Octomom says doing porn is liberating

This post is going to offend some of you.

When I came across this Huffington Post article about the Octomom buying a home with the money she earned from doing a pornographic film I was shocked.  I, like many of you, watched the interview she did with Oprah in 2010, where in no uncertain terms said that she would never do pornography as a means to feeding her children.  For those of you who did not see that Oprah show, I found the interview on Oprah.com. Here is the transcript specifically discussing Nadya Suleman (Octomom) not doing porn:


Oprah: I heard you were offered an opportunity to do a porn film too.

Nadya: Oh, my goodness. Again, another outlet trying to steal a piece of the situation. I feel as though exploiting me, disrespecting me, that, in turn, disrespects and exploits my children. I personally perceive that to be a publicity stunt. I mean, they have started from the very beginning. Right after I had the babies they were offering that. Really? I mean, I would obviously need the money if I did something like that to move my family to a deserted island far, far, far away from civilization. That is completely unfathomable, obviously.

Oprah: Let's just be clear about this. So you were offered money to do a porn film, and you have turned them down.

Nadya: They have offered this probably three weeks subsequent to the birth of the babies. Maybe at least three times. And I feel as though it's completely, utterly disrespectful to a mother, to anyone who is just trying to survive. I was just catapulted, again, as I mentioned, into this unfamiliar life as a carnival attraction. I never imagined it would end up being like this.

Oprah: Nadya, tell me this: Do you think that you could ever be in the situation where you have 14 hungry mouths to feed and you'd ever have to resort to doing a porn film? Would you do that if you had to feed your children? 

Nadya: If they offered $100 million I would never, never, never resort to something like that. It stems now to boundaries. I'm teaching my children to have healthy boundaries, and there are ways. There are other ways that are much more obviously more respectable.

Now I am not going to pretend that I have never done something I swore I would never do. I can imagine it must have been difficult to decide to do porn after previously saying it was disrespectful to her and her children.  What I find disturbing and shocking is when recently she spoke to Dr. Drew on HLN about the "film", she said that doing porn was "the most empowering and liberating thing I have ever done".  LIBERATING AND EMPOWERING! This is what she considers to be the most empowering thing she has ever done? She later goes on to say "I take full accountability and am proud of it".  PROUD OF IT? This is the example she wants to set for her14 children? She wants her daughters to feel like their bodies are for sale as long as the price is right? She wants her sons to feel like it is ok to objectify woman? She wants her children to be proud of the fact that she is selling her body to strangers? And furthermore it makes her feel liberated?

Is this what our world has come to? A world where taking off your clothes and doing porn empowers women? Where prostituting oneself is considered a liberating act? There is nothing liberating about selling your body for money.  What happened to "teaching my children healthy boundaries"? Did all of her boundaries disappear when someone threw a large sum of money her way? What about the "obviously more respectable" ways of producing income?

As you know I have 3 daughters, and I do not want any of them to think for one minute that I find any type of pornographic activity to be liberating.  If this world is telling them that taking off your clothes is empowering, I am raising them to know that your body as a woman is sacred.  Your body as a woman produces life. As a woman you are able to grow life within yourself and bring it forth into the world. As a woman you are responsible for the nurturing and caring of your family, children and loved ones. It's our honor as women to be able to hold the heart of the family in our hands. Why would we want our daughters to think that empowerment comes from taking off your clothes on camera? We need to raise a generation of women that value their worth. Women are able to do and be anything they want, the sky is the limit in this day and age.  With so many examples of strong, smart, poised and clothed woman around, I hope Nadya Suleman's children can find another empowering role model to look up to.

Stepping off the soapbox for now...