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Feminism: Sex & gender discussions

Please tell me why porn is demeaning to women...

50 replies

thatgirlsevil · 24/04/2011 23:54

I am not trolling or being a blatant idiot...I'm looking for eye-opening facts and opinions...

(I realise porn is demeaning, women are generally subservient and intercourse often culminates with a man ejaculating on face/breasts...but I just wanted to hear your thoughts)

OP posts:
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knit2tog · 24/04/2011 23:56

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knit2tog · 24/04/2011 23:58

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warzone · 25/04/2011 00:04

The women in it are often co-erced into sexual acts that are painful and uncomfortable (anal, deep throat) and they pretend to enjoy it (they don't enjoy it). This kind of porn used to be more marginal but these days it is very much the mainstream. Male and female viewers are conditioned to believe that these acts are the norm and women feel pressured to do the same things.

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Tortington · 25/04/2011 00:20

porn of itself is not demeaning to women. but there are questions regarding how much free will women have when it comes to participating in porn. this brings into question lots of things

lifestyle
drugs
coersion
force
wider society
available choices.
non regulation

if in and of itself there was an industry where men and women could participate with rights and choices - and chose to go into that industry out of choice, worked within a regulated environment, clean, drug free and safe - then maybe we could argue the merits of the actual suject matter of porn and whether that in and of itself was demeaning to just women and whether it pushed unrealistic expectations. Forced a prevailing culture of unrealistic sexual expectations etc.


the things that circle this argument for me is choice. i mean how many poor people get much choice over the work they get? how many are exploited? men and women and even children - i mean how do you thing ASDA manage to sell a T-towel for .45p?!

and then how different is this exploitation of the poor - with no choice different to that of woomen who enter porn.?

and then there should be a recognition that there must be good porn business practitioners, nice places to work, clean, regular testing, drug free with no force or coersion - should those women be told that they are being 'used'? that they haven't REALLY excersised a choice?

then that latter argument cannot be applied universally as an argument for porn. imagine there is just one well run porn company - this will be the exception rather than the rule - but the one that will be held up byt he unscruplulous as an argument that porn is ok. when the industry as a whole clearly isn't.


the other thing that circles the argument for me is the 'making the best of what you have' argument - if you have a natural talent at something make the best of it whether it is artist, writer, mathematician, teacher - why not porn star?...if the illusion of choice truly did exist that is.

the culture aspect in itself could be argued on forever, the same argument can be applied to anything. does watching violent movies a violent person make ? does watching violent movies desensitise us to violence and create a more vioelnt world?

therefore does watching a woman take it up the arse as a normal part of porn create a culture where women think that it is something they should do? becuase everyone takes it up the arse - porn movies and the prevailing culture they create are teaching young girls that taking up the arse is normal and something they should do. whereas in fact taking it up the arse is not for everyone and shouldn't be expected as a normal part of sex.

but can a person distinnguish between watching pulp fiction and the violence therein without thinking that violence is the norm - and can a person watch porn without thinking that that also isn't real life, that womens bodies are invariably not like on tv and whether it be violence or sex - it is entertainment for those who chose to watch it - and not real life

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DontdoitKatie · 25/04/2011 00:21

Watch some porn, that'll give you a good idea of how demeaning to women it is. Or read the blurb about the porn films in the Adult Video News charts: business.avn.com/charts/Top-50-Pro-Am-Amateur-Rentals/

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DontdoitKatie · 25/04/2011 00:25

Porn is absolutely real life for the women being prostituted and abused on film.

On the other hand, nobody was hurt in the making of Pulp Fiction. Everybody who got shot and beaten up in the film, got up and walked away from the set afterwards. On the other hand the porn performers have to live with the fact that they had two penises in their rectum, were choked on a penis, did ass to mouth, were gang-banged by twenty men. Those kind of acts destroy women.

The viewers of porn want to watch real women having their orifices penetrated by real penises, they are watching real sexual and abusive acts, not pretend ones.

Why do you think it isn't real life Custardo? It's very real for the women in it.

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thefinerthingsinlife · 25/04/2011 07:45

read this, it will explain everything

I found it upsetting to read but I'm glad I did.

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StewieGriffinsMom · 25/04/2011 08:15

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Tortington · 25/04/2011 11:25

how did you manage to get that from what i posted?

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DontdoitKatie · 25/04/2011 11:27

"it is entertainment for those who chose to watch it - and not real life"

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Tortington · 25/04/2011 11:28

from the context of what i posted

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Tortington · 25/04/2011 11:29

again why do you think i don't think it's real life?

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DontdoitKatie · 25/04/2011 11:32

Because it is real life for the watchers. They want to see women really being prostituted, really being penetrated, real ATM (real shit, not pretend), real women being really choked on real penises etc etc.

The reason why they watch it is because it is real. Because it's happening to real women.

It's a bit like arguing that what happened to gladiators in a Roman amphitheatre wasn't real to the audience.

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knit2tog · 25/04/2011 11:34

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Tortington · 25/04/2011 11:34

so in the context of MY post and what I have written. Again, why do you think i think it isn't real.

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DontdoitKatie · 25/04/2011 11:37

Because you seem to think that porn users don't think it's real. In fact the opposite is true. They know it's real and it's happening to real women. It's what they get off on.

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Tortington · 25/04/2011 11:37

i had listed exploitation. the particular part you pounced on was in relation to predominant culture and the creation of that culture. can the watcher - of anything discern the difference between what they see on tv and predominant culture and their own real life.

hth

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Tortington · 25/04/2011 11:41

so if a woman as routine in porn has anal sex - do women and then think that this is a norm. i wasn't commenting on the fact that it was a 'real' act in the porn movie but on whethr that act then forms a culture where your average joe and jane bloggs then thinks this is the norm because it is a routine act in pron movies.

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DontdoitKatie · 25/04/2011 11:41

I'm sorry, for the watcher porn is real life. Watching women being degraded and damaged like that is a real life activity. There are men who spend hours on it a day.

The women they are using are real, the porn really happened to them. So real men are watching real women being used and hurt - a real life activity.

You appear to be making a distinction between reality (not porn) and non-reality (porn), when in fact both porn and watching porn are part of the whole of reality.

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DontdoitKatie · 25/04/2011 11:43

Anal sex is a very good example. It is a very common practice now. Its' been popularised in the last ten or so years through pornography.

It's not a secret that many female partners of porn users are expected by the porn user to act out what he's seen in porn.

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Tortington · 25/04/2011 11:47

well that is the point i was making. if one watches an act on tv - can one discern the difference between what they see as sexual entertainment - and their own life? I wouldn't go as far as to say that it is a fact that that this is true. that all porn users expect as a matter of course that their partners do the acts they have seen in porn, but it certainly raises an interesting question regarding what a consumer of popular culture sees and whether they transfer that to their own lives.

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DontdoitKatie · 25/04/2011 11:56

That's not a point that's a question.

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Tortington · 25/04/2011 12:02

are you bored? You have clearly got the wrong end of the stick and are too entrenched in trying to argue your point to admit that you misunderstood what i was saying.

it was phrased as a question in mu original post. i think it is certainly something that needs thought and unlike you i wouldn't proclaim my point is the only point which is correct and lable it as a fact

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DontdoitKatie · 25/04/2011 12:06

I didn't get the wrong end of the stick. You were drawing false lines between "reality" (everything outside of porn) and "non-reality" - pornography.

In fact the reality of pornography is what sells the product.

I guess I'd be asking how long we need to think about it before we notice what is actually happening. What's your explanation for the fact that anal sex is supposed to be in every "sexually-liberated" woman's sexual repertoire now, despite the fact it would have been pretty much unthinkable even 15 years ago?

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SkinittingFluffyBunnyBonnets · 25/04/2011 12:11

Why is it demeaning? If I choose to do a porn shoot then I choose to do it...in assuming I am weak enough to get myself into a situation where a director will coerce, then you assume me powerless against men.

I know the industry a little...Im not an actress but have worked alongside a number of them during a theatre project.....and not one of them were coerced or did anything like ana unless they chose to.

These women were very strong, very bright in some cases and well paid. Most were single...own flat/house good lifestyle. There was no violence or coersion.

I am sur there are unscrupulous companies where women are treated badly....but they are not the norm.

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