Friday, April 4, 2014

Belle Knox

If you have not heard of Belle Knox, then you can Google her and learn a whole lot very quickly.  Be careful when you do so, though, because she is what most people term a "porn star."  In my book, I did my best to refer to those working in pornography as "pornographic actors," trying to return some of their human dignity back to them.  Pornographic actors are human beings just like you and me, and yet the problem with pornography is that we are able to degrade what we view through a medium--usually a computer or TV screen--to less than human; and once we do that, it's not a far jump to degrading people that we actually encounter in life to less than human.  This is why I talk about pornography in my book and on this blog: the relationship between pornography and slavery is not a thin one.  We like to think that it is so that we can go on viewing pornography whenever we have the urge, or at least accepting its presence in our society; and all the while not confront the reality that we are also contributing to the attitudes that create and sustain slavery.

Belle Knox is an interesting figure.  By now you may have paused to look her up and read some about her, so my telling you who she is might be unnecessary.  But anyway.  She is a young student at Duke University, using pornography to pay her way through school.  If you spent a lot of time looking up Belle Knox, you might have realized that there's a lot of speculative writing about her that's not based in fact.  Worse, there's a lot of negatively biased writing about her, suggesting and implying that she is a scourge.  Worse, she has become a target for hate.  Pornographic actors are victims, through and through; just as slaves are victims.

Look, does anyone really think that Belle Knox is the first or only college student paying her way through school with sex?  And why is she not the only one?  Because pornography pays!  And why does pornography pay?  Because we are a society of hypocrites!  We put up a front to the world saying that we are a good person, trustworthy and an upholder of the universal moral code, and then in private we like to degrade and demonize others in a misguided attempt to feel power, love, and self-worth.  Pornography is a major business because of our hypocrisy. 

And we do not like to admit that we are not the good people that we portray, we do not like to admit that we are insecure, we do not like to admit that we do not love ourselves, we do not like to admit that we struggle to find worth, community, and an outlet for our desire for power, so we blame all of our inner struggles on others: the pornographic actors themselves.  That way, we can degrade them all we want while we take advantage of them through a medium, then turn off the screen and walk away as if nothing happened.  What happens, though, if we ever meet a pornographic actor?  Well, then the crap hits the fan, because then we have to acknowledge that there is a part of ourselves that we do not love, and that is likewise unable to love--the part of ourselves that would rather blame others for our faults--the part of ourselves that would rather laugh at, insult, and attack Belle Knox and her family for her existence, than to ever look inward at our own darkness.  Our negative reaction toward her and her family is indicative of just how desperate we should be to change who we are. 

The reaction to Belle Knox's career choice is not surprising to me in the least, but it is extremely disappointing.  Though Knox is not the first or only female or pornographic actor to be blamed for the sadness, badness, and madness of others, the fact that we still have so much room for improvement in ourselves frustrates me, and should frustrate you.  I applaud Knox's bent toward social justice, but I pray that her motive will go beyond the rights of sex workers and instead focus on changing the hearts and minds of citizens everywhere so that one day there will be no need, no demand for pornographic actors or sex slaves: where there is no demand, there will be no supply.

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