Today I attended a lunchtime college panel debate on "Does Porn Make Sexism Sexy?" Of course the question was never answered. They served pizza (umm, okay, but not all that great), and showed a clip from the documentary The Price Of Pleasure: Pornography, Sexuality & Relationships. Then a five-student (and one professor) panel had their say, followed by discussions at the individual tables.
At the risk of sounding agist, what struck me most was ... they're all so young! Not as in their age (though most of the room were probably younger than my oldest child), but that their viewpoints were so ... young. I remember being that age. I was an Adult! Though I never thought I knew it all (I still don't) - life does tend to furnish perspective. And that lack of perspective came through loud and clear to me (I'm hoping cerulean will chime in with her reactions in the comments - she took better notes than I did).
When cerulean had emailed me and asked if I was interested in the event, my first thought was - how cool that I now have someone to go to stuff like this with. We both agreed that though it was something we both would be interested in, we wouldn't likely go to alone. Besides, it's fun to have someone to discuss it with afterwards. We were both interested in hearing what young people had to say.
Of course, the main focus was visual pornography, even though my dictionary widget (that I don't necessarily agree with) gives the definition of pornography as "printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings." So written "erotica" wasn't really touched on at all. Besides, there was only an hour or so - time only for the chips and dip of a proper examination of the subject.
Each student gave (or read from) their prepared position. There were comparisons of porn to the economy (good vs. bad), the typical "porn oppresses women" and "legally protected speech" statements. There was simplistic (imho) notions that the images of "deviant acts" were themselves damaging. That if a child (of say 13 or 14) sees a pornographic image it will "wipe away their innocence." The implication being that this is a terrible thing.
There was a lot of talk about pornography being male dominated, "all about the guy's pleasure," and an almost dismissive attitude that any woman would even be interested in, much less like to look at porn. There was also talk about how porn has changed the dating world (negative impact of course) - since porn is only for the "male gaze." That porn makes guys think that pubic hair is something to be rid of and that "taboos" like bisexuality (female, not male, oh no, can't have that) and anal sex are something guys want, not necessarily what the girls they're dating want. Guess I'm getting old. I'm fucking glad I don't have to date - it doesn't seem that anything has gotten any clearer to the participants since I was in my early twenties, internet porn or no.
I'd be interested in watching this documentary, though my sense is that it is full of the porn is degrading to women and bad for everyone involved (whether they consent or not) attitude. If anyone reading this has seen it, I sure hope you'll post a comment. My opinion on the whole subject is extremely complicated and I sure don't have the time to get into it right now. Though I know I'll keep coming back to this over and over again, don't worry. ;-) The subject of sex fascinates me. Oh, when I was "researching" this blog post I came across one that Greta Christina posted over a year ago that I liked. I agree with her, so rather than paraphrasing - just go read it.
So, at my ripe age I've decided to own up to my forever attraction to smut and smutty things. And I find it kind of ironic that in doing so (considering my history), I've become (as I only half-jokingly say to my husband) empowered by porn.
Porn/erotica/smut/whatever-you-want-to-call-it has been around forever. The internet. Cable, DVDs, VHS, Betamax (remember?). Film. Photography. The printed word. Painting and drawing and sculpture. I'm sure that somewhere somebody was drawing dirty pictures on a cave wall. So what else is new?
