Oppose Dot XXX

["Will (Taliesin) Jarvis" <talbard@xxxxxxxxx>]

Unlike that fabled prescription of chicken soup for the common cold –
It couldn't hurt. - .xxx could hurt, and it cannot help. Such a TLD
cannot help because there is nothing to help. Is there an extant
problem that such a TLD might fix? I have no difficulty finding porn
on the internet. Do you?

My name is Will “Taliesin” Jarvis and for twenty-six years (and still
going strong, I'm happy to say) I have openly and unashamedly been a
member of the erotic entertainment community, serving in the capacity
of writer, actor, director and, most proudly of all, activist for free
speech and expression.

The salient point to consider here is that .xxx, unlike other TLDs, is
about content; it is about the specific type of material that would be
included in such a domain. All other top domains are categories that
can be filled with a variety of content. To create a domain just for a
specific kind of content is counterproductive.

It might seem as if a .xxx domain would be one more step in the
mainstream acceptance of porn, but it is actually a step toward the
ghettoization of porn, a means of keeping it segregated from the
mainstream.

The United States have never been the melting pot described to us in
sixth grade history class. And Jesse Jackson's "patchwork quilt"
analogy, while informative, fails as long as one small set of patches
in one area of the quilt can disenfranchise any other patch they
chose. Those who argue for .xxx, who argue for voluntarily segregation
from the whole place their patch and all similar patches in grave
danger of not mere disenfranchisement but of complete excision from
the whole.

Adults seeking entertainment, information and even edification from
erotic movies have readily embraced each form of new technology as it
has developed. Until about twenty-five years ago the primary method
for delivery of erotic movies to consumers was projected film in a
public theater, a theater often relegated, by law, to an undesirable
part of town. In the 1980s this transitioned to VHS video cassettes,
and then to DVDs, rented or purchased in a shop (generally located in
a more mainstream venue) and brought home to be watched in privacy. In
the 1990s porn began making a presence on the fledgling internet. But
these were not smooth transitions. Every step of the way had been a
battle (in law, religion, ethics, politics, community), sometimes many
battles, just to take a single small step forward.

To create a .xxx top level domain could push the adult movie industry
back to the days when porn theaters and adult book shops were zoned
into the most undesirable business locations possible. Erotic
entertainment businesses have proven themselves to be good corporate
citizens over the years and do not deserve such treatment, do not
deserve disenfranchisement from the mainstream.

There is no valid reason to adopt .xxx as a top level domain.

Will “Taliesin” Jarvis

5632 Van Nuys Blvd. #337
Van Nuys, CA 91401

talbard@xxxxxxxxx

www.firsttribebooks.com