UCLA’s Campus Events Commission held a free screening of “Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge,” a high-budget pornography feature film, in Ackerman Grand Ballroom on Wednesday.
The event attracted more than 850 students, said Alex Jeffries, Campus Events film commissioner.
Rumors of a walkout to be staged by Christian organizations against the film’s showing surfaced prior to the event, but no protesters materialized.
The rumors began after the Campus Events Commission received e-mails from Christian groups with a link to a Facebook event, Jeffries said.
Jeffries said the Facebook event, which had 47 confirmed guests, encouraged people to register for the screening and secure wristbands to the showing so that other students could not.
The Facebook page included a suggested e-mail to be sent to the commission and the chancellor’s office. The page also identified concerned students as members of International Justice Mission, “a Christian organization that fights against human trafficking.”
Danny Soper, a member of Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization that was not listed as a participant on the protest page, said it was pointless to stop students from watching the movie on campus because it would not deter them from going home to watch porn if they really wanted to.
However, Soper also said pornography is a misrepresentation of the purpose of sex.
Yen Pham, a member of International Justice Mission and Campus Crusade, said she was concerned about the morality of the event, not only from a religious perspective, but also from a human rights perspective.
Pham said some students registered for wristbands so they could participate in the Q&A panel session.
Pham asked the panel of guests, which included stars Evan Stone and Sasha Grey, along with the film’s director and the studio’s marketing director, how they felt about pornography’s link to sex trafficking.
Grey answered that she was offended by the association of the two.
She said that although pornography and sex trafficking are both prostitution, one is legal and the other is not.
The Facebook page also argued that pornography degrades women.
Alex Micelli, a third-year art history student who attended the movie, said she does not find pornography offensive to women.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s their choice,” Micelli said.
“Not having the choice of what to do with your body would be more degrading.”
Dr. Neil Malamuth, a communication studies professor and co-editor of the book “Pornography and Sexual Aggression,” said that the effects of pornography exposure are complicated and vary largely depending on the individual.
Malamuth said exposure to pornography was a risk factor that could lead to sexual aggression when other risk factors for sexual aggression were present.
In spite of the controversy, the screening attracted a large group of students, who had varying opinions about the screening.
“If they can show people’s heads getting blown off, I don’t see why it should be a problem that they’re showing something so natural,” said Monica Hamblet, a third-year history student who attended.
Within the Campus Events Commission, there was little controversy about the screening, and the committee was generally enthusiastic, Jeffries said.
He added that the Q&A session was the committee’s most successful. Almost all of the students who attended the screening stayed for the Q&A.
“The guests did a good job dealing with any awkward questions, but for the most part I thought the questions were good,” Jeffries said.