On Oct. 1 and 2, GKC Theatres in DeKalb featured the NC-17 cult hit “Pink Flamingos” as part of its Re-Run Film Festival. The movie, best summed up as an achievement in masochistic glory, hit new lows in the art of disturbing filmmaking. The stunts in the movie were 100 percent real, including a scene that violates certain animal-rights laws that didn’t exist during the film’s production. The irony of this isn’t that such perversion is celebrated, but that it’s celebrated at a theater that upholds a somewhat wholesome image.

This example is a metaphor for how our society passively approves of violence and other depraved behavior as a form of entertainment. However, we view sex, and something as non-threatening as the female form, quite differently. Although the violence so easily accessed through video games and other media may not influence violent behavior directly, its constant exposure toughens our callousness to it. In the same token, the negative reaction our society commands toward the nude female form influences our attitudes toward it as well.

When Janet Jackson revealed her breast during this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, it was considered deplorable and shameful. Female nudity definitely boosts the rating on any movie or video game. America, continuing to associate female nudity with sin, still seems to be afraid of Eve.

When we regard the female form as sinful, we are opening the door for it to be treated as such. Consequentially, with movie sales as testimony, we find violence and nudity to be an appealing combination. In our world, it is easier for a 12-year-old boy to download an image of a female being degraded than it is for him to purchase a ticket to a movie in which a woman’s breast might be – and perhaps more subtly – exposed.

As a result of this acceptance of violence and sexually convoluted view of women, we damage the sanctity of sex as well. Instead of regarding sex as a healthy communication of affection, many of us have managed to separate the physical act from the accompanying emotion. The empire of pornography available ensures that sex will continue to be treated just as aggressively and apathetically as another video game, with women often used as the tools.

As a public, we need to do our best to change this perception of women, as well as our approach to sex and violence. Violence is a problem all around the world, but when paired with these attitudes about women and sex, its damage is exemplified. And by identifying women primarily as sexual tools, we are perpetuating the vicious cycle.

When the day comes that an average theater such as GKC in DeKalb chooses to show a film that embraces sex frankly and shamelessly, without the aid of violence or the degradation of women to make it acceptable, our society will have taken a big step.

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.