Critique of Porn Section

Van Zoonen begins by defining her terms (feminism, cultural studies, etc.) and outlining the book. She also provides a brief overview of some feminist theories. These sections were useful, but as I have taken many classes that examine the intersection of gender and cultural studies, this was section was not particularly exciting for me.

Van Zoonen also describes feminist critiques of the academy, pointing out that women as subjects of study, women’s ways of knowing, and women’s experiences have been historically ignored by the academy. I thought this was a very important section because it showed how our knowledge is predominantly shaped by (and reflective of) men, masculine values, and masculine ways of knowing.

I was most interested by Van Zoonen’s section on feminist analysis of pornography. I thought this section was particularly interesting for three reasons. First, van Zoonen’s discussion of pornography was highly heterocentric, which is interesting in and of itself due to contemporary feminism’s tendency to resist heterocentrism. Though considering heterosexual pornography is much simpler than factoring in gay porn, the notion that pornography is inherently denigrating to women loses validity when one realizes that pornography also exists sans women.

Secondly, I thought the discussion of pornography was interesting because the feminist analysis of pornography seemed to largely ignore the audience. Given that our last class was about the importance of audience studies, I think the fact that feminist critiques of pornography (or at least the ones included by van Zoonen) neglect to look at how audiences “read” pornography really calls the validity of these scholars’ analyses into question.

Finally, I thought this section was interesting because it largely ignored the feminist pornography (or pornography made for women by women) phenomenon. I’ve read a lot about pornography and feminism in other classes, and I think that writing off all pornography as anti-woman really neglects a growing cultural trend. 

All in all, I think the decision to include a discussion on pornography was a good one (as there are many "safer" subjects to include); however, I think it would have been more beneficial if it had covered more on the topic, so if anyone is interested in reading about feminist pornography, they can read about it here. Also, if anyone is interested in reading more about feminist debates about pornography, this  page gives a pretty good summary of various feminist viewpoints and provides a feminist defense of pornography. 

Sexual Healing

While reading the assigned pieces by van Zoonen I was particularly interested in the subsection dealing with pornography. Originally, when I read that to some, “pornography is considered the ultimate cultural expression of men’s hatred against women” (p 19), I questioned the validity of this accusation. However, the more I read and began to wrestle with this idea, the more it resonated with me. Pornography as a business makes it profit off of the sheer objectification of women. This cultural expression dehumanizes a woman’s body into a collection of parts used for entertainment and satisfaction. But is this satisfaction genuine?

While I was reading this I was reminded of a YouTube clip I had watched recently entitled, Sexual Healing. This video highlights a young man’s journey with casual sex as he come to the conclusion that sex as recreation, or just for fun, is unable to satisfy us the way we were meant to be satisfied. While this video is more about sex than pornography I was able to compare many of the themes to those in van Zoonen. As I said, sex is his topic of conversation, as he states that its 2011, “we do it for recreation, hell, in college we do it when we’re wasted”. He goes on to question our cultural ideas surrounding casual sex as he uses rape as an example. When the bruises go away, he asks, is she totally healed? No, he recites, “you can see it in her eyes. But if sex is just abused recreation, why did it ruin her life?” I firmly believe that you don’t just have sex with a body; you have sex with a soul. The poet goes on to demand that “you should have to touch her heart and mind first, before you ever touch her body. ‘Cause she longs to be accepted, she longs to be loved, so she gives herself up to another guys lust.”

I think this relates back to the objectification that occurs in pornography. Pornography lures in an already damaged population. I watched another video clip from Dateline in which an ex-porn star talks about how pornography tells you everything you never heard your father say. It tells you that you are beautiful and wanted until you realize that this is completely superficial. We forget that there are real people behind these pictures, and real people looking for the right acceptance. We need to think twice before we accept what society feeds us, and as van Zoonen suggests, fight this act of violence that is represented in this expression.  

Adventures in Pron Land

If you read the title above this post, you're probably a little confused. “Pron,what is pron?” Well if you unscramble the letters it actually spells out porn. Yes pornography is the name of the game here and I want to see what’s behind door number 3. I found this part of the second chapter in Zoonen’s book to be fairly compelling. I mean how many times do we get to talk about porn in an academic setting? Basically never, so I’m taking this opportunity to blog about something incredibly inappropriate and possibly awkward with much curiosity. Moving on….from pages 18-21 you can find various examples of how feminist view the media of pornography. 

While I myself do agree that at some times “pornography objectifies women for men’s pleasures” (18) I don’t agree with Dworkin’s statement “pornography exists because men despise women, and men despise women because pornography exist” (19) I think it is just unfair to place the blame for years of societal issues on one form of media and one specific gender. Last semester in my Issues In Feminism class pornography was the main topic of discussion for one class period. It honestly was one of the most uncomfortable moments here at Denison but we touched on a lot of issues, one of them being how we could make porn more “feminist friendly”. I personally thought maybe a solution could be switching things up. By displaying safer practices on screen such as an active use condoms and asking for consent, pornography could present a good set of ideals while still being gratifying. 

Basically what I think I’m trying to say is, you’re not going to get rid of porn. It’s a billion dollar industry that has been around and will be around for years to come. So since we can’t get rid of it why not try and change it. Make something that you may personally view as “disgusting” and make it tolerable instead.