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