Many moons ago I got an interesting Ask in my tumblr. While this submission wasn’t actually a question so much as a person trying to BLOW MY MIND with their amazing logic. I thought I should share it.
“The porn industry is male dominated (made up primarily of male pornographers/film directors/producers/editors/casting directors) and is geared towards a straight male audience. Just because some women and some queer individuals consume pornographic content (much of which is becoming increasingly violent and aggressive, especially towards women) does not make it ‘feminist,’ or ‘ethical.'”
Yeah… not a question but I assume whoever wrote it wanted a response so I’ll oblige.
What I take from your statement that porn is bad because its male dominated basically saying that the contribution of female, trans, queer performers, producers and studios are just not as important or valid than their male counterparts because they are outnumbered. Is this really the argument you want to have?
I love when someone wants to tell me about how the Porn industry REALLY is like…after they act shocked to know that there is such a thing as feminist porn, porn made by women for women, gay porn, or trans-porn. If you want to talk about porn…but want to leave all that our of the equation then yeah, you’re hetersexist. You just said that the only porn that matters is the porn made by men or is made for men. How is that NOT sexist, homophobic and ignorant? I was once told that bringing up all these different facets of the industry was “splitting hairs” because gays, trans’, people of color, feminists and women ,are of course, only worth half a hair.
Saying that porn is bad is basically like saying books are bad. Are there books with vile , violent or and abusive content sure, but there are other books that do not have that content. There is no way to narrowly define the potential of pornography. There’s a lot porn that makes me uncomfortable like FacialAbuse or Ghetto Gaggers but I know there’s also a company that choreographs original ballets. Pornographic ballets.
As an on-again-off-again adult model who presents herself with agency and power while at the same time enjoying her sexuality I’m really offended by blanket statements. What makes me most upset about anti-porn feminists is the dismissal of the option of making better porn, teaching consent and promoting the type of positive portrayals they would like to see become the norm. If they don’t want porn teaching young people (not just boys) about sex fight for comprehensive consent focused sexual education in our schools and homes. Don’t attack my autonomy as a human being because I’m a sex worker or produce pornography. Don’t take away my voice in the name of feminism because its that very feminism that gave me the courage to speak in the first place
Most people consume some form of pornography in their lives, not just cis heterosexual males. This can be anything from erotic photos and literature , to sexually explicit cartoon, games or movies. There’s nothing wrong with looking at adult content. Used in a healthy manner it can help couples and individuals expand their understanding of their sexuality.
How are your quantifying “increasingly violent and aggressive towards women”? If you are saying that consensual BDSM is sexual violence? Do you think BDSM is some new fangled kink? If so you’d be wrong. Its easier to find but its in no way new. You see more fetish and BDSM content now because the community can organize and produce with less taboo around their product which is made for their community’s consumption. Also, google fem-dom. (You’re welcome.)
Can we not acknowledge, though, that numbers-wise, the overwhelming majority of porn is *not* produced by women/trans/queer/etc., and thus, the vast majority of porn that is viewed and has an impact is not produced by those people? I don’t believe porn is sexist in whatever case as a rule, though of course there are individual exceptions, but let’s at least realize that the numbers don’t lie. It doesn’t mean the more minority produced/otherwise involved porn is less valid or important in a general sense or something, but that it’s far less impactful in this context simply because it doesn’t have the strength in numbers that other porn does. Drastically fewer people see porn produced by/involving (not solely starring) women/trans/queer/etc, thus, its impact is significantly less so. Nearly all porn viewed was produced by male directors and such, so, sure, more “~male-dominated~” porn is viewed and therefore has far more impact. It’s just how it works.
I can’t agree that most porn is made by men, the amount of performer produced content easily outnumbers the amount of porn that is produced by large studios. Most of the clips people are consuming especially on tube sites are stolen from content creators many of whom are women, queer, trans, etc.
Furthermore, you missed the point entirely. Porn is what we make it. You can focus on the offensive, the sexist or the regressive or you can recognize that there’s a very wide world of what is considered porn.