Pamela Anderson’s call to kick porn is not being received well.
The former Playboy model and unwitting porn star (via a stolen sex video of her and now ex-husband Tommy Lee) has coauthored a Wall Street Journal opinion piece about the dangers of pornography.
Anderson shares the byline with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach on the piece titled “Take the Pledge: No More Indulging Porn.” The opinion piece is framed by the latest alleged sexting scandal involving former US Rep. Anthony Weiner.
“From our respective positions of rabbi-counselor and former Playboy model and actress, we have often warned about pornography’s corrosive effects on a man’s soul and on his ability to function as husband and, by extension, as father,” the pair wrote. “This is a public hazard of unprecedented seriousness given how freely available, anonymously accessible and easily disseminated pornography is nowadays.”
The opinion piece shares statistics on the consumption rates of pornography from the American Psychological Association and urges that “now is the time for an epochal shift in our private and public lives. Call it a ‘sensual revolution.'”
“Simply put, we must educate ourselves and our children to understand that porn is for losers — a boring, wasteful and dead-end outlet for people too lazy to reap the ample rewards of healthy sexuality,” the essay ends.
The piece is being slammed by some.
“Pamela Anderson’s op-ed urging people not to watch porn is so utterly ridiculous that I hardly know where to start (including the assumption that only men are interested in and consume porn),” said Cindy Gallop, writing for The Independent.
“It’s a classic example of the fact that many things are laid at porn’s door, that should be laid instead at society’s,” Gallop wrote. “The issue isn’t porn. The issue is the complete absence in our society of an open, healthy, honest conversation around sex in the real world.”
The Daily Beast’s Amy Zimmerman writes that Anderson’s crusade “feels like the outdated moralizing of a former sex icon who’s just a little bit out of touch.”
“Pamela Anderson is an icon of sex and screen — which makes her backward, unsubstantiated opinions on pornography even more disappointing,” Zimmerman writes.
But others applaud Anderson’s stance.
“Well done to Ms. Anderson and Rabbi Boteach. We need to hear more on this subject from religious leaders and from the stars of the entertainment world,” said an article on the Catholic Herald website. “If more religious leaders and entertainment stars spoke out on the subject the government might be pushed to take action.”
For her part, Anderson has written on her site that she is pleased to be joining Boteach in the crusade against porn.
“Something must be done immediately,” the actress wrote. “A healthy, loving sexual experience demands both intimacy and respect, both of which pornography addiction destroys, and I am committed to raising this fundamental awareness and protecting the vulnerable enslaved in the sex industry and abusive relationships.”