Infighting? I don't think so
People who benefit from pornography have to work consistently, using every possible media, to persuade the general populace that it's all fine. Why? Because paying a person to allow the abuse* of her body, and offering more money the worse the abuse (and I'm talking about "consensual" porn here**) - all for the ENTERTAINMENT of men - goes against basic humanity. If you were suddenly dropped onto this planet from a place where society wasn't structured around dominance and oppression, it would be obvious.
That is why, when a group of people, no matter how tiny, point out the obvious, there are immediate attempts to dissipate it. That tiny group of people are right and that rightness could so easily spread because most people are humane. Porn can strip you of that humanity of course, so it is being marketed and normalised to younger and younger people - just in case that tiny group of people pointing out the obvious get in first.
There are very few radical feminists and anti-"sex industry" folk in this world, but they need to be attacked because they (we) are right. A new blog has suddenly appeared declaring radical feminists are more misogynistic than violent pornography, and has based this on utter lies about an anti-porn feminist forum (which I belong to so I know it's lies). That is so desperate it is almost funny. If it is trying to be a joke, it is certainly not funny.
You think that porn and prostitution are potentially ok and could even be liberating for women? You think you came to that conclusion with no input from people heavily invested in convincing you of this?
If you're "on the fence" dig a bit deeper into yourself.
It's obvious.
*I believe that allowing your body to be penetrated without your body and mind desiring it, is to allow the abuse of your body.
**As for rape/child/animal porn - well everyone knows that's wrong. Many pornographers themselves never tire of saying how wrong it is. Makes some porn look "good".
That is why, when a group of people, no matter how tiny, point out the obvious, there are immediate attempts to dissipate it. That tiny group of people are right and that rightness could so easily spread because most people are humane. Porn can strip you of that humanity of course, so it is being marketed and normalised to younger and younger people - just in case that tiny group of people pointing out the obvious get in first.
There are very few radical feminists and anti-"sex industry" folk in this world, but they need to be attacked because they (we) are right. A new blog has suddenly appeared declaring radical feminists are more misogynistic than violent pornography, and has based this on utter lies about an anti-porn feminist forum (which I belong to so I know it's lies). That is so desperate it is almost funny. If it is trying to be a joke, it is certainly not funny.
You think that porn and prostitution are potentially ok and could even be liberating for women? You think you came to that conclusion with no input from people heavily invested in convincing you of this?
If you're "on the fence" dig a bit deeper into yourself.
It's obvious.
*I believe that allowing your body to be penetrated without your body and mind desiring it, is to allow the abuse of your body.
**As for rape/child/animal porn - well everyone knows that's wrong. Many pornographers themselves never tire of saying how wrong it is. Makes some porn look "good".
posted by jo22 at 12:35 PM
6 Comments:
Good post.
A really honest and powerful post, brilliant!
Like I said on Witchy's mega thread - I would not be inclined to take the word of a tobacco company's employee about the health effects of smoking. Likewise, I am not inclined to take the word of a porn performer (essentially, an employee) on the societal effects of porn.
They have an active interest in pretending it's all okay and that porn has "minimal, if any" negative effects on people.
They make their money off this sick crap, so their words are not unbiased.
Neither are the words of those who consume this sick crap. They too have an active interest in pretending it's all okay.
It's totall bullshit.
I've volunteered in a women's shelter for a decade. The number of women harmed by people using porn* grows. The number of children coming to the sex ed classes who think that abusive, degrading, and humiliating sex acts are healthy, normal aspect of sex, grows. The number of cases in which a rape is filmed and spread around like a fucking trophy grows.
This is not happening in a vaccuum.
* - meaning they are either forcibly ejected from their homes for not living up to porn's standards in both appearence and sexual acts. Or, they are forced to do things they don't want to do that their partner saw in porn upon threat of pain. Or, their children are. Or, they escaped from a home in which their partner decided porn was more important than paying bills, feeding the children, or cleaning themselves. Or, they get wind of some of the things their kids are doing sexually, or what they are being pressured to do sexually, and realize if they don't get some actual sex ed (that thanks to fundies isn't allowed in school) they will be subjected to the humilating, degrading and flat out painful and damaging acts that their partners learned from porn. Because pornographers certianly make absolutely no effort to prevent everyone being exposed to it.
And the assholes defending this shit think it's all about them and their "right" to porn. They don't listen. They don't care what happens to others.
Well said Jo - and what Lya Kahlo said ...twice :-)
Lya - your experience of dv survivors mirrors mine. Pornography is playing an increasingly bigger role in the abuse of women by men than I've ever known before - either in my work with dv survivors or rape/child sexual abuse survivors. I've been working in this field for 15 years.
Also, just a point of interest, I remember seeing a quote that said something about a research study into the effects of pornography on its consumers that had to be stopped because of the damage being caused to participants by the research material.
I'll try to find that.
Pornography is never right, it can never be tolerated and we must fight until the very end.
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