Carl Boudreau suggested we now would start talking about our sexuality and intimacy. ~J
THE NEW YORK TIMES
THE OPINION PAGES
Gail Dines, a professor of sociology and women?s studies at Wheelock College in Boston, is the author of ?Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality.??Robert Jensen, a professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, is the author ?Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity.? They are founding members of?Stop Porn Culture.
NOVEMBER 11, 2012
Assessing the effects of mass media is never simple, but the important questions about pornography are obvious: What happens when a culture is saturated with sexually explicit images eroticizing male domination and female subordination? When those images become increasingly cruel and degrading to women and increasingly racist? When pornography becomes the de facto sex education for most boys and an increasing number of girls?
These disturbing trends do not apply to all pornography. There are many varieties made by hundreds of small producers, but the porn industry around Los Angeles dominates, shaping cultural ideas about sexuality, relationships and intimacy. Just as the food industry shapes how we eat and the fashion industry shapes how we dress, the sex industry shapes the way we think about sex.
Anyone who considers pornography a harmless diversion should talk to marriage therapists and divorce lawyers.
This dominant source of pornography has some consistent themes. The most extensive?peer-reviewed study?in the past decade found that a majority of scenes from 50 top-rented porn movies contained physical and verbal abuse of female performers. Physical aggression ? including spanking, open-hand slapping and gagging ? occurred in 88 percent of scenes, with expressions of verbal aggression ? usually a man calling a woman derogatory names ? in 48 percent.
Individual experiences as a viewer of pornography differ, and many men and some women report pleasurable experiences. But clear patterns emerge from more than 30 years of academic research and organizing informed by a feminist critique of pornography. In heterosexual couples, men who habitually use pornography sometimes withdraw from intimacy with female partners, and sometimes make demands on female partners for sexual acts that are uncomfortable, painful or degrading to the woman. Women in heterosexual relationships report that both these behaviors can destroy relationships, and men sometimes report that they are aware of the damage but cannot break the habit.
Anyone who doubts these trends should talk to marriage therapists and divorce lawyers.
Although there is little systematic research on performers, anecdotal evidence suggests it?s a harsh business for women. The industry portrays high-profile performers with glamorous lives, but producers and directors?we?ve interviewed?said candidly that the industry ?chews up and spits out? women. According to the Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation, which provided testing and health care for performers in Los Angeles until it closed last year, female performers are at risk for injuries and diseases. The group?s founder once said the average career of these women was ?six months to three years, tops,? after which they must cope with a variety of physical and psychological problems.
Pornography is the industrialization and commodification of sex, and like all big industries, its product is generic, formulaic and plasticized. These images tend to rob sex of its creativity, playfulness and intimacy, and hence are ultimately profoundly alienating. The performers, the consumers and the culture deserve better.
Related articles
Like this:
Be the first to like this.
Source: http://jhaines6.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/pornography-a-habit-that-can-destroy-lives/
ufc on fox 2 supercross christina aguilera etta james funeral sundance film festival victoria azarenka the flintstones etta james
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন