Ecoporn

When I first started reading Welling's piece on Ecoporn, it took me a while until I could full grasp what he was talking about (and I'm still not sure if I do). From what I could gather, Welling defines ecoporn as a type of visual discourse that transforms nature and nonhuman animals into highly idealized and sexual representations. While I can see where he is coming from, I think his examples of The Discovery Channel and The Crocodile Hunter as exploiting animals in a sexual way is sort of far fetched. I do however agree with the notion that "women are naturalized and animalized." Especially in today's society, women are used all over advertising to sell products and gain attention from the intended audience. I'm also not sure if I agree with his statement, "along with standard pornography, [ecoporn] has the capacity to empower as well as to degrade." The way I see it, pornography only degrades, the person being exploited and the viewer him/herself.