Porn- The Last Successful Civil Rights Movement?

Let's face it: society sucks when it comes to issues of treating each other well and fair. Women still earn less on average than men, Gays still can't get married, Brown people are apparently terrorist or illegal, and Black people are still having to argue how their lives matter.

Yup.. right on daylight television

We've been dealing with this for centuries now and for all the progress that's been made, one would be forgiven for being disillusioned by the snail's pace. I mean, no civil rights matter has been brought to fruition. Except Porn.

Porn? Full frontal nudity, interracial, BBW, two girls one... Ooh, I get carried away, but yes... That Porn. I know what you're saying: "But Crook, what on earth could this pleasurable decadence have to do with civil rights?" Well hear me out.

In 1978- a full 14 years after the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 which "outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin", Hustler magazine founder Larry Flynt was involved in a heated legal battle regarding obscenity in his magazine. The political right, federal government and many segments of the American society wanted that filth off the shelves- and wanted it off the shelves quicker than you can say 'Japanese Newscaster Gets Fis...' (Damn it crook, keep it together!) Flynt was citing the freedom of speech and all that other good stuff in his defense. One day, as he was leaving the court, a sniper's bullet caught Flynt and his lawyer, leaving him paralyzed. Even after that, his legal battles persisted for years.

Here was a man fighting for the right to life, liberty and nudy centerfolds upon the walls of teenagers across the world. He almost died for it.

In retrospect, his legal battles (and those of the others who fought alongside with him) were not to no avail. In gas stations and book stores around the world, one can purchase a copy of Hustler and the dozen other knock-offs thereof. You can rent porn at Family Video, and most of all, videos and images of love-making (deviant or otherwise) make up more than a third of the internet by some estimates. I just watched three videos during the writing of this piece.

Oh you dirty dog! You thought you were gonna watch some ish, didn't you?

Yikes. Just like that. From endless legal battles and almost getting killed, to porn becoming so mainstream that it even comes with the option to share it on social media sites. (I mean, who watches porn and thinks 'hey, you know who'd like this? My friend Godwin..maybe Erin from Accounting too. I should share it...')

That's what change looks like. So the next time folks claim that marginalized groups are tripping when they complain and revolt, and say things like society is post-racial, gay people should be content with what they've been given, and women have just as much privilege as men; just think of porn and how far it has made it in relatively much shorter time, and you'll understand the anger and paranoia.

Porn. We have seen what a movement looks like when it is successful. Now, if we can only get there with everything else.