Blessings for the Penis

How many people know who the guy is in the picture above? Don't worry. No one can see you if you do.

For those that don't know, his born name is Clifton Todd Britt. Mr. Britt is a graduate of Syracuse University, a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, and was smart enough to land a spot as a stock broker within six months of graduating from college. He even did some modeling and acting in small parts on the side. But that wasn't making the ends meet.

This educated brotha decided to take his chances and move from the east coast to the west coast in pursuit of greater acting possibilities. And that is exactly what he found. Mr. Britt cashed in on his good looks and his LARGE personality (oh yeah... and his 11 x 7 incher) and gave himself the stage name that you may recognize as Lexington Steele.

I say the guy is smart, but he REALLY is a smart dude - he has a very keen business sense. He started in porn acting, but he is now also a director and producer of his movies. What does that mean? It means he stars in some of his movies, he picks who is "acting" in them, he guides the movie as he sees fit, he controls how his image is portrayed, and he's making serious bucks from the porn world.

Why am I focusing on his brains?

Because he said something that he clearly thought long and hard about (no pun intended). I came across a quote of his that has me really wondering about some things.

One of the things about Mr. Britt/Mr. Steele is that he is not only intelligent, but he's deeply religious. He grew up in a Baptist household and carries his religious beliefs with him everyday, in regards to being a believer AND a porn star. Check out one of his statements:

"Yes, I am religious. I am Christian, Baptist. I grew up in as close to a Cosby-show lifestyle as you can get. Doing porno, on a repeated basis, I am committing Coitus interruptus like Onan. I'm not married, so I'm fornicating for a living. I'm paid to have sex, which means what? I'm prostituting by definition. These are things I have to reckon with my God on a daily basis. I knowingly do these things.

"My decision to do porno has forced me to take my religion within. Because of my job I am stronger in my relationship with God, because now I take God with me everywhere I go; if I don't, I'll fail. I didn't know that God blessed me with an abnormally large penis that allows me to make porno. But I feel blessed. I believe I am blessed because I am meant to please one woman for the rest of our lives together. True, I haven't met her yet."

He also said this:

"People who are spiritual, like myself, we carry our spirituality inside of ourselves. I don't believe any institution has any hierarchy on my personal relationship with God. I have been blessed with physical attributes that have allowed me to provide entertainment. What I do is not illegal, so I am not at odds with anything. I'm not married so I am not committing adultery. If I be damned for fornication, then I am no much unlike then the billions of people who walk this earth today."

Wow.

Here's my interpretation of what Mr. Steele just said. He said that he knows and believes he is meant to please one woman, but because he's blessed with a big penis, he's going to use it to entertain. He also said that if he's fornicating, he's just like billions of others... which almost sounds like the "everyone else is doing it, so I'll do it too" argument.

(I'm not sure, but didn't God strike down cities that were guilty of fornication? To me, that's a sign that says that if you believe, you shouldn't whip it out for money or for free. But that's me. And that's not the point.)

Mr. Steele is even more astonishing, because, given his degree, looks, and previous career doing other things, it's not like he didn't have options. He could've done ANYTHING, but made the clear and conscious decision to make his money in the sex industry.

I don't find this much different from the music artist who raps about the love of drugs, hoes, and guns... and then thanks God for hooking them up with awards and prizes. It almost seems like a justification of a lifestyle. They have physical and mental attributes that will help them make money. And because they have the attributes and are using them a lot, God must have wanted it to be that way.

So here are my questions... Do you think that Mr. Britt/Mr. Steele and others use God to justify inappropriate actions, or are they all right? To what extent should a belief in a higher power influence an occupation and what a person does to keep the bills paid and stay alive? Maybe one of these days, I'll have an answer... but today, I'll just think about it and revisit later...