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oh taggy boy the pipes are calling, requiescat in tage, where have all the tags gone?

Feministing Porn Wank
Over on feministing.com, Steven asks So I am wondering what the view of porn are here. How it affects men, women, society. Good affects, bad affects, all that stuff. among other things and spawns wank.

Lilith Luffles scores with the first mention of Andrea Dworkin's view of porn. In the replies to that, RuPaula and meeneecat debate women's cum shots.

Sarah whines that people who like porn don't watch her porn and has low reading comprehension.

In the same thread, porn stars (and all sex workers) are slaves of the patriarchry. Actually, all women are slaves of the patriarchy and nothing more than their bodies.

Rachel in WY complains that porn is made for men.

MASHBengal thinks written and animated porn are worse than live action porn and more demeaning. timothy_nakayama asked for her thoughts on yaoi, but she doesn't respond.

kaitlynva demands that someone think of the children.

Your fantasy is wrong. You're just a tool of the patriarchy.

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	sevendeadlyfun 2009-02-27 10:55 pm UTC (link)
	Out of curiosity, does your paper come to any conclusions on this mess, theoretical or practical? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

underwaterowl
2009-02-27 11:22 pm UTC (link)

Hahaha, well, there's no way to explain it that isn't unfunny and tangenty, but since you've asked...

I'm arguing that the institution of porn as it is is deeply flawed and problematic, BUT that's a side effect of living in a patriarchal and sexist society. Essentially I'm comparing it to the insititution of marriage; something historically sexist and dehumanizing but with the potential to be rewarding (emotionally and sexually) if it's done for the right reasons, in the right way. You don't ban people from getting married, you make spousal abuse a crime.

Second half of the paper is all legal arguments about the Canadian Charter, the notwithstanding clause and proof of minimal impairment. Gist of our law is that if you're going to trample a Charter Right then one of the requirements is that whatever you do has to be the minimal action taken to stop the harm you're trying to address. 'No killing flies with hand grenades.' I'm arguing that banning ALL PORN EVAR isn't a minimal impairment, because I don't think you can argue that every piece of smut ever made harms women. Dworkin would disagree, but you can't please everyone in life, I guess. Plus, she's not the one marking the essay, haha.

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	beachlass 2009-02-27 11:54 pm UTC (link)
	That sounds really kinda awesome. gives you an A (Reply to this)(Parent)

	ariadne484 2009-02-28 06:40 pm UTC (link)
	A random woman on the Internet (me) approves of your conclusions (seriously). (Reply to this)(Parent)

Speaking as someone who has made porn...

sequinedlizard
2009-03-01 12:54 am UTC (link)

I agree with your conclusions. Porn is a media industry, and as such, it reflects and is shaped by (and helps shape) the societies that give rise to media in any form. There are problems in the mainstream porn industry that are more obvious than in the regular film industry, but that doesn't mean porn is more egregious in some of its offenses - it's just easier to see because it's looked at in a different way.

People often forget that studio-produced porn is a product - it is a cinema (surrounded by shadiness sometimes, true), and uses a variety of "tricks" to deliver a specific image. Shaving, for example. In porn, there are a variety of pragmatic reasons for doing so - it's easier to clean lube and makeup off when hair is reduced, it can lead to easier things with lighting, it's easier to put makeup on to cover blemishes and such (if the studio does that), certain shots may be easier to pull off, etc. Does it possibly have a link to sexualization of youthful appearance? Possibly, but I don't think that was a conscious choice - it's a side effect of the society. Just like anything else, approaching sex with the expectation that it will be just like you see in the movies (porn or otherwise), leads to a variety of issues.

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	underwaterowl 2009-03-01 01:11 am UTC (link)
	Thanks! That's really interesting (and kind of perfect) example. I might have to do more research on it and include it in the paper, since I probably can't cite 'that person on f_wank' in MLA format. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sequinedlizard 2009-03-01 03:39 am UTC (link)
	Ha! Yeah, I've had fun trying to cite forum posts on BDSM in my papers. Chicago hasn't quite adjusted well to more informal sites. I know I've read something on the "whys" of porn shots somewhere, if I find it, I'll let you know the title of the source. (Reply to this)(Parent)

sequinedlizard
2009-03-01 03:58 am UTC (link)

Can't find the specific source, but here's some books/articles that might be useful:

Books:
Question of Pornography: Research Findings and Policy Implications
E Donnerstein ; D Linz ; S Penrod

Pornography
Peter Lehman

The Reality Effect
Joel Black

Deviant Eyes, Deviant Bodies
Chris Straayer

Pornography: Research Advances & Policy Considerations
Dolf Zillmann, Jennings Bryant

Sex for Sale
Ronald John Weitzer

Articles:
Exploring the Social and Sexual "Reality" of Contemporary Pornography
Hans-Bernd Brosius, James B. Weaver, III and Joachim F. Staab
The Journal of Sex Research, Vol. 30, No. 2 (May, 1993), pp. 161-170

"Stop Reading Films!": Film Studies, Close Analysis, and Gay Pornography
John Champagne
Cinema Journal, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Summer, 1997), pp. 76-97

Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess
Linda Williams
Film Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Summer, 1991), pp. 2-13

The Social Content of Pornography, Don D. Smith
The Journal of Communication Vol 26, No. 1 1976, pp. 16-24

Sexed Up: Theorizing the Sexualization of Culture
Sexualities, Feb 2006; 9: 77 - 94.

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