tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4987313227376572941.post1231648319142061431..comments2023-07-17T07:28:19.306-07:00Comments on BloggingFeministTheory: Is Pornography Harmful?Ric Carichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12715258697811131789noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4987313227376572941.post-60707184491375309312008-01-25T04:22:00.000-08:002008-01-25T04:22:00.000-08:00Pornography is very harmful and in fact does reinf...Pornography is very harmful and in fact does reinforce violent attitudes towards women. Bader looks purely from a psychologist’s perspective. In that regard he seems to lose something in his analysis. <BR/><BR/>Pornography helps men form a conception of what sex is. Pornographic sex is much different than sex in the real world (I use this term loosely), because pornographic sex is designed specifically to feed into a certain market’s interests and desires. By designing things like Gonzo Porn and letting it be consumed by men. The porn industry is directly shaping their conceptions on sex. <BR/><BR/>Dominating women is attractive just because it does feed into a warped sense of masculinity and Bader is correct when he says men who watch these kinds of films feel insecure in the world by and large. Porn serves only to reinforce these feelings by displaying strong men who dominate women and further solidifying the self-perceived lack of manliness in the men who consume it. <BR/><BR/>This is one of the reasons men beat women who challenge their perverted (here meaning maliciously altered) sense of self and manliness. Men are socialized to be a certain thing. Pornography helps them conceptualize what that thing is, and almost always in a negative sense. It further helps men form their conceptions of women, and if women in porn and other forms of media are symbols of mostly sexual access then men will see women as mostly tools to get off with and not real people.Scottyehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04367939682345411103noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4987313227376572941.post-6230124179130303132007-12-14T20:43:00.000-08:002007-12-14T20:43:00.000-08:00To play Devil’s advocate for the moment, is pornog...To play Devil’s advocate for the moment, is pornography only about oppression and exploitation? Feminists are greatly divided on this issue. Certainly the radical feminist perspective is a powerful critique of how pornography creates women in a specific state, (someone mentioned “always aroused earlier”) i.e. a wanton whore. This image is then used to socialize other women into accepting domination as a way of life, and that pleasuring a man (until he gets tired of it and moves on) is her destiny. Pornography from this perspective engenders harm for women on multiple levels: it harms the actresses used, it harms the victims who are forced to perform the pornography, and it harms everyone who is socialized to believe that this is natural.<BR/>Now back to the Devil’s advocate position. Within feminism there is also a current that strongly supports erotica and/or pornography. Some liberal feminists pose pornography as a matter of choice, in this instance their right to choose how to express their sexuality, is a fundamental right. Other feminists argue that pornography is personally liberating, empowering, and educational. For example, one feminist author argues that it can teach how to correctly pleasure a woman. So I will pose the question: is there any value to be derived from either pornography or erotica?Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01172621087859603042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4987313227376572941.post-38532772349867657642007-12-10T22:53:00.000-08:002007-12-10T22:53:00.000-08:00I would have to agree with Freedom is Slavery...po...I would have to agree with Freedom is Slavery...porn is not helpful to women.<BR/><BR/>I was really angry at the notion that men who watch porn do not secretly hate women and that they have very loving relationships with women. I would like to say that while they may have good relationships with women, they CAN NOT have the best relationship possible with women while watching a woman have 10 men ejaculate onto her face. Simply by WATCHING such a scene has an affect on a person. And...sorry to say...that can't be a good affect.<BR/><BR/>Porn HAS to have some affect, and I'm not seeing it help relationships or help people in any way solve any sexual problem that a good dose of counseling or talking with their partner couldn't fix. People who say that porn is helpful to them carry out their sexual fantasies probably has some deeper issues. <BR/><BR/>I have this theory about pornography. Somehow watching other people have sex really turns people on...and somehow people really like to get turned on by this...which means that sex is really something that people do because they like. Duh? yeah. Anyway, I think that pornography has helped to turn sex into something that is only about pleasure an not about anything else. Ok, Ok, Ok, I'm sure that someone is going...hey sex is fun. I'm not saying it shouldn't be, but is should be about more than that. Part of the problem with our society and culture is that it is based on what feels good and what feels right at the moment. Hence massive amounts of debt. No bigger picture is looked at. Pornography is the same way. On individual levels maybe these men do not have an overall need to masterbate to women having sex with animals, but the fact that porn is such a big industry and what it symbolizes must mean something. The bigger picture of what porn is does not seem to come into question when someone is tryign to say that it isn't harmful. They say it isn't harmful because the men that they have talked to have not done anything really wrong to women because of porn, but that doesn't mean that the overall affect of porn isn't leading to a negative affect. The evidence is there, under the surface and yes, it does have to be looked for. If it was completly obvious, patriarchy would not have stood for so long.Brandy01https://www.blogger.com/profile/05305161392417975876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4987313227376572941.post-2547897245613137772007-12-10T20:47:00.000-08:002007-12-10T20:47:00.000-08:00Michael Bader claims that the reason pornography i...Michael Bader claims that the reason pornography is so popular among men is not due to the violence or humiliation it portrays in regard to women, but the fact that it portrays women as always aroused. “If there is one nearly universal common denominator in heterosexual porn it is that the women in it are generally portrayed as easily, constantly and powerfully sexually aroused, driven wild by whatever men want to do with and to them.” Men feel “guilty about feeling strong, selfish and masculine.” The result is that pornography relieves them of these feelings and “offer[s] them a freedom they find lacking in relationships with real women.” So, in essence, he is saying that because real women are not always aroused by whatever men want to do to them, men need pornography to get off. Real women are too “unhappy and weak.” So maybe women should just stop moping around, and get with the picture. It’s safe to conclude, then, that the popularity of pornography is women’s fault.whitneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08017526437878642540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4987313227376572941.post-44846717031441288972007-12-08T10:20:00.000-08:002007-12-08T10:20:00.000-08:00Of course pornography is harmful to women. I have...Of course pornography is harmful to women. I have difficulty thinking of a single incidence that would indicate that porn is HELPFUL to women - even if going as far to argue that it serves the purpose of helping the man attain his own satisfaction, thus not having to ‘bother’ his partner, or even if there is a supposed purpose to porn to teach him how to satisfy his partner. These arguments are surely stretching to reach logic that would render porn ‘useful.’ Pornography is not real sex. Pornography is an act. All that a person could possibly learn from porn is how to ‘act’ sex. <BR/><BR/>Porn leads to objectification of women. Pornography is detrimental to women. Pornography allows for degradation of women to be seen as ‘mainstream.’ <BR/><BR/>Pornography sends the viewer the message that women are not sure if they want sex or not, that women have to be coerced, that sometimes ‘no’ really means ‘yes’ if only more aggressive coercion is employed. <BR/><BR/>Some argue that women also like pornography, as well as some women enjoy going to stripper clubs with their partner. It is easy for me to believe that some women have decided that if pornography cannot be beaten, then why not just join in, at least there is willing engagement of this behavior. Perhaps these women, too, are objectifying and oppressing these ‘other’ women the same as their male partners. It is believable that these women purveyors are also experiencing the sense of power that comes from subordination.freedom-is-slaveryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01714266819113174464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4987313227376572941.post-85290368893358129502007-12-02T13:50:00.000-08:002007-12-02T13:50:00.000-08:00I am of a firm belief that pornography is an enorm...I am of a firm belief that pornography is an enormously degrading and humiliating experience for women... both those acting in the pornography, and those who are not.<BR/><BR/>For those who are involved in the production of the pornography, the consequences are endless. Any human being who is subjected to pain and embarassment for a man's sexual pleasure is doubtlessly degraded. I do not believe that the smiles and pleads for a man to continue with these acts of pornography are sincere in the least. Rather, they are merely a follow through on the instructions of the director (read: her boss).<BR/><BR/>Further, the author cites an argument that there are many men who are involved in truly healthy relationships and are very respectful of women who are still able to watch pornography... even types where women have their faces ejaculated on by men. I have serious doubts about the validity of such a claim. No man who truly respects a woman would have any desire to watch such perversion. There is no way that such action is not degradation and humiliation. Even if he does not engage first hand in such activity, if he was truly respectful of women, he would not want to watch ANY woman subjected to such cruelty.<BR/><BR/>Further, I have no doubt that in many, if not most situations, watching the pornography leads to the men's desire to re- enact the actions. I have listened first- hand to pedaphiles tell of how they had became addicted to pornography, and, since he could not carry it out with his wife, sought a child with which to replicate the actions. Whether or not a man initially engages in such behavior, I believe that the longer they watch, and the more indoctrinated they become, the more likely they are to force a female to engage in such activity.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com