A Society of Porn

The sexual limits of society have more often than not been characterized by a branching out of erotic mediums such as paintings, poetry, and song and this can be seen throughout history.[1] However, there is one distinct branching out of the erotic genre which has been dealt with politically and socially in a controversial and often times, combative manner. The pornography industry made its way into films and pictures in the nineteen seventies with the launch of men's magazines and the surfacing of foreign films and peep shows across the country.[2] Since then it has grown into a norm of the twenty first century[3] hurried on by the social internet craze[4] and has ingrained itself into people's everyday lives. Throughout the history of erotic materiel many men and women have fought for, or against, the specific censorship rights to that material and whether or not it is fit for public consumption and the verdict remains the same with each new argument, regardless of politics, pornography is here to stay.

The ideas mainly centered on the religious intolerance of pornography centers around a repression of female and male sexuality. By showing men and women sexual themes, they will want to act on these themes, calling into question their morals and values taught to them by the church.[5][6]However, in argument of that fact, an article entitled "The Naked Goddess: Pornography and The Sacred", the author Jane Caput argues that pornography takes from an inherently matriarchal society and disconnects women's sexuality through a separation of mind and body. To push above and beyond the "conventional (both moralistic and pornographic) notions of sex... steeped in a mind/body hierarchal split that deems the body as inferior to the mind and spirit"[7] gives a woman more sexual freedom and inner strength through understanding all outlets of herself.

As in most religious arguments, Caput favors a lack of pornography over a wealth of it, stating that the imagery it projects takes away from female goddess worship and degrades hopes of coming back into a matriarchal society. Sexuality for men and women is "the indelible mark of the sacred on our bodies, an endlessly evocative epigram written on the flesh, to both delight and puzzle us so that we might know god/dess"[8]. In other words, sex is used as an expression of deep emotion through a "sacred" act, showing humanity the wonders of what the goddess has created in making men and women flesh.[9] In pornographic images specifically, the idea of flesh as beautiful through the worship of the goddess is exploited and taken advantage of by using a misogynistic marketing base. The majority of the images are made for male consumption which further dictates the feminine form into a patriarchal defined space.

Male driven pornography degrades certain aspects of the goddess centered culture such as: sexual exuberance and same sex activity, nakedness to indicate potency, whipping as part of an initiation ritual, and the spread legs of a women, a sign of Yoni or vulva worship.[10] The nation's acceptance of porn condones the patriarchal culture, reaping the earth through the imagery of women, which is symbolism for the earth mother, beaten and bloodied in violent porn or torn away from her inner self by the deadening of her sexuality.[11] By going through the motions of porn, women lose their natural lust for sacred sex and become dead sexual beings inside.[12] It's important to worship the flesh and the feminine form as natural, from the earth, rather than portraying false standards of silicone, plastic, and women with Gumby-like bodies. However, Caput does not argue for censorship of these images, but rather a change in perception in regards to the celebration of these images. People need to rediscover the beauty of nature and the sacred goddess, rising above perfection to understand perfection is inside themselves.

Most feminists argue against pornography and for the censorship of it because of the problems it creates with women's body image and men's perception of women. In A Ground Work Guide to Pornography the author states "Porn's real definition are the questions behind it."[13] To some extent this is true because pornography can only be perceived and judged through a cultural lens, all that the images personify are what the viewers bring to it. The images themselves do not carry any weight alone, at its heart it is just a naked women posing, or a video of a man and women having sex. It's not until these properties are preyed upon by the public mind and viewed that they take on an entity of disgust, sexual arousal, or degradation. By taking this stance into consideration, it easy to understand why the arguments for and against it will never cease or come to an agreement. "Because everyone has a unique background and personality, there is no one way to feel about porn."[14] A Groundwork Guide emphasizes this by being a tell-all guide riddled with facts about pornography socially, culturally, politically, and through the eyes of those in the industry. The author takes a firm stance to neither side with the anti-porn groups or the pro-porn groups, but rather supplies a plethora of helpful facts as well as bringing the viewing of pornography into a psychological perspective.[15]

Many arguers on both side of the censorship game in pornography do not take into consideration that psychologically pornography, and any image for that matter, is internalized on an individual level. To try to censor something that comes naturally to humans as a cognitive process opens up a political can of worms verging on breaking the first amendment. The Guide doesn't stop there in its analysis however; it goes to the other side and argues that these images when brought to certain perceptions such as sexually troubled men, the cognitive processes can lead to violent sexual assault and murder. This is one of the most prominent arguments in the feminist anti-pornography movement.

Two of the most devote advocates against pornography in the feminist movement, Andrea Dworkin and Catharine Mckinnion argue that only through complete censorship of sexual materials can women gain back their sense of self and undermine the misogyny which is so apparent in every aspect of patriarchal culture.[16] One of Catherine Mckinnion's most infamous speeches "Only Words" relates porn to genocide and racial discrimination in the levels of oppression it brings towards women.[17] The objectification of porn "constructs the social reality of what women are and can be through what can be done to her and what man is through his doing of it".[18] Both Mckinnion and Dworkin believe a censored society will lead to less distribution of porn and will give women who work in porn the added self esteem boost to get out of the industry. In their views these girls have various sexual, emotional, and psychological trauma's which contribute to their profession and their free will is sucked away from them by a hopeless, patriarchal culture.[19][20]

As well as endorsing a culture that degrades women, porn advocate's violence towards women and Mckinnion argues that it enhances cases of sexual abuse and rape.[21] Men feel after watching porn that women are only objects to be toyed with and the emotion connected with the sexual act is taken away. In "Only Words" she passionately explains this through exploring several cases of rape and molestation where the attacker had interacted with pornography either before or after the attack. However, this psychological leap was seen to be unfounded by numerous studies preformed over the early seventies and late eighties. The University of Toronto Researchers found through their aggressive visual tests and extensive inmate interviews that pornography plays a role in the crimes of very few sex offenders.[22] In fact, "studies show that sex offenders tend to have had sexually repressive upbringings and that their parents taught them very conservative attitudes towards sex. A 1973 study found that as teens and adults, sex offenders tend to not have used porn any more than any other men-or often they've used less".[23] In order to establish what material was acceptable and what was not in this new cannon of feminist thought, Mckinnion in "Only Words" defined a clear cut line of sexuality through erotica and pornography. Erotica was accepted because it portrayed sex between equals, pornography was anything where one person, particularly male, was oppressing another person, particularly female.[24]

Mckinnion see's the protection of pornography as "protecting sexual abuse as speech, at the same time that both pornography and its depiction have deprived women of speech, especially speech against sexual abuse".[25] Through the context of porn and how words and images are expressed, the content feeds speech and emotion to the viewers.[26] Unlike anti-censorship feminists, McKinnon argues emotion and interpretation are already brought to the images and words through the culture, and it's instantly imprinted on the person partaking of the imagery.[27] McKinnion argues: "Porn moves into a space less visual and more expressive through words and emotions. It has speech through its contents method and message."[28] The content and context are revealed with already malicious intent as opposed to what the viewer would bring to otherwise empty image.[29] For women this leads to a lack of sexual self esteem when unable to compete with the images they wish to portray on screen. While men see these women on screen as objects and begin to objectify all women as objects which allows to them to disconnect emotion from women.[30] Once this disconnect is made by porn large levels of respect are lost for not just the women they see on screen, but all women and men begin to treat women horribly as a result.[31]

Another article that is in line with McKinnon's line of thinking as well as other pro-censorship feminists argues from a scientific perspective that porn's imagery does promote bad behavior in the men who view it. The author's viewpoint of bad behavior differs from McKinnon's in that he argues that by watching porn men are being reinforced that anti-social behavior is okay. The article's author Mark Nichols brings into his study a variety of scientific evidence done on sexual response and the male brain and comes to the conclusion that pornography fills a social void in men making companionship with an actual woman unnecessary. [32]

Nichol's followed the same rules as the women pro-censorship feminists but he aligned all his data from a scientific source rather than playing on emotion such as McKinnon and Dworkin. Using this information he explored the relationship between sexual crimes and pornography specifically as it related to the male gender and rounded up several studies that proved that pornography did impact the male mind towards a certain form of bad behavior. In Kingston, England he found a study was done from 1980-1985 where 120 men who had raped women or molester children were interviewed and 25% said pornography was a significant factor in the chain of events leading towards the sexual acts.[33] Another, similar study, done in the 1980's by two prominent male scientists in the US subjected male volunteers to explicit porn where women were sexually insatiable.[34] These men were then asked to sentence a man for rape and give him his prison term. Those that had seen the porn beforehand were more lenient then the control group of men.[35]

This lead Nichol's to argue that pornography plays a significant role in not sex crimes themselves, but the emotional response to sex and its aftermath.[36][37] He advocated for no censorship but in its place an earlier education for men and women towards violent media and pornographic images. With less censorship on the imagery and a thorough understanding of the physiological impulses associated with the images, people would be better able to both ignore and cut themselves off from the negativity which our sexualized culture is constantly throwing at them.[38] Nichol's says: "If somebody says that certain kinds of pornography are a major cause of child abuse, rape or discrimination against women then our data show that's not true. But if someone says that there is no relationship between these things then that's not true either,"[39] Like many scientists before him, Nichol's is unable to pin point the relationship of porn and human emotion entirely, he can only bring his own consciousness through his studies and his own perception as a human being to the table as an argument.

Another argument that advocates for education over complete censorship comes from an article entitled "Pornography's Temptation" by Drucilla Cornell. She is the editor of the anthology "Feminism and Pornography" as well as a anti-censorship feminist that argues "Feminism must struggle to clear the space for, rather than create new barriers too, women's exploration of their sexuality"[40][41] By limiting the public's sexual images to negates not only the bad side of pornography, but the good as well. She argues that it breaks down the very sexual rights women have been fighting for by replacing our sexual freedom with another form of self inflicted censorship.[42] If women want to see a change in porn they shouldn't censor it, but rather they should change the imagery from the inside, reflecting strong role models in images from the pages of magazines and the movie boxes.[43] Cornell fights against McKinnon's views on porn saying: "McKinnon's view of men and masculine sexuality precisely mirrors the pornographic world which she critiques,"[44] This refers to McKinnon's previous article "Only Words" where she objectifies men as just their penises and nothing more aside from sexual thinking. Cornell argues that it is this thinking that makes pro-censorship feminists hypocritical of the exact freedoms they are fighting to earn for women.[45] By believing all men will think like rapists and assault women after viewing porn because they essentially are their penis is the same treatment women have been receiving due to their bodies for centuries.[46] Without more knowledge of the mind/body structure psychologically, Cornell argues that there will always be an enforced frozen engendered structure which will seek to keep women and men from material that could potentially help their world view.[47]

Many men and women are helped through porn as a sexual outlet for marital sexual discomfort and as a way to come to terms with a fraught sexuality or sexual abuse.[48] Pornography has been used as a tool for both forms of counseling for several years and without the option due to censorship the amount of people helped would take a downward spiral.[49] One of the advocates for the use of porn as a tool is my next article author Nadine Strossen in "Defending Pornography". She understands that:

"...in terms of altering sociological patterns, much as alteration may be necessary and desirable, free speech, rather than being the enemy, is a long tested and worthy ally. To deny free speech in order to engineer social change in the name of accomplishing a greater good for one sector of our society erodes the freedoms of all and...threatens tyranny and injustice for those subjugated to the rule of such laws,"[50]

She also argues on the side of censorship as damning to women everywhere[51] and makes note that ironically, pro-censorship feminists make public displays of the very content they are trying to fight against in order to get their message across.[52] Women Against Pornography complied a slide-show and red light district tours as a way to showcase why censorship is needed and Feminists Fighting Porn maintain public tables displaying horrific porn.[53] Without pornography constantly shoved in the public's faces they cannot learn through the offensive material or form opinions about it, there is a lack of choice through censorship which enables the government to control human responses in the brain to offensive materiel.[54] Because people are unable to make the choice for themselves it is much the same cage as women escaped from after the Womens Movement as the public is giving up its right to individual choice. If it must be done private persuasion is more beneficial and less volatile to human rights. [55]Another downside to governmental coercion is the loss of impact that porn has on the economy every year. It's not a small business and if the numbers would be taken away, the impact would be worldwide.[56][57]

As well as adversely affecting the economy, censorship would create new boundaries within the law. Civil Laws versus Criminal Laws would change making it easier for people to cast stones against each other sighting censorship as an issue.[58] The leeway of laws levied against a person would be astronomical as well as the fines and upkeep to maintain these ultra restrictive censorship laws in a world that so thoroughly uses pornography.[59] This approach "goes over current sex law, early 'sex wars' history, renaissance of pro-censorship influences on popular attitudes, public policy, and law."[60] It is also a question of restricting sexually explicit speech with sexist ideas but leaving non-sexually explicit speech when it has sexist ideas.[61] This undercuts the very point of censorship because it doesn't encompass the very first problem, only the problem seen as most important allowing for vast loopholes and hypocritical uses of supposed free speech. Women are now told they must choose from sexuality or equality.[62]

This choice limits women and categorizes them into either/or boxes which women have been fighting against forever.[63] They are no longer allowed to be multi-faceted individuals Cornell says, people must save sexual expression in order to give back the freedom of choice and give women the power to explore their sexualities.[64][65] The arguments that Cornell make undercut and call to the forefront the hypocrisies of the anti-porn movement, they also call the order the core values of the feminist movement, clearly showing that throughout history there will always be a division between feminism and different generations of women. In the argument of porn both groups could be right or wrong because the scientific evidence has yet to back up either argument. The psychological front has yet to only scratch the surface of the meaning of images within the brain and how it shapes the culture making both pro and con arguments endless.

Though there have been many studies in a large group of mediums from religion/goddess worship, science, and both feminists spectrums, pornography itself will always in any culture as something taboo or sanctioned. Despite the argument the law puts to it, as a culture humans lust after what is sexual and this cannot be escaped. Pornography is an argument of interpretation and though most argue it's pro's and con's strongly, it won't change its existence or the effect it has on one mind versus another in terms of cognitive perception. As of now, nothing can be proved through any medium that it is bad for women or good for women, we only have solid concurring evidence that as a cultural force it is not going away anytime soon.

[1] Nathan, Debbie. Pornography: A Groundwork Guide. Groundwork Books/House of Anansi Press: Ontario, 2007.14-62.

[2] Nathan, Debbie. Pornography: A Groundwork Guide. Groundwork Books/House of Anansi Press: Ontario, 2007.14-62.

[3] 40 million US adults in 2006 admitted to regularly visiting internet pornography websites Top Ten Reviews Ropelato, Jerry. "Internet Pornography Statistics" Top Ten Reviews April 2008.< http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html#anchor6>

[4] 42.7% of internet users in 2006 viewed porn and 68 million men and women used a search engine to find porn on the internet. That's 25% of total search engine requests for that year alone. Imagine how high the statistics have climbed now. Ropelato, Jerry. "Internet Pornography Statistics" Top Ten Reviews April 2008.< http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html#anchor6>

[5] In 2006, 53% of "Promise Keeper" Men of the Catholic faith, men who promise to stay sexually chaste until marriage, viewed pornography in a week. Ropelato, Jerry. "Internet Pornography Statistics" Top Ten Reviews April 2008.< http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html#anchor6>

[6] 47% of Christians argue that pornography is a problem in the home Ropelato, Jerry. "Internet Pornography Statistics" Top Ten Reviews April 2008.< http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html#anchor6>

[7] Caput, Jane. "The Naked Goddess: Pornography and the Sacred." Theology and Sexuality: The Journal of the Institute for the Study of Christianity and Sexuality. Mar 2003 Vol 9: 182

8 Caput, Jane. "The Naked Goddess: Pornography and the Sacred." Theology and Sexuality: The Journal of the Institute for the Study of Christianity and Sexuality. Mar 2003 Vol 9:183

9 Caput, Jane. "The Naked Goddess: Pornography and the Sacred." Theology and Sexuality: The Journal of the Institute for the Study of Christianity and Sexuality. Mar 2003 Vol 9: 180-200.

10 Caput, Jane. "The Naked Goddess: Pornography and the Sacred." Theology and Sexuality: The Journal of the Institute for the Study of Christianity and Sexuality. Mar 2003 Vol 9: 183-184.

[11] Caput, Jane. "The Naked Goddess: Pornography and the Sacred." Theology and Sexuality: The Journal of the Institute for the Study of Christianity and Sexuality. Mar 2003 Vol 9: 180-200.

[12] Caput, Jane. "The Naked Goddess: Pornography and the Sacred." Theology and Sexuality: The Journal of the Institute for the Study of Christianity and Sexuality. Mar 2003 Vol 9: 180-200.

[13] Nathan, Debbie. Pornography: A Groundwork Guide. Groundwork Books/House of Anansi Press: Ontario, 2007 27

[14] Nathan, Debbie. Pornography: A Groundwork Guide. Groundwork Books/House of Anansi Press: Ontario, 2007. 14

[15] Nathan, Debbie. Pornography: A Groundwork Guide. Groundwork Books/House of Anansi Press: Ontario, 2007

[16] Nathan, Debbie. Pornography: A Groundwork Guide. Groundwork Books/House of Anansi Press: Ontario, 2007

[17] Cornell, Drucilla. Feminism and Pornography: Oxford Readings in Feminism.Oxford University Press: 2000.

[18] Cornell, Drucilla. Feminism and Pornography: Oxford Readings in Feminism.Oxford University Press: 2000. 106

[19] Cornell, Drucilla. Feminism and Pornography: Oxford Readings in Feminism.Oxford University Press: 2000.103

[20] "Porn is so degrading that no woman would ever perform in it unless she had terrible problems, such as poverty, drug addiction, or psychological trauma from being abused as a child." Nathan, Debbie. Pornography: AGroundwork Guide. Groundwork Books/House of Anansi Press: Ontario, 2007

[21] Cornell, Drucilla. Feminism and Pornography: Oxford Readings in Feminism.Oxford University Press: 2000.

[22] Nathan, Debbie. Pornography: A Groundwork Guide. Groundwork Books/House of Anansi Press: Ontario, 2007pg 43

[23] Nathan, Debbie. Pornography: A Groundwork Guide. Groundwork Books/House of Anansi Press: Ontario, 2007 48

[24] Nathan, Debbie. Pornography: A Groundwork Guide. Groundwork Books/House of Anansi Press: Ontario, 2007 56

[25] MacKinnon, Cathrine A."Only Words". Feminism and Pornography. Ed. Drucilla Cornell et al. Oxford University Press 2000: 97

[26] MacKinnon, Cathrine A."Only Words". Feminism and Pornography. Ed. Drucilla Cornell et al. Oxford University Press 2000:109

[27] MacKinnon, Cathrine A."Only Words". Feminism and Pornography. Ed. Drucilla Cornell et al. Oxford University Press 2000: 97-109

[28] MacKinnon, Cathrine A."Only Words". Feminism and Pornography. Ed. Drucilla Cornell et al. Oxford University Press 2000: 97-109

[30] MacKinnon, Cathrine A."Only Words". Feminism and Pornography. Ed. Drucilla Cornell et al. Oxford University Press 2000: 97-109

[31] MacKinnon, Cathrine A."Only Words". Feminism and Pornography. Ed. Drucilla Cornell et al. Oxford University Press 2000: 97-109

[32] Nichols, Mark."Viewers and Victims".Maclean's: October 1993 Issue 41

[33] Nichols, Mark."Viewers and Victims".Maclean's: October 1993 Issue 41

[34] Nichols, Mark."Viewers and Victims".Maclean's: October 1993 Issue 41

[35] Nichols, Mark."Viewers and Victims".Maclean's: October 1993 Issue 41

[36] "Because porn creates words, sounds, and images to hang sexual fantasies on, it can seem very strange." Nathan, Debbie. Pornography: A Groundwork Guide. Groundwork Books/House of Anansi Press: Ontario, 2007 33

[37] Nichols, Mark."Viewers and Victims".Maclean's: October 1993 Issue 41

[38]: Cornell, Drucilla."Pornography's Temptation". Feminism and Pornography. Oxford University Press 2000 554

[39] Nichols, Mark."Viewers and Victims".Maclean's: October 1993 Issue 41

[40] "If we're going to talk about oppressive images of women, we'd better include laundry soap commercials.", Nathan, Debbie. Pornography: A Groundwork Guide. Groundwork Books/House of Anansi Press: Ontario, 2007: 57

[41]Cornell, Drucilla."Pornography's Temptation". Feminism and Pornography. Oxford University Press 2000: 554

[42]Cornell, Drucilla."Pornography's Temptation". Feminism and Pornography. Oxford University Press 2000: 566

[43] Cornell, Drucilla."Pornography's Temptation". Feminism and Pornography. Oxford University Press 20002000: 554-559

[44]Cornell, Drucilla."Pornography's Temptation". Feminism and Pornography. Oxford University Press 2000: 559

[45]Cornell, Drucilla."Pornography's Temptation". Feminism and Pornography. Oxford University Press 2000: 554- 557

[46]Cornell, Drucilla."Pornography's Temptation". Feminism and Pornography. Oxford University Press 2000: 554-557

[47]Cornell, Drucilla."Pornography's Temptation". Feminism and Pornography. Oxford University Press 2000: 565

[48] Cornell, Drucilla. Feminism and Pornography: Oxford Readings in Feminism.Oxford University Press: 2000.

[49]Cornell, Drucilla. Feminism and Pornography: Oxford Readings in Feminism.Oxford University Press: 2000.

[50] Strossen, Nadine. Defending Pornography. New York:Scribner, 1995:80

[51] "By late 1980's almost half of porn video tape renters were women." Strossen, Nadine. Defending Pornography. New York:Scribner, 1995:40

[52] Strossen, Nadine. Defending Pornography. New York:Scribner, 1995: 70

[53] Strossen, Nadine. Defending Pornography. New York:Scribner, 1995: 70

[54] Strossen, Nadine. Defending Pornography. New York:Scribner, 1995: 70

[55] Strossen, Nadine. Defending Pornography. New York:Scribner, 1995

[56] Strossen, Nadine. Defending Pornography. New York:Scribner, 1995

[57] In early 2007 48% of US visitors to adult websites were women Strossen, Nadine. Defending Pornography. New York:Scribner, 1995: 41

[58] Strossen, Nadine. Defending Pornography. New York:Scribner, 1995: 64

[59] Strossen, Nadine. Defending Pornography. New York:Scribner, 1995: 64

[60] Strossen, Nadine. Defending Pornography. New York:Scribner, 1995: 35

[61] Strossen, Nadine. Defending Pornography. New York:Scribner, 1995:39

[62] Strossen, Nadine. Defending Pornography. New York:Scribner, 1995: 24

[63] Strossen, Nadine. Defending Pornography. New York:Scribner, 1995:15

[64] Strossen, Nadine. Defending Pornography. New York:Scribner, 1995:15

[65] "It is the right and responsibility of each woman to read, view or produce the sexual material she chooses with the intervention of the state 'for her own good'...This is the great benefit of being feminists in a free society." Strossen, Nadine. Defending Pornography. New York:Scribner, 1995: 11