Posted on 03/13/2012 4:05:32 PM PDT by NYer
March 13, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As one of America’s most revered sex symbols, she might not be the first celebrity to jump to mind as a crusader against pornography. But Raquel Welch, who rose to icon status as the beauty in the leather bikini from the 1966 movie One Million Years BC, told Men’s Health Magazine in an interview posted online March 8 that today’s sex-saturated culture had sapped the meaning out of sex, and damaged countless men through the pornography industry, which she called “an exploitation of the poor male’s libidos.”
“It’s just dehumanizing. And I have to honestly say, I think this era of porn is at least partially responsible for it,” Welch said of rampant sexual addiction. “Where is the anticipation and the personalization? It’s all pre-fab now. You have these images coming at you unannounced and unsolicited. It just gets to be so plastic and phony to me.
“Maybe men respond to that. But is it really better than an experience with a real life girl that he cares about? It’s an exploitation of the poor male’s libidos. Poor babies, they can’t control themselves.”
Welch criticized men’s modern habit of “equat[ing] happiness in life with as many orgasms as you can possibly pack in,” and described the concomitant loss of real masculinity in vivid terms.
“I just imagine them sitting in front of their computers, completely annihilated. They haven’t done anything, they don’t have a job, they barely have ambition anymore,” said the 71-year-old actress. “And it makes for laziness and a not very good sex partner. Do they know how to negotiate something that isn’t pre-fab and injected directly into their brain?”
When Eric Spitznagel of Men’s Health interjected that Welch’s views could come across as “prudish,” the aging sex icon said she was “fine with that” and pined for the days when bedroom fantasy was a private matter.
“Can you imagine? My fantasies were all made up on my own,” she said. “They’re ruining us with all the explanations and the graphicness. Nobody remembers what it’s like to be left to form your own ideas about what’s erotic and sexual. We’re not allowed any individuality. I thought that was the fun of the whole thing. It’s my fantasy. I didn’t pick it off the Internet somewhere.”
This isn’t the first time Welch has been critical of the culture that helped fuel her lengthy career: in a 2010 column for CNN, she lamented the effects of contraception on society, particularly its enervating effect on marriage, the “cornerstone of civilization.”
“Seriously, folks, if an aging sex symbol like me starts waving the red flag of caution over how low moral standards have plummeted, you know it’s gotta be pretty bad,” she wrote.
That’s a line from “Shawshank Redemption”. It’s when Andy Dushane disappears from his cell and the warden is talking to the Raquel Welch poster hanging on the wall.
You’re good.....
What is so pathetically damning about the current culture is that you now really have to rely on old tv-shows and old movies of the past to actually witness displays of genuine manliness. And by “manliness,” I mean the gamut from sturdy toughness like James Arness in “Gunsmoke” to the subtle masculine decency/morality of Robert Young in “Father Knows Best.”
This.
Raquel, if you are a Freeper (and I will bet you are), message me baby so we can make arrangements. For you I am available 24/7.
Unfortunately, in today’s world, unless you’re an alpha male, flirting and relating to the female gender is nearly impossible to do.
That hasn’t been my experience. My experience has been rather bloody, to the point, where it’s not worth my time or attention.
I had that poster when I was a kid!
I think it means she’s full of crap. What she did in her earlier years was considered porn and filth then, now she’s whining about it. Now, she’s 71 and still wants to be a sex symbol. Old granny hag can shut her mouth along with the majority of folks here.
Her daughter, Tahnee Welch (Cocoon & Cocoon: The Return) is a knockout also.
She has a beautiful mind as well.
There is some irony in having Raquel Welsh say this, but she is absolutely right.
It’s fairly obvious that rampant porn is demeaning to women, and turns them into “sex objects.”
Less obvious, but certainly true, is that it is destructive to men.
Good for Rachel,
Next on the agenda by the smut industry is:
21. Man/Boy promotions
22. Child porn
23. Insest
24. Beastiality
Ditto. There is nothing like Gunsmoke on anymore - or Bonanza, etc. Values were reinforced. Men were men.
Was she saying something?
Huh? It's been 40 years since I have been out 'flirting' and I never have been in the Alpha Male category. But I do get out and about and a nice guy can still find a nice girl with no problem.
I think maybe you're doing something wrong. Popular culture aside, people are still people.
This whole family is an even better argument against birth control than anything Santorum's been saying.
Raquel Welch is great. She is also right on.
Totally agree.
I was very impressed with that interview. She is smart, funny, and non-egotistical.
Her guest role on Seinfeld (15 years ago?) was hilarious.
She may be right about the effect of porn, but I wish she'd apply her comments a little more selectively. I doubt most of us are drooling into our keyboards.
But I could be wrong - maybe most guys are regularly cruising porn sites.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.