Re: this post discussing porn.

The author was suggesting that porn itself isn’t a problem; it’s the lack of sexual discussion.  She goes further to suggest that anti-porn feminists have misguided ideas, because they are simply sexually repressed and fail to understand the diversity of sexual desires.  That’s a fairly condescending conclusion.  I can agree that porn itself is not a problem, though I feel that statement is irrelevant.  Porn does not exist in a vacuum, and any discussion of porn should account for the context in which porn is produced and consumed.  The author seems to acknowledge this by identifying the context of poor education on sexuality as the problem.  While that is certainly an issue, the context is much greater.

I agree with you on my statement about the way men and women each fantasize about rape.  It could go either way, and I could have phrased it as such.  Still, the author spends some time attacking anti-porn feminists’ objection to rape porn, saying we fail to understand that people fantasize about 100% consensual rape.  My problem is that there is no such thing as 100% consensual rape.  I have no doubt that both men and women fantasize about rape, and I have no problem when people act out their own mutually consensual desires.  However, rape porn is selling the fantasy of non-consent.  The sexualization of rape in our culture, increasingly evident in advertising and film, is discomforting, and I don’t think that discomfort should be blamed on sexual repression.  Again, rape porn shouldn’t be presented as harmless fantasy while ignoring the context: 1 in 6 women are raped and then often blamed.  Many women really just don’t want to be raped, and they might have very reasonable concerns when the abuse of women is promoted for profit.  The fact that some women fantasize about rape doesn’t make rape as public entertainment any more acceptable. 

I wasn’t arguing that porn leads to elective cosmetic surgery, which might be why the connection didn’t seem to be made well.  But just because there hasn’t been much research in this area doesn’t mean we should just go about happily consuming porn without considering the possibility of some pretty negative consequences.  I honestly don’t know the facts, but I highly, highly doubt that many women undergo dangerous and expensive procedures simply because they are available.  The demand for breast augmentation, for example, has risen while costs have also risen.  I think it’s fair to consider that many women may undergo all sorts of physical augmentation because of pressure to conform to societal beauty standards.  And producers aren’t stupid; whatever is mainstream is generally what is most desired.  While porn only represents one form of imposed beauty standards, it may be the one that women feel the most pressure to compete with, since it’s the one that many men use for sexual gratification. 

Basically, I felt that the author’s message was confusing.  She made a sound but invalid argument.  I agree with the premise: porn itself isn’t a problem, society is.  Okay, but the conclusion doesn’t follow: so let’s criticize anti-porn feminism and make/watch more porn?  Instead, porn should only become acceptable once society is fixed.  When sexism isn’t so pervasive, when rape and abuse aren’t promoted in everyday media, when victims aren’t blamed, when conventionally beautiful women aren’t considered incompetent, when less than conventionally beautiful women aren’t considered worthless, and when the value of women in society isn’t evaluated based mainly on their suitability as sexual partners.  I fully do not understand any pro-porn stance arguing that the solution to some of these problems might be more porn.  Again, when these situations are corrected, then porn should be just fine, and it will likely be very different from the current mainstream.  Until then, I don’t support censorship, though I sure do wish there were less demand.  And I don’t mind trying to get people to think about their choices in a likely futile attempt to reduce that demand.