Abortion to pursue career in porn? So what?

Josie Cunningham

No different from any other career.

Porn actress and wannabe model Josie Cunningham is no stranger to controversy.  The publicity-hungry mum of three has caused raised eyebrows and received condemnation for many things.  She said she would abort a child to go on ‘reality’ show Celebrity Big Brother; she received a free breast enlargement on Britain’s National Health Service; she continued smoking when pregnant when she discovered the baby was a boy – stating that she would never smoke carrying a girl, which she craved; she started a dating site for unattractive people; when that failed she started up a website encouraging young girls to have unprotected sex and get pregnant; she tried to sell tickets to the birth of her third child; she put her breast milk up for sale online, describing breast-feeding as “borderline incest”.

Her latest step has the UK up in arms; she aborted her fourth pregnancy at 12 weeks in order to have cosmetic surgery on her nose, so that she can continue her careers in modelling and porn movies.  Stating that it was her body and her choice, Cunningham (25) told the Sunday People “Anyone who criticises me for putting my looks ahead of an unborn child has no right until they’re the ones putting food on the table for my kids.”

Cunningham had already booked in for her nose job but the cosmetic surgeon refused to carry out the procedure while she was pregnant.  It was then that she opted for abortion.

Okay, Josie Cunningham is obviously not the sharpest tool in the box, and at face value appears to be a truly vile excuse for a human being, and not the sort of person I for one would readily invite to a dinner party – unless it was her washing the dishes, and I’m not even sure that would be within her abilities.  I don’t even think she is really all that attractive (please do something about those fucking eyebrows, dear, your mouth reminds of the Scots tale ‘The lass wi’ the muckle mou’,  – and your boobs are TOO big for your frame).

She does however have a point.

So, Josie’s chosen careers are in modelling and porn, and it is because of this that people are up in arms about her decision to terminate her pregnancy, so that she can continue to pursue those careers.

What utter hypocrisy.

Anyone here who can honestly say they have never viewed pornography?  Anyone can put their hand on their heart and in all truthfulness say “Oh no, not I.”?  If there is, get the fuck out of my blog, you boring, uptight, frustrated, inhibited prigs.  The rest of you, read on.

I will happily admit I have viewed and do view porn.  And when I say I have viewed porn, HOO BOY, what porn I have viewed.  I have seen straight, gay and lesbian sex; cisgender, trans and intersex couples and individuals, and mixtures of all the above; short of anything obviously and quite rightly illegal and anything which harms a child or an animal, I have seen all sorts of nekkid bodies doing all sorts of naughty and kinky things, singly, in couples, trios and larger groups, and I have enjoyed every minute of it.

And if you are at all truthful, so have many of you out there.

So, when a porn actress has a termination to pursue her career, before anyone can judge, those of us who view porn have to admit that we are at least in part complicit in that.

And the question has to be asked, is Josie Cunningham’s decision really different from women who choose to terminate a pregnancy to continue or careers in any other fields?  This seems to be the contentious issue here, because it involves – GASP!  GOSH!  SHOCK!  HORROR! – sex, and that of course somehow makes Cunningham’s decision worse and wholly immoral.  Thereby further entrenching the hypocrisy involved.

The cultural inference is that it is all wrong because we have all been conditioned to see sex as sordid and dirty, and therefore anyone who takes part in porn must be wholly devoid of morals, or for that matter, any goodness or human decency.  Yet the very same people making those judgements, i.e. the majority of the population, are strangely enough those who have viewed, continue to view, and will continue to view porn.  There are no accurate statistics on pornography being viewed, but one website claims that at any given moment there are 28,258 people viewing porn on the internet.  Google Trends showed that in 2012 searches for porn in the UK came second only to the football (soccer for those across the pond – we actually use our feet with the ball, dears) World Cup, then taking place in England.  And of course with the advent of iPhones, those trends are growing.  So people can throw up their hands in horror all they want, but as with all services, so long as there is demand, there shall always be supply, and the inevitable consequences that creates.  Therefore, all of us who view porn must admit responsibility in part for any porn actress who choses to terminate a pregnancy.

What is worse, and who is more immoral?  The businesswoman who terminates a pregnancy to pursue a career in a property company and who takes decisions to foreclose on mortgages and thus makes people homeless?  The woman who has an abortion to follow a career in a finance company involved in arms dealing?  That woman who has an abortion to take a job in a multinational corporation whose actions exacerbate malnutrition in the developing world?

Or is it the woman who chooses abortion to pursue a career in an industry the vast majority of us view?  Is it the woman for whom the time simply is not right, to have a child, who can’t afford a child, or indeed one who recognises she would make a terrible mother?

I know which I choose.

And yet, it is Josie Cunningham, purely because she’s in the porn industry, that society comes down hardest on, and who is condemned because she is doing with her body and her life exactly what she wants to do – and is not harming anyone else in the process.  It is Josie Cunningham who has had her Twitter account hacked and vile comments put on it.  It is Josie Cunningham the press is now referring to as “The most hated woman in Britain”.

It is really disgusting the level some will sink to as well in their condemnation of Josie Cunningham.  While listening to a debate about her decision on a radio station, the broadcast was at one point interspaced by an advert for a charity which helps women who have suffered miscarriages and stillbirths.  Doing so does not back up the argument of those opposed to her, and furthermore, it does not respect women who have suffered miscarriages and stillbirths; if anything it grossly and shamefully disrespects them by using them for a cheap political point.

If I have one criticism of Josie Cunningham, it is her claims that she needs a nose job to pursue and continue her career, claiming its to house, clothe and feed her children.

I have long railed against cosmetic surgeons who carry out glamour jobs for the rich and famous only, purely because their talents could be used better elsewhere, on those who really need their skills, such as those who have been horribly disfigured in accidents or fires, those born with disfigurements, those who genuinely need breast enlargements or reductions – I happen to know an American woman with marvellous boobs, and who is suffering back problems due to them but cannot afford the reduction she so desperately needs – and of course, transgender people who need to transition.

And Josie Cunningham may kid many when she claims it’s all for her children, she may even kid herself, but she certainly will not kid me.  Being the media whore and a celebrity who is famous for being famous, she is not convincing me she is short of few bob.  When she had her boob job done free, she made even more enemies by stating on Twitter, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but tax payers will always fund me,”.  Well, the taxpayer no longer funds her, and anyone who can afford to get cosmetic surgery done privately should have absolutely no problems with the expense involved in bringing up a family.

I think it’s far more likely that at 25, Josie has finally woken up to the fact that if she wants to continue in her chosen industry, then her days are numbered.  She would already be considered “too old” by many modelling agencies, and she is already on the borderline of being considered “mature” in the porn industry.  Sorry, Josie, but whatever you do will never stop the march of time, and it is precisely attitudes such as yours to ‘beauty’ which drives ageism in the very industries you are involved in.