It appears that earlier this week a New York University canceled a scheduled appearance by an adult film (aka porn star) Conner Habib because they felt that his appearance would be a detriment to the LGBT movement/rights. Here’s more:
Corning Community College in upstate New York canceled a planned appearance by gay porn star Conner Habib because of his involvement in the adult film industry.
College president Katherine Douglas told members of Equal, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender student group, she was canceling Habib’s scheduled “Sex Week” talk. The cancellation was first reported by BuzzFeed. Douglas said she didn’t want gay rights to be linked to pornography, Habib told the Post-Standard.
“Mr. Habib’s celebrity status as an adult film star is inconsistent with the educational theme of this program,” Bill Little, the college executive director of the office of institutional advancement, told the Star Gazette.
The school said it would honor Habib’s contract and pay for his travel expenses, YNN reported.
One of the promoters/organizers that invited Habib was allegedly pulled aside and told that the university could not have the porn star speak there. Habib wrote about the controversy specifically pointing out how we need to examine how we see porn and sex.
Okay so I need to rant here for a moment. First off, I think what the university did is wrong because it is teaching these students that people coming from a different perspective or disposition in life are unable to provide satiable, relevant contributions. They make the vague excuse that a porn star would be able to talk about sex, the very thing that they are paid to do? Would you rather hear about sex from someone that can only provide textbook definitions or someone that has a plethora of experiences in trial and error?\
Because let’s be honest here, we all have watched pornography at some point. Aside from physicians, they know the anatomy of our bodies better than anyone else. And with that experience they can provide invaluable information on safety as well as technique. So why not have someone who takes their clothes off talk to these students?
We have got to stop this heteronormative mentality where we are so concerned about image rather than actual content. I’m sure Habib wasn’t going to show the group how to do various sex acts. This move by the university administration was about how it would look to the straight counterparts. The “oh no what will the straight people think? They’ll say we’re a bunch of deviants”.
Well let me tell you something, those that are close minded bigots were going to think that regardless, unfortunately. Never mind the fact of how beneficial this could have been to students that have spent so much of their lives suppressing their sexual nature instead of embracing it and on a subconscious level this is what you are teaching them.
Think that I’m being extreme in my assessment of potential repercussions? As a community we need to be less concerned with how it looks to the rest of society and making everyone in this community feel welcomed. From gay geek, to the model-esque gay to even the gay porn star. That’s how we learned that we were different, how we discovered we were LGBT. Through observations of others and listening to how our feelings. our behavior, was not the same as everyone else.
Eventually we learned how our differences do not dictate moral character. Our life experiences can in fact enriches the lives of others through open communication. It’s about thinking outside of the box. And not repeating the same, archaic way of thinking by some of our straight counterparts. But this stifling who can talk about it teaches internalized homophobia.
We should be able to discuss a wide area of topics when we take examinations of our physical nature. Openly and without fear of suppression.