Porn star martini Pizza Express

[Flour8977]

Why are Pizza Express advertising 'Porn Star Martinis' on every table at their restaurants? AIBU to find this disgusting for a family restaurant? I don't really wish to explain to my 6 year old what it is.

And people get mad when I say this ^^ is the level of critical thinking involved in this debate.

I won’t be going to Pizza Express any time soon because I’m not in the UK.

‘Not going’ isn’t much of a solution if you’re already there, and your 12YO is reading the flyer.

The main takeaway from the average, non-stupid 12YO after such a convo with their parent would surely be: porn can’t be as bad as Mum goes on about, if they’ve named a cocktail after someone who stars in it.

Porn = no big deal.

Subliminal message - it’s even OK to joke about it with kids.

@Blossomtoes

I think the wider use of porn correlates with the rise of the internet. When I was a lad, porn was inaccessible unless a mate's dad had a collection. I don't think I clapped eyes on a magazine until I was in my late teens. Nowadays, kids can bypass parental controls in a nanosecond and download or share files with friends. I've read kids as young as 7 streaming and more regularly/widely at 11

I completely agree but I was ridiculed when I said it. 🤷‍♀️

I have no idea why you were ridiculed (wrongly IMO) but there's no way porn would've reached so many people without the internet.

I accept that porn was made legal in the UK in the last 20 or so years but relatively few people buy porn from shops because of the embarrassment/seediness. Even mail order is a nightmare as transactions show up on statements.

The internet enables unlimited access to free porn and complete anonymity if you use a VPN.

Hardly controversial but would be interested to hear an alternative explanation.

I think your representation of how the conversation would go with a 12 year old is unrealistic @NurseBernard.

I think it would go:

What’s a porn star, Mum?

It’s someone who acts in porn on the Internet Porn is when people are filmed having sex.

That’s a weird thing to call a drink

Yes, it is. It’s a thing called a cocktail and they tend to give them odd names. Check out the cocktail list on the menu and you’ll see

🤣 bless your cotton socks Blossomtoes - you’d have difficulty finding a 12 year old these days who doesn’t know what porn is! 2/3rds of their class will be on Tiktok etc. and they’ll all see videos sent round WhatsApp. Most of them will have seen stuff on theirs or someone else’s phone by that age that would make your hair curl.

The point is not how the conversation would go - the point is that by having it as a cocktail name it makes it a normal thing that’s just part of everyday life and seem as a bit “cheeky” and marketable. It desensitises us to what porn is and what it does, because it just becomes part of the accepted wallpaper. Watched by 11 year old boys on smartphones on the bus. On a flyer at Pizza Express. Part of “pro sex industry” Gen Z politics. Just all part of the normal everyday. No wonder girls think sending nudes and being on OnlyFans is considered easy money, and what’s wrong with it if being a “pornstar” is so acceptable?

the point is that by having it as a cocktail name it makes it a normal thing that’s just part of everyday life and seem as a bit “cheeky” and marketable

Read your first paragraph again. Then tell me that those kids you describe aren’t way past the point where the name of a drink will make a happorth of difference. You’ve just totally defeated your own argument.

Do you’re saying porn is completely normalised, and the fact that it’s normal for children to know about it, even consume it, is - whatever … OK ….?

@IBelieveInBiology

I think you might be over thinking this a little

I think porn is an awful, exploitative industry that preys on vulnerable people and uses women as objects. It can be detrimental to its consumers, too. Why the fuck should the name of such an industry be used to advertise a drink
If that's overthinking, then great, I'm an overthinker.

It's better than being cool with the trafficking and abuse of women and girls.

This.

@NurseBernard

Do you’re saying porn is completely normalised, and the fact that it’s normal for children to know about it, even consume it, is - whatever … OK ….?

No. That was @tigerbird. Do keep up.

The name of an industry hasn't been used to advertise a drink though.

Someone invented a cocktail and decided to name it so. Admittedly it's not a great name but it was their right to name it whatever they liked and for people to buy it or not. The problem seems to be that it's actually quite popular.

It was in response to the point you made.

Do keep up.

It was @tigerbird who said

you’d have difficulty finding a 12 year old these days who doesn’t know what porn is! 2/3rds of their class will be on Tiktok etc. and they’ll all see videos sent round WhatsApp. Most of them will have seen stuff on theirs or someone else’s phone by that age that would make your hair curl

Not me.

@Blossomtoes

the point is that by having it as a cocktail name it makes it a normal thing that’s just part of everyday life and seem as a bit “cheeky” and marketable

Read your first paragraph again. Then tell me that those kids you describe aren’t way past the point where the name of a drink will make a happorth of difference. You’ve just totally defeated your own argument.

I think the argument has clearly completely passed you by!

It’s that yes they may have seen it, but as a society we don’t have to make that a normal cheeky ordinary thing, do we? If people didn’t normalise it as something that’s all a bit — “oh well, why can you do? ! Can’t get worked up about a drink at a pizza restaurant being porny!” — well then we might stand a chance of changing the porn culture kids are exposed to. Instead of shrugging and saying “O well, nothing we do will make a happorth of difference so let’s not bother”.

It’s precisely because it’s becoming so normalised that there’s no incentive to do anything about it. What’s a bit of cheeky reference to the sexual exploitation of women and girls when you’re out for a pizza, eh!

@Blossomtoes

It was *@tigerbird* who said

you’d have difficulty finding a 12 year old these days who doesn’t know what porn is! 2/3rds of their class will be on Tiktok etc. and they’ll all see videos sent round WhatsApp. Most of them will have seen stuff on theirs or someone else’s phone by that age that would make your hair curl

Not me.

… and then you said:

”Then tell me that those kids you describe aren’t way past the point where the name of a drink will make a happorth of difference.”

To which I replied:

”So you’re saying porn is completely normalised, and the fact that it’s normal for children to know about it, even consume it, is - whatever … OK ….?”

I give up. The pair of you are as bad as one another. And you have the audacity to criticise other people’s critical thinking.

I’m sorry you’re struggling so badly @Blossomtoes

I guess we won’t get an answer to the question, then:

You’re saying you’re saying porn is completely normalised, and the fact that it’s normal for children to know about it, even consume it, is OK?

No. Try reading the last few posts again. If

you’d have difficulty finding a 12 year old these days who doesn’t know what porn is! 2/3rds of their class will be on Tiktok etc. and they’ll all see videos sent round WhatsApp. Most of them will have seen stuff on theirs or someone else’s phone by that age that would make your hair curl

is correct - I have no idea whether or not it is - then then the logical conclusion is that the normalisation ship has sailed.

Perhaps if adults cared a bit more about not normalising it, it might be un-normalised.

Plenty of exploitative industries and unethical things have been un-normalised, from slavery and child prostitution to the tobacco industry, employment discrimination and Page 3. It only takes people to start making a stand about something, and stop allowing a situation to be repeatedly normalised, to start making a change. If society wanted to push back against the porn industry, it would be perfectly possible to do so - however, it’s quite accepted in our society that it’s okay to exploit and objectify women and girls; and even a great proportion of women clearly think that’s just the status quo and no point complaining.

Saying “O that ship has sailed so let’s not get bothered about it is part^ of normalising it.

So this isn't just about pizza express but a national crackdown of the drink and renaming across the board? If not I can't see any point at all.

Followed by a campaign to ban porn in the UK and any access to paid porn?

It’s not appropriate. They should just call it a passion fruit cocktail like other places.
Haven’t read the whole thread but for those saying. ‘It’s just the name of a cocktail’ yes but you do know why it’s called that don’t you? Because the cut passion fruit floating on the top looks like an open vagina

What's a pirn star martini mummy? It is the name of this drink. It has alcohol so only for adults.

Like if they ask what is a San Miguel mummy? It is the name of a beer. You don't need to tell them that it is spanish for saint michael and what he was famous for and why the brewery chose that name.

"Hey Jimmy, want to see some porn my brother has on his phone?"
And now the word is associated with something mummy asks for in a restaurant.

@Lavenderlid

"Hey Jimmy, want to see some porn my brother has on his phone?" And now the word is associated with something mummy asks for in a restaurant.

Not necessarily. Lola's of words have multiple meanings. We talk a lot about when the rape fields will be cut (so dc can ride the ponies round it). Buying the oil in Tesco doesn't cause this problem either.

@Lavenderlid

"Hey Jimmy, want to see some porn my brother has on his phone?" And now the word is associated with something mummy asks for in a restaurant.

No thanks Daphne, I'm not interested in passion fruit flavoured alcoholic beverages.

It’s just the name of a cocktail’ yes but you do know why it’s called that don’t you? Because the cut passion fruit floating on the top looks like an open vagina
😂🤣🤣😂😂
Pmsl