What do Larry Flynt and J. W. Marriott, Jr., Have In Common?

Quite a lot as it turns out. Larry Flynt became a household name after a landmark pornography case was decided by the Supreme Court. In that case, Flynt fought for the right to express pornographic parodies of a public figure (Jerry Falwell) under First Amendment protection. Ever since, he’s become an icon for the pornography industry.


Larry Flynt: The original Hustler

With technological developments, the porn industry has continued to evolve from Flynt’s Hustler parodies to an industry that has been testing placement of an ever-moving line between what is defined as pornographic material and what is not, what is one’s right to express and what speech is not acceptable to express. The fact that pornography, the hard core kind, is widely available has helped the industry become socially acceptable. Don’t believe me? Well, when captains of industry, corporations like AT&T, Yahoo!, Direct TV and Marriott International, begin to accept your wares, can Wall Street be far behind?

While Marriott, Jr. hasn’t gone to court on his offerings of pornography, let there be no doubt that Marriott is a part of the porn business. They have inked a deal that allows their hotel guests to order up pornographic movies. In return for this use of airwaves, Marriott gets to keep a percentage of the cost of each movie purchased.

Of course, their PR folks water this down. Marriott’s PR gurus want us to believe that since they don’t make these movies, and since they don’t watch these movies, that their chain is upstanding and respectable. They say Marriott is merely making these movies available because their customers demand them. So, how much demand is there for pornographic movies in motels? That seems to be a closely-guarded secret. In other words, Marriott, Jr. isn’t telling what his take of the porn pie is, although expert guessers have pegged it at between 70 and 80 percent of all in-room profits. And that can add up to a rather large amount of qwan.


J.W. Marriott, Jr.: Just another hustler?

On the contrary, on Marriott’s Web site, you can find out that Marriott, Jr. is an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, that he has four children and 12 grandchildren. You can also read that Marriott supports the community through various programs.

In all this hubris you can even find Marriott’s commitment to engaging women-owned businesses to supply key products and services.

Something is terribly amiss here. I think in a period when we, as a society, have experienced grotesque killings of young girls—of our nation’s young women—that Jackson Katz is onto something. I think it’s time—past time—to open a dialogue about the increasing acceptability by men in our society of pornography and to take a hard look at what this means for us—for all of us.

James B. Weaver, Professor of Communication and Psychology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & Technology, reported on research into how pornography is affecting our society. Among other things, his testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation revealed the following:

• The marriage between pornography producers and corporate America has served to legitimize pornography to millions of Americans.
• Pornography reinforces the message that women exist merely for the gratification of men.
• Pornography is affecting the sexual socialization of our society’s teens.
• Social science studies—conducted for more than 20 years—have consistently shown that watching pornography negatively impacts our most basic attitudes, beliefs, and values about sex, intimacy, and family.

What this means is that pornography facilitates sexual aggression and fosters misogyny, the very point that Katz made.

I need to mention here that one hotel chain, Omni, had the courage to implement a no-porn policy. And that hotel has consistently been ranked by J.D. Powers as top of the heap in guest satisfaction among upscale hotel chains. That award, given in July 2006, debunks the notion that Marriott (and all other major hotel chains) cannot be a hotel of choice without offering pornography as an in-room amenity.

Like Katz, I believe that until these other hotels begin to consider a communitarian perspective, our society will continue to wrestle with these kinds of misogynistic crimes.

And at some point, Marriott, Jr. needs to wake up and ask himself, “Is offering pornography worth it?” And I’m going to suggest that the answer is not to be found in a thinly-veiled bribe to women-owned businesses to become partners with a corporation that, while doling out money to women from one hand, is raking it in off the backs of women with the other.

Question of the Week: Is it ethical for Marriott International to offer pornographic movies and then offer business contracts to women-owned businesses?