I think it's fair to say that porn is a representation of how we are socialized.
Or even better, it's an exaggeration of how our arousal has been socialized.
We are very interested in sex and sex drive and, more specifically, how to turn our partners on. There are many articles online about this, all heavily based off gender norms and relying on the thought that women and men are intrinsically different.
Men are taught to become aroused with visual cues. Porn banks on this socialization: we have POV shots, the money shot, exaggerated expressions (accompanied by equally exaggerated noises).
Women, on the other hand, are taught to...not be aroused. Women are generally not allowed a sexuality, because women are tools for reproduction purposes.
Okay - maybe that's a little inflammatory.
Am I really off base saying that? Is women's arousal really connected to how desirable we are/feel?
Does that mean that the majority of women depend on men EVEN at our most intimate?
What's the one of the techniques that stereotypical bros use to play a girl? Isn't it to make her feel like he wants to settle down, have a meaningful relationship, marry, and have kids? This stereotype touches on many different aspects of the hookup culture AND patriarchy AND has different levels of fucked upness.
BUT. It sort of follows this idea that there is no porn for women because women are taught to not be sexual and, at the same time, be aroused by naked women. So unless the whole system that defines who we are sexually and how we express our sexuality changes, I don't see a lot of good quality porn popping up.
Why do we need porn anyway? Isn't that just another expression of patriarchy?
Like infomercials for sex, they sell us normalcy: how we are supposed to behave , what is acceptable and what is a fetish, who belongs with who...
Why do we, as a whole, buy into that?
WHAT IS WRONG WITH US?!?!?!
There is porn geared towards women, but my guess is that it is few and far in between. After viewing that lovely documentary today, I'm fairly certain that most of the people making pornography see women as nothing more than sexual objects for men to gain pleasure from, and degrade. Why would they change the system (so to speak) and make anything geared towards women, when this idea they're selling, the idea that women are objects for men, is so successful?
ReplyDeleteI don't know, I'm just seriously depressed after viewing that documentary today!
Yeah... I agree with you, pornography tends to dehumanize women and teach them to believe that they need to be the object of man's pleasure.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I also have to add that I noticed within the past decade-ish, that pornography tries to stimulate the viewers more and more. It's almost as if we have become used to and bored with how pornography was and therefor had to amp it up. We have to see more of something, or something more revealing, more degrading to women, etc to be "turned on".
I mean in our generation we had porn stars such as Sasha Grey, who is considered the "dirtiest porn actress" today, or was, I should say.
But yeah, porn is bad, I feel like it deludes people from what sex actually is and means.