A Pornographic World By Robert Jensen Summary

A pornographic world [What is normal] by Robert Jensen takes an inside look at the culture of masculinity and what role pornography takes in shaping that culture. Jensen describes how he was forced to play a “macho” role as a child out of fear of being bullied and ridiculed for not being manly enough. Pornography use started for him and his friends in grade school – they would steal magazines and hide them to share in a group later. He talks of how he learned of a social concept, called the “ideal of prostitution” (the notion of men “buying” women in various forms of undress, solely for their pleasure), at a young age. While there has always been a stigma around pornography, whether stemming from moral or religious reasons, Jenson continued to use porn until his 30s. His views changed, but he still used pornography for research. At the end of the article, Jensen discusses his experience at a convention for pornography. How many people saw porn as either a “payback” to women who were rude or to show men how women liked to be dominated. Jensen feels that viewing pornography only

Now more than ever, it is becoming clear that some men think it is natural to objectify women. While pornography is obviously not the only factor, I think it plays a significant role. I think Jensen did a good job of pointing out the way men “should” fit into this certain category of masculinity or face being ridiculed. They are taught what men should be and how they should act through society; clearly, if they are getting their hands on pornography in grade school this is going to influence them in some way. Do I think pornography is all bad? No, not necessarily, but young boys experiencing a very dominate type of sexual encounter are not going to understand all the variables that are in place (i.e. safety words, making sure all parties are comfortable with what is going to happen, focusing on pleasure over