could stand." Further, that her husband "doesn't want the same drug which drove [their] hormones so many years ago leveraged by the more explicit and potent drug of today."
Are we to assume the Lombards think rock and roll is a drug from which one gets high? A high increased by the more explicit and potent drug of what they think is pornography? If so, then I hope my girlfriend and I donŐt go dancing and watch television afterwards. As apparently according to the Lombards, we'll be so high we can't even see straight!
Perhaps we should all just say no. Or perhaps we should do what Mrs. Lombard hinted at to combat this "drug"Ńturn off the TV or tune the radio, play board games, read a book, or stop dancing. God forbid that through TV, radio, the dance floor or even a book we should be inundated with such pornographic material as a herpes medicine commercial or a B52's rock song.
The point of my writing is this. While the Lombards may be good Catholic people, and possibly have an objective, if not, absolute sense of what's right and wrong, they should be very careful as to what they label pornographic. For once a list of forbidden items is made, there's always more to add to it without discrimination. Next time, Mr. and Mrs. Lombard, it may be you.