Last month Collective Shout co-hosted with University of NSW, Spinifex Press and the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, a standing room only address by Pornland author and US academic Gail Dines. An extract of her address at NSW State Parliament was broadcast this week by ABC Big Ideas. You can see it here:
Julie Bindel writes in The Guardian about the film Hardcore, the true story of what happens to a young single mum at the hands of porn producer Max Hardcore. Describing it as a horrifying look at the abuse of women in pornography, Bindel makes the point that while the film is shocking and some women’s groups have objected to its screening, it helps strip away the myths about pornography being harmless.
A US prisoner, Kyle Richards, 21, is suing the State of Michigan and Governor Rick Snyder claiming denial of porn magazines is a violation of his civil rights. According to Daily Beast, Richards argues denying him porn subjects him to a “poor standard of living” and “sexual and sensory deprivation.”
On July 7 on Feministing, ‘Lori’ wrote a piece defending Richard’s actions. She received many favourable responses. But not from a woman who actually works in a prison. Lawyer Kendall Krajicek wrote this:
… as a correctional caseworker who works in a prison housing unit, I can attest to the fact that porn (or “fuckbooks,” as the inmates refer to it) is definitely used directly and explicitly as a tool of degradation against me. It is not uncommon for an inmate to draw crass comparisons, knowingly within earshot, between a woman featured in a porno mag and what they imagine my body (“pussy,” to be precise) looks like. Inmates have purposely covered their walls with photos from porn magazines featuring redheaded women (like me), knowing that I am going to search their cell, and shared laughs and insulting comments while I am so engaged. So on and so forth.
Some such behavior is against the rules of conduct for prisoners at the facility where I work, and my male bosses have backed me up in the handful of instances I have reported by imposing institutional discipline (i.e. extra duty or a couple of days of room restriction). But so much of what happens is subtle, or done anonymously (by yelling from within the cell when all the inmates are “locked down,” such that I can’t be certain who said it), or just so dishearteningly common that if I consistently documented and reported such behavior, it would engulf a huge amount of my time. To be frank, I also worry that “making an issue out of it” every time would just make it more pervasive, as it would reveal a sensitivity that may be best left unrevealed in the staff-inmate interactive context, given my fiscal reality of needing to keep this job until I find something better.
The F Word ran a counter piece July 13 by Meghan Murphy titled ‘Of course pornography is a prisoners right because women aren’t actually human beings’. An extract:
Pornography limits our vision of sexuality. It prevents us from achieving true equality. It sexualizes, as Andrea Dwokin said, inequality. It limits how we see women and how we see men. It perpetuates an objectifying male gaze. Pornography has very much structured the way in which we see female and male sexuality. These aren’t images that simply disappear from our minds once they are no longer in front of us. They stick. We are a culture that has been shaped by pornography. It isn’t just a fantasy, it is the lived realities of women (and of men). So I don’t think it is ‘anti-sex’ to desire something different, something that can be understood as real freedom. I would like freedom from these images, personally, but I would also like all women to be free from, not only these images, but from the reality of their lives inside a pornified culture. We know full well that images in advertising and on television impact our perceptions of reality and yet, for some reason, we continue to believe that watching sexist pornography won’t impact real people’s lives.
That’s my view too. Read the full article here
There is a seriously good interview with Collective Shout’s own Caitlin Roper and sociologist Dr Michael Flood. You really should listen to it. From Brianna Piazza’s blog :
Campaigners say no to porn t.shirts
THE UK Report on the Sexualisation of children made many recommendations – one of which was to put modesty sleeves on pornographic magazines for sale.
However, Caitlin Roper from Western Australia says Australians cannot do the same when porn t-shirts are worn in public.
Ms Roper and more than 50 national experts, activists and women’s groups are calling for action on porn t-shirts. In a statement recently published, the signatories say pornographic and images depicting violence towards women on t-shirts contribute to the sexualisation of children.
I spoke with Caitlin Roper and sociologist Dr Michael Flood to find out more about the campaign and the harmful effects such t-shirts have on young people and children.
2 Responses
i know some porn is simply wrong but since when can any social/sexual/economic/power dynamic phenomenom be accurately and legitimately classified as some monolithic,homogeneous and undifferentiated mass… porn can be done with grace, respect and sensitivity, but to just state “porn is” one thing only is simply false
I am a Consultant to Scottish Women Against Pornography and Julie Bindel’s article did not address exactly why SWAP were objecting to the porn film Hardcore which masquerades as a so-called documentary.’ The two men involved in making this porn film continue to earn huge profits because they systemically exploited the young woman in the film and did nothing whatever to prevent Hardcore from raping her.
Unfortunately anyone reading Ms. BIndel’s automatically assumes SWAP are opposed to Hardcore because we supposedly do not want women to view the truth concerning men’s continuing callous sexual cruelty being inflicted on women, girls and female babies because it is supposedly ‘adult entertainment.’
Please note SWAP are specialists in presenting anti-porn training films and unlike Hardcore we do not systemically exploit the women who are manipulated and then callously exploited by the porn industry. Link below provides full details as to why SWAP issued a press release condemning this porn film.
You will see the evidence as to why the male producer and director callously exploited a young woman for profit. Showing this pseudo documentary only serves to increase the two men’s profit and totally disregards the fact innumerable women like Felicity continue to have to deal with the fact filmed male sexual violence inflicted on them is widely available, There continues to be nothing women survivors can do to destroy these vile films made by men for men’s sexual arousal and entertainment. Obviously the right of men to view said films supercedes women’s right to be accorded human dignity and respect.
Finally SWAP always ensure the dignity of the women and girls are never exploited but ensure audiences are informed exactly how and why pornography harms women, girls and female babies. We ensure that no woman or girl is callously exploited in the name of so-called ‘feminism.’ Women and girls are not men’s disposable sexual service stations.
http://womensgrid.freecharity.org.uk/?p=7801