As I read Jennifer Wilson’s article, I couldn’t help thinking that the pro-porn crowd must be producing a list of talking points that they endlessly circulate among themselves. They trot out the same old arguments without a shred of empirical evidence to back them up, and then they suggest that it is the anti-porn feminists who are lacking in rigor and theory.
Let me be more specific. I had the misfortune earlier this month to attend a conference in London called “Pornified: Complicating debates about the ‘sexualisation of culture’,” but it did anything but complicate. On the contrary, the complex, global, maturing porn industry was simplified right down to the point of disappearance: they made the argument that there is in fact no “it” – meaning the porn industry – because there are so many producers of porn and just so many types of much porn on the internet, that it is impossible to locate any actual industry.
It’s like being at a conference on food and the researchers argue that because we have fast food, gourmet food, independently owned restaurants, chain restaurants and even people cooking their own food at home, well there is just so much food that there is no such thing as a food industry.
I want to suggest to those people who make bold statements about what porn people are watching, that they do some basic research on the “it” – the industry, that is. When I was in Australia, the echo chamber from the pro-porners was that because there is just so much amateur porn and free porn, it is a mistake to focus on the hardcore gonzo porn that the industry produces. Read more
See also: Misogynists are under no illusions about what porn says.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulQr8lZB9n8&t=15m46s[/youtube]
Interview starts 15 mins, 20 seconds, followed by panel discussion.
2 Responses
The arguments about free p0rn and amateur p0rn fall over in so many places. I spent several years as a compulsive p0rn user and I find the apologetics around amateur and free p0rn absolutely laughable.
Firstly, let’s dispel the myth that free p0rn and amateur p0rn are the same thing. They are almost always treated that way and so it leads to the erroneous conclusion that people who don’t pay for p0rn are only watching amateur p0rn, the so-called ‘nice’ p0rn (which it isn’t, but I’ll get to that) and therefore it’s all okay and lovely and nothing to do with the p0rn industry. In fact, free p0rn is hardly ever amateur and it’s certainly not divorced from the industry. The clips you get for free are teaser clips that are designed to draw you in to the paid sites. Search for free p0rn and that’s what you’ll find. The industry knows that if they didn’t offer a free preview of what’s on their site they’d never have any customers.
If you decide that you definitely do want amateur p0rn, not the industry stuff, a search will take you to any number of sites that gather all the links together into one “convenient” place. These sites are professional sites and they have dozens of ads and links to paid sites – ie, industry sites. After you fight your way through 15 or so ads, links and pop-ups before you can even get near the free content you’ll be taken to the site with the amateur p0rn… only to find it’s not amateur at all; it’s a teaser clip on a professional site, and if you want to see the rest of it you’ll have to fork over some money. Not exactly divorced from the industry, is it? And even if you DO manage to find a genuinely amateur clip it will almost always appear on a site that’s riddled with ads and links that take you back to the professional sites. Do you think that all the amateur sites just happened to put the same ads on their sites, as some sort of public service? Or is it possible that they’re actually strongly tied to the industry?
The most dangerous lie we’re hearing is that amateur p0rn is somehow “nice” p0rn. That it’s not violent, not degrading, not anything like the stuff the big boys produce – and since most people watch the amateur stuff (or so the pro-porn lobby insists) then obviously it’s all fine and not causing any harm. That would be nice, but unfortunately it’s simply not true. I never saw any “nice” p0rn, and I had four years in which to find it. Apparently it’s quite well hidden. Amateur p0rn mirrors professional p0rn almost exactly. It has to, or no one would ever watch it. I never paid a cent for p0rn, ever – I waded through ads and links and blind alleys to find what I wanted – and in that time I saw plenty of professional clips AND amateur clips. And I can tell you they were no different from each other. I saw women being treated with extreme violence and degradation. I saw women being verbally abused. I saw all the things that the pro-p0rn apologists will tell you are rare, extreme and just a tiny part of a big industry. If it’s such a tiny part, it’s odd that I kept finding it again and again and again, just by searching for ‘regular’ p0rn. I saw it on amateur sites and I saw it on professional sites. Amateur p0rn IS every bit as violent and damaging as professional p0rn. If you want to watch amateur p0rn, that’s your choice – but let’s start telling the truth about what it’s REALLY like.
I dont think Bettina Ardnt has actually looked at porn since about 1970 because she clearly has no idea whats out there.
Porn does NOT teach men how to give oral sex. You can tell a man whose learnt from porn because he seems to think the object is to poke a hole in your genitals with his tongue. I havent enjoyed oral sex in my adulthood. I liked it when boys learnt by sense and with guidance – my teen years, before high speed internet.
How on earth anyone can think the bulk of porn available these days isnt harmful? I’ve known men in their early 20s turning to poo porn cos nothing else will give them a rush anymore. I’ve known of women raped and bashed by men on their way home from a strip club. The average career of a porn actress is 3 MONTHS!!! Thats how long most people can last in this industry. If it was all fine and dandy people should be thrilled for their wives or daughters to participate? If its all fine and dandy why do we even need to hide it from kids?
Parents are also dreaming if they think kids are seeing their first porn at 12 or 13. Its more like 6 or 7. And theyre seeing Ralph/Video Hits/Pornified advertising from BIRTH! I recently hired Alvin and the Chipmunks for my 5year old to watch and there were sexy dancers at their concert, adult women gyrating and Alvin “checking out” his hot South American maid. Our kids are being fed this stuff FROM BIRTH.
Pro porn lobbyists need to be forced to read Big Porn Inc. No-one with a shred of humanity could get through it without tears. 3year olds being raped while their grandfathers or uncles watch porn – this happens, its real!
We need to have the newist studies and statistics broadcast EVERYWHERE. The ones that tell us men who watch sex are more likely to buy it and men that buy and consume women are more likely to rape. Its FACT. We need to expose people to the UK studies where young men admitted they would rape women if they were sure they could get away with it.
I’m just fuming, at the responses from the entitled men on that video – that will never have to deal with the realisation that this society does not consider them full humans – but I’m even more angry at the women – complicit in this culture of women as sex bots. Why not have sex because we feel horny and we WANT to, not forcing it so our men wont turn to using prostituted women instead. How is that an equal respectful relationship? How can we raise our children with men that think they are entitled to use women’s and childrens bodies just to speed up masturbation.
I’m flabbergasted.