In the midst of a hazy NyQuil hangover last Friday morning, we posted a throwaway link to an Associated Press story that appeared in the Winnipeg Sun and thought nothing of it. It looked to us like another one of your standard "Boy, our culture sure seems obsessed with sex" think pieces, but we didn’t realize that the mainstream news outlets would get together and declare this to be Let’s Talk About Porn Week. This particular story has shown up everywhere over the last few days—even as far away as Kuwait—as it seeks to confront the "look at me" culture and the Girls Gone Wild sexuality that seems to be overtaking us all. Sure, there are legitimate concerns that very young girls and boys can be negatively affected by a hypersexual world they aren’t really ready for, but somehow blaming it all on the Naked News girls doesn’t really help the situation. (Although, actually taking the time to get at least one alternative viewpoint was a refreshing touch.) It turns out that the article is the standard boilerplate that we thought it was, it just happens to be boilerplate that’s got people talking. Now when is someone going to write a story about reporters who can’t stop writing about sex. That would be some hard-hitting journalism.
· "Living in a porn-driven, ‘look-at-me’ culture" (cnn.com, among many others)
Previously: Good Morning America Enables Your Addiction, LA Daily News Exposes Porn Valley, NY Times: Porn Economy Just As Bad As The Regular One, Morning Wood: Dana DeArmond Leads Us Astray
