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Pornography and society
Impact of pornography on males and females
Rape culture in society
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Wendy Mcelroy and the pro-porn feminists focuses on 5 main areas that about mirror those that Mckinnon focuses on as well. Most focus on the degradation of women and violence against women. McKinnon focuses more on the force behind these acts than the acts themselves and seems to view them in a more criminal light. She focuses on acts of force, namely: “feminist inquiries into the realities of rape, battery, sexual harassment, incest, child sexual abuse, prostitution, and pornography answer these questions by suggesting a theory of the sexual mechanism.” It focuses much more on the mechanisms behind sexuality and sexual beings and why people have the fetishes they have. And, honestly, it seems to sort of be a baseline for the idea that sexuality …show more content…
Seeming that the typical patricial society has attracted men to these things and thus women suffer at the hands of this dynamic. Anti-porn feminism focuses on the fact that women may be coerced into doing porn or may feel fetishized by the various struggles they have had. Something serious like battery may be seen as a fetish for others to take enjoyment out of. However pro-porn Mcelroy states reasons that, in her research, women do porn and debunks some of the stigma surrounding porn. She did not find anyone who had been coerced into doing porn and some who found their fetishes liberating. She states: “A common emotional theme in the porn actresses I have interviewed is a love of exhibitionism. Yet if such a woman declares her enjoyment in flaunting her body, anti-porn feminists claim she is not merely a unique human being who reacts from a different background or personality. She is psychologically damaged and no longer responsible for her actions.” Pro-porn feminism focuses specifically on the freedom of women through their specific expression of their sexuality and views women as being more in charge of her decisions than anti-porn feminism who views women as being coerced into doing porn or into believing that doing porn is the right option. Anti-porn feminism does seem to take the responsibility of the choice away from women and the consequences of that decision and does make it sound, in some ways, that they’ve been possessed to do this and thus are incapable of making their own
How does the film support or negate tgis point? In Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Mulvey states that, “Traditionally, the woman displayed has functioned on two levels: as erotic object for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium, with a shifting tension between the looks on either side of the screen.” (Mulvey 40). A woman’s role in the narrative is bound to her sexuality or the way she draws attention away from the narrative.
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.
Wendy McElroy in “A Feminist Defense of Pornography” argues that degrading is subjective to each women and it’s up to them to define it. As much as that is true, does it mean that there shouldn’t be a standard to the word “degrading”? Take for example, pain is subjective, the same papercut can feel painful to me yet not to another person. There are even people who suffer from congenital analgesia (the inability to feel physical pain), But does this mean that it is right to inflict physical pain on those people? The law is the standard for defining physical pain and so the term “degrading” should also has its standard as it will cause harm to others.
To sufficiently take a side in the ever-growing debate of pornography, one must first define the concept around which this discourse surrounds itself. A working definition for pornography is a piece of material that has the object purpose of arousing erotic feelings. Radical feminists, however, strictly define it as “the act of sexual subordination of women” (Dworkin 1986).
Sexuality has often been confused with pornography. It has been trivialised as something that is a denigration and denial of true feeling by sensationalising genuine expressivism.
pornography says that women say no but mean yes - Yes to violence, yes to pain.”
This could relate as well to how sexual acts are perceived. Notice the common theme of deviance throughout the two excerpts. As described before, Alfred Kinsey, a well-regarded sex researcher of the 20th century, researched the borders between normalcy and deviance, noting that deviance is a societal construct that was used to control sexuality. Researcher Gayle Rubin even constructed a sex hierarchy, a charmed circle consisting of good, normal and natural sexuality versus that of what is seen as deviant, bad, unnatural and damned, naming things such as BDSM, homosexuality, and non-marital sex and so on. Though, it can be argued that these hierarchies aren’t obscene in any means but rather dependent on the individual to label as they see such.
...gument against pornography is claiming that intercourse is an act of rape, the argument immediately seems outlandish and almost laughable, and it surely seems that way to the average person. People see these examples of radical feminism and attribute those isolated incidents as representative of the entire feminist movement as a whole. Therefore through complexity, the feminist movement lost a substantial amount of its genuine credibility due to perceived extremist views on female sexuality. This, among many other incidents, seems to be the cause of this great reversal in female sexuality in our current day society. Instead of putting an end to pornography, it flourishes. Instead of bringing an end to female objectification, it is often nowadays encouraged. This reversal of feminist ideals is the main cause for the damage to female gender roles in the 21st century.
When women’s desires are less worthy of concern or not worthy of concern at all, it becomes evident that the hookup culture promotes women being used as a tool or a means to an end for male satisfaction. According to the Kantian moral theory, the culture is immoral because the woman is no longer being respected. The ambiguity of the hookup culture couple with societal effects of inegalitarian porn, according to Eaton’s “A Sensible Anti-Porn Feminist” and power imbalances in the sexes creates a culture that fosters rape. Women are placed in predicaments where they have to give in to pushy, coercive behavior by men who want to go further than the women intends to. Even if a woman feels liberated by participating in the hookup culture, that doesn’t mean she wants to go all the way, with every partner, every time. The objectification of women and rape are two serious and harmful effects of the hookup culture.
Partaking in masturbation or watching pornography degrades women and makes them feel as if they are being used as an object. Just the thought of women engaging in masturbation is frowned upon and seen as immoral. Soble deliberates that the liberals are underestimating men. Through my readings, I have come to realize that masturbation has been an issue which many educated philosophers have strongly focused on. Many people have questioned whether or not masturbation is considered moral or immoral.
Again, there are different ideas of what is considered pornographic from artwork, movies, and books. While one may look at a painting that depicts nude forms or read a book that includes sexual acts may not see this as a form of pornography while others would find it morally offensive. Feminist would argue that the morality of porn is it is degrading and humiliating to those involved, not of its sexual nature. Their concern is that it promotes sexism and violence against women or children. “What is objectionable about pornography…is its abusive and degrading portrayal of females and female sexuality, not its content or explicitness” (Rodgerson & Wilson, 1994) However, others may feel that it is sexually liberating and in no way degrading to those involved. Those women feel in control of their sexuality and choose to participate in acts as a way of expressing themselves while feeling it has no barring on their moral character. While others would argue that it promotes immoral behavior which would lead to criminal acts or an unhealthy obsession with sex. “The most commonly feared adverse effects of pornography include undesirable sexual behaviors (e.g. adultery), sexual aggression, and loss of respect for traditional family structures and values, loss of respect for authorities, and a general nonspecific moral decay.” (Hald & Linz,
...l issues for how and when it is exposed , for not everyone is ready for what it has to offer. Also for the way that they talk about or display certain transactions with woman of color make people question how open are they , where they can go pass the color of ones skin. For freedom has no color but unity. At the same time No it doesn’t have to be a social problem for it help give many people a better understanding of themselves. Adults get to explore sides and desires that they never knew the had in them., sex is something that doesn’t have to be talked about in private only but in public also. For feminist porn is all about “ questioning sex roles and sexual taboos, exploring female sexual pleasures and daring to create better sex lives for woman with information and education. We’d been so sex positive and filled with excitement that we would change the world”.
Feminism is a movement that supports women equality within society. In relation to film, feminism is what pushes the equal representation of females in mainstream films. Laura Mulvey is a feminist theorist that is famous for touching on this particular issue of how men and women are represented in movies. Through her studies, she discovered that many films were portraying men and women very differently from reality. She came up with a theory that best described why there is such as huge misrepresentation of the social status quos of male and female characters. She believed that mainstream film is used to maintain the status quo and prevent the realization of gender equality. This is why films are continuously following the old tradition that males are dominant and females are submissive. This is the ideology that is always present when we watch a movie. This is evident in the films from the past but also currently. It is as if the film industry is still catering to the male viewers of each generation in the same way. Laura Mulvey points out that women are constantly being seen as sexual objects, whether it is the outfits they wear or do not wear or the way they behave, or secondary characters with no symbolic cause. She states that, “in traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote it-be-looked-at-ness.”(Mulvey pg. 715). Thus, women are nevertheless displayed as nothing more than passive objects for the viewing pleasure of the audience. Mulvey also points out through her research that in every mainstream movie, there is ...
In deeper readings I have come to an understanding which is based upon the way these forms of thought view sexuality and sex as a whole. Liberal feminism is sex positive while radical feminism is what can be labeled as anti-sex. To elaborate, liberal feminism holds the stance that a woman has control over her body and can decide what to do with it. This view includes her decision to be involved with pornography. This is in complete incongruence with the views of radical feminism, which condemns pornography as a whole as “a practice of sex discrimination” (Dworkin & McKinnon, 133), no matter the type or whether it was safely produced. Radical feminism elaborates that pornography is a medium based upon a “systematic practice of exploitation and subordination based on sex that differentially harms and disadvantages women” (Dworkin & McKinnon, 133) Pornography supports the unbalanced power structures within society and cite the fact that most pornography is made for men, by men, with male desires and interests in mind which leads the media to support and idolize unreal and harmful situations within the “storyline” of the pornographic media. These two ideologies view pornography in very black and white terms, as well and fine or bad and evil, with no real wiggle room for
Many feminist theories believe that pornography is part of male culture and the patriarchy in which women are exploited and abused. In fact, one of radical feminism philosophy’s primary concerns is pornography as they believe porn degrades women and that women involved in the industry are physically damaged by patriarchy, as pornography as often directed by male pornographers (McElroy 2016). Renowned radical feminist Andrea Dworkin explored issues like misogyny and pornography. Dworkin spoke out for several causes, primarily in ending violence against women. Her famous work Pornography: men possessing women (1981) argues that porn teaches men to rape and violently abuse women. However, studies show that watching pornography its self does not cause any considerable social harm. Despite this, it is true that the adult industry itself can be torturous and