Communication at it’s best…COM 497; Cyberporn & Society

I have to admit, this course wasn't exactly at the top of my list. It all started when my adviser couldn't get me to the class I was supposed to be taking at the last minute. I was stuck, with an insufficient amount of credit hours, and not many courses to choose from that would fit my already weird schedule. Then I saw it, COM 497; Cyberporn & Society. I have to tell you, it was not the name that attracted me to this course (honestly). It was the fact that it was on-line.  My thoughts were that this would be a nice change of pace. Unfortunately, when I was thinking change of pace, I meant  slower pace. I was wrong. But that's OK – because in the end it turned out to be somewhat beneficial, and quite honestly, the amount of work in the course taught me a lot more than just about porn.  I truly believe my writing has improved – I am more able to expand on my thoughts and provide better arguments for my opinions and viewpoints. Then again, this is always easier to do when it is a topic that somewhat affects your life as a societal citizen. 

 My second thought about this course was that maybe it would help me in my future profession someday. I want to go into advertising. I am a Communication and Psychology major and I thought, if I could learn the way people view, process and react to sexual photos, then I can learn more about the major advertising techniques of today's society. Now , don't get me wrong – I don't necessarily believe that using sex to sell is a good thing, and by no means do I plan on using porn to sell things. I just mean that it wouldn't hurt to learn how the world of advertising works, which unfortunately, seems to be using sex as a growing trend.

The child porn section of this course was the most interesting to me, along with the beginning lectures about the definition of porn and other cultures and porn. These last parts regarding legality was a little dry in my opinion, but that could just be a touch of the end-of-the-semester-itch.