OCP Workshop 02/06/2013

• Michael:  if someone gets caught looking at porn once, you should be kicked off the computer but not kicked out of ocp;  if it is the second time, maybe you should be kicked out of ocp;  someone should have 2-4 chances before being banned from ocp;  porn is not hurting someone physically; 
• Ron:  we need to focus on the rule and let the enforcement be an issue for another time
• Gary:  obviously a person wouldn’t be looking at a porno magazine, but the same should be for the computer
• Kris:  seems like we could block this on the computer
• Matt:  we have had to deal with this before, and seems like we can figure out a way to block
• Ron:  seems like people still have laptops, and we should have some sort of rule – maybe the rule should be “no porn”;  we superbowl halftime show was almost soft-porn;  seems like we know what porn is when we see it – nudity;  khaleel watching shakira is borderline
• Michael:  what is borderline – a lot of the reason people watch porn is because it is in their minds – if someone has a problem, compassion would have you get them off the computer;  everyone’s view of “porn” might be different;  for compassion for someone who is addicted to porn;  its one thing if you look at porn in your own space, but ocp is a public space;  maybe someone needs counseling
• Mark:  whatever the rule is, there should be none on the premises period
• Matt:  clearly people know whats wrong and whats not right to be shown;  not too worried about girl in bikini, but breasts exposed with children in the building;  more significantly, what should be the consequences
• Gary:  there is a borderline between what is porn and what isn’t;  would have to go with a no tolerance for any type of pornography
• Ron:  helpful words for using simplicity with the wording;  is “no porn” sufficient?;  staff/community discretion could be used if something is questionable
• Sadie:  if ocp stands for Christian values, we shouldn’t tolerate porn of any kinds – if someone comes in not wearing enough clothes, they should have to leave or put on more clothing
• Michael:  anything that demeans women in an explicit way or anything that is misogynistic or any dress that you can see your private body parts
• Matt:  don’t think it is just internet that we need to think about;  we should consider movies that we bring into the ocp;
• Mike:  seems like we aren’t just dealing with images – we have dress code and language to consider
• Gary:  language would have to do with people talking in a pornographic way;  thinking about portraying pornography; 
• Jared:  should be simple:  “no porn”;  or there could be a rating attached to the statement;
• Teig:  don’t know why we cover everything up – there is art and statues – is this porn or art?
• Christina:  feel like women wearing provocative clothing and porn are sort of mixing into one topic;  see a lot of guys staring at JMu girls with tight pants, v-neck shirts, etc;  
• Ron:  if we want to combine topics, we can, but otherwise we should stick with the topic of pornography;  we are dealing with OCP – a public place – dealing with the time period we are in right now;  the same way that drinking beer might be immoral but not here might apply to porn;  sexual harassment is something that has maybe been missed and maybe should be a topic to discuss;  in line with having pornography, dress, and language split into different categories;  if someone has a good way for bringing porn, language, and dress together, we could think about one statement to cover them all
• Matt:  t-shirts showing explicit sex positions are porno too – we need to consider this during the porn discussion
• Michael:  definition of porn as related to videos – in some videos, a person may be wearing a bikini that barely covers, and other times, a bikini may be covering a lot
• Alex:  seems like we are talking about 2 or 3 different issues;  with pornography, either saying “no viewing of pornography” or “no viewing of pornography or sexually explicit images” – this second statement might be better
• Heather:  I have worn a bikini top playing volleyball and has this offended people;  we have talked about this topic for a while, and maybe we can just agree that no porn on the property
• Kris:  we are trying to find out what the definition of porn is;  Kris reads definition;  the definition talks about images that are “sexually arousing”;  even with art, there are some images that are meant for sexual arousal and some that aren’t and they are all art
• Gary:  the greeks would worship the body and the way it was created;  want to talk about jmu students – dress code/spandex – someone wearing short shorts may be similar to pornography
• Mike:  if we consider images (now called pornography), language, dress, and behavior as four different categories – maybe we consider all of these topics under a sexually explicit category – simplicity is better;  consider a way to combine:  “maintain a family friendly decorum regarding sexually explicit images, language, dress, and behavior”
• Ron:  all the other rules are “no-oriented”
• Matt:  like Mike’s but would like to change “decorum” to “atmosphere”
• Gary:  wondering if after we are done with this, could we move on to something else;  maybe a proposal to vote “no porn”
• Anna:  really likes what Mike said, but would like to take out the word “explicit” and just leave “sexual” – there are definitely things that have had sexual innuendo’s that aren’t explicit
• Ron:  maybe getting rid of the “family friendly” language and just say “no sexually explicit….”;  there have been a number of sexual innuendo’s in this conversation and they have all been ok in this conversation;  would hate to have the mentality that sexual things can’t be talked about;  not sure the definition of explicit, but would like to see the language changed to a “no” language for the sake of the rules
• Philip:  fairly passionate about this topic, look forward to talking about this more than this forum – maybe a lot of us have issues that we need to get out;  would be happy to share how Philip deals with issues relating to sex or sexuality;  simplicity of it might be fine;  we need to talk about sexuality
• Matt:  wants people to keep in mind that this is a community center and not an adult porn shop;  do not like when movies are made with children that are naked;  anything sexual should not be tolerated here -  this is a community center;  this is partly a church too – no sexual contact or
• Ron:  like “no sexually explicit images, language, dress, or behavior”;  worry about being too paranoid about sex being talked about;  what about Dead Poets Society – there is about a 2 second playboy centerfold;  pornography is taking something designed to be good an made it into an industry with exploitation;  sex is wonderful and beautiful and a gift from God;  don’t want to vilify;  for people with frustration about the long discussion, sometimes it just takes a while to talk things through to get to the best idea
• Jim:  Thinks it is best for groups/communities to make decisions that are best for the group;  try to look at the positive in everything – when looking at pornographic images, pictures – the positive thing could be that if you never want to be a part of the CIA, keep looking at porn because they have a 0 tolerance policy
• Gary:  thing from the Bible is somewhat educational, if ocp wanted to show a video of something about STD’s, this would be an educational thing; 
• Ron:  maybe we could add the “family friendly” atmosphere part to the beginning of all of the rules
• Matt:  sex is explicit – language can also be explicit
• Mike:  seems like the 3^rd statement about no sexually explicit… seems the cleanest;
• Anna:  just someone recently asked to meet about some sexual things that came up at ocp that were inappropriate even if not explicit;  we need to acknowledge that most of us are adults who have had sex, do have sex, or will have sex;  for women who are survivors or sexual abuse, one of the worst things could be any sexual talk even if not explicit;  we need some language that gets to this
• Ron:  sexual harassment is an issue that maybe we need to also address;  there was another topic – if someone says “no” or “leave me alone” you have to respect this;  these are two topics that maybe need to be rules; these may have been left off;
• Mike:  good luck trying to enforce “inappropriate”;  level of appropriateness would/could be defined by “family friendliness”;  we will be able to vote on all of these as a list with an introduction at some point
• Jim:  want to talk about the word explicit – definition is explicit – administer the facebook page for occupy Harrisonburg and twitter account too;  the rules to follow are explicit – if an uncensored documentary gets posted, things can be blocked and banned;  if something is defined explicit by the ocp community, one would have to abide
• Ron:  seems like general consensus (-1) around “no sexually explicit images, language, dress, or behavior”