Texas- Ron Jeremy and Susan Cole make an interesting pair.

One wouldn’t expect a veteran of the pornography industry and a feminist, anti-pornography advocate to be very cordial; however, the two seemed almost friendly before the debate.

“Have y’all met my wife?” Jeremy said. “This is Susan Cole.”

Jeremy and Cole, who are not actually married, appeared before hundreds in the University Center Bluebonnet Ballroom on Thursday to debate the ethics of pornography.

Cole, who said she and Jeremy have done about 10 debates, said their initial meeting came as a surprise to both of them and served to alleviate their preconceived notions.

“I thought he was going to be dumb and stupid and sexist,” she said. “He thought I was going to be a Bible-thumping right-wing freak.”

Although both have found common ground, on the stage, the gloves came off.

“I find it a little ironic that Ron Jeremy is the spokesperson for the porn industry. He’s kind of the anti-porn star,” she said. “For starters, just look at him.”

But such personal attacks were kept to a minimum, as the debaters laid out his or her position in preparation for the question-and-answer session that would follow.

Cole claimed that pornography is systematically lowering society’s concept of women, encouraging both sexism and sexual violence. Jeremy said America’s porn industry is fairly tame compared to that overseas, and the industry he is involved in shows little that isn’t already going on in the privacy of people’s bedrooms.

“I’ve been accused of being the white bread porn star because my films are pretty boring,” Jeremy said. “Doing it doggy style, smack her on the ass, that’s it.”

Cole said she wanted to counter the common misconception that anti-pornography advocates are also against all sex or all pre-marital sex. She said this is not the case and that she strongly supports sexual experimentation.

“I am particularly in favor of masturbation for women because I believe if women don’t get to know our own bodies, we won’t have two minutes of good sex in our entire lives,” she said.

Cole said the scenes in porn films often depict women in humiliating, degrading and dangerous situations. She acknowledged that the women participating in this conduct were not forced to do so but said it is mistaken to say that they chose the porn industry.

“When you have a choice between no sex, abstinence and what they call morality and a type of sex that is the pits to you, you’ll choose the bad sex over no sex at all,” she said. “I find it ironic that in a culture that celebrates individualism, you are willing to accept pre-packaged sexuality.”

Jeremy countered that the feminist argument that pornography is degrading to women is lacking. He said pornography is a male-dominated market, and most films will therefore be geared toward men’s fantasies, not those of women, which are often less obvious.

“If you look at women’s magazines, like Playgirl, it’s very subtle. You don’t see a big throbbing schmeckel in her face,” he said. “It’s impossible to make a film that won’t piss the feminists off.”

Biology senior Cece Chatman said she didn’t see what Cole’s problem with pornography was. Although not necessarily a strong supporter of Jeremy, she said she does value free expression.

“I guess I would say I am for porn,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with a little stimulation, if that’s for you.”

Marketing senior Zach Wohldmann disagreed. Attending out of curiosity and support for Cole, he said pornography has had serious negative impact on society and thinks measures should be taken before its hold gets any worse.

“I think it can be degrading to women and change men’s viewpoints on women,” he said. “I think it’s grown here, and I think it’ll escalate out of control, and I think it should be regulated.”

Spanish freshman Trevor Bye had a different reason for attending the event.

“I wanted to see Ron Jeremy’s member,” he said.