Raquel Welch: Men ‘Completely Annihilated’ By Porn
Raquel Welch made headlines this week for comments she made in an interview with Men’s Health. Towards the end of the interview, which admittedly was mostly about what it has been like for Welch to be a sex symbol, she made some unexpected comments about sexuality and porn in our society. The interviewer was discussing the subtlety of movies in the 1960s and 1970s when it came to showing sexual scenes, or being sexually suggestive.
In describing one of the film directors she worked with, Welch comments that he understood what was sexy and what wasn’t. He knew how to be sexy without being profane about it, and without being too graphic.
The interviewer then asks her why there aren’t more films like that now.
Welch says:
“I remember Jimmy Coburn once said to me, ‘You know what’s the sexiest thing of all? A little mystery.'” And he was so right about that. When you put it all out there, there’s nothing left to the imagination. So where am I going to participate? I’ve said this before and I still agree with it, the most erogenous zone is the brain. It’s all happening there. Otherwise, it’s just body parts… I think we’ve gotten to the point in our culture where we’re all sex addicts, literally. We have equated happiness in life with as many orgasms as you can possibly pack in, regardless of where it is that you deposit your love interest
Later on in the interview, Welch says — about our society’s attitude towards sex:
It’s just dehumanizing. And I have to honestly say, I think this era of porn is partially responsible for it.
About the way porn has asserted itself into our culture, she says:
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 males’ libidos.
And here is something every porn addict can relate to:
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. 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?
Welch actually has quite a bit of insight into the problem. It’s ironic, perhaps, that these comments are coming from a “sex symbol” who probably has — on some level — played a part in the very problem she is diagnosing. But the fact that she can see the situation for what it is, and that she said what she said, is actually very helpful for us. Welch has given us some stark analysis and we would do well to think it through.
Many of us have been completely annihilated. But so too, many of us who were annihilated have been given new life.
Intentional Warriors 
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