Why is pornography disrespectful / humilating toward women?

[Eukaryote]

I'm not really passionate about the subject, and I don't actully watch porn. But a lot of people say it spreads disrespect toward women and humilates them, which I just don't understand. Seriously, porn is a bunch of people having sex in front of a camera, what's that got aganist women?

And what's with the double standard, why can porn only humilate women and not men?

So I have no idea what's up with this and thought somebody here might care to offer their views.

 

[I'm Cleo!]

I don't actully watch porn . . . Seriously, porn is a bunch of people having sex in front of a camera, what's that got aganist women?

You answered your own question ("I don't actually watch porn"). Pornography inherently doesn't humiliate women, but lots of porn in fact is based on humiliating women.

Cleo

 

[Zelig]

And what's with the double standard, why can porn only humilate women and not men?

You just aren't watching the right porn.

 

[m4gill4]

If you have to ask, you haven't seen enough porn.

 

[I'm Cleo!]

If you have to ask, you haven't seen enough porn.

Or maybe those of us who have the answer have seen too much?

Cleo

 

[emzie]

Objectifies women.

 

[Kyriakos]

I agree. The plots in porn movies most of time present women as being the weaker sex, being taken advantage of, used as toys etc. It has to do with the target audience looking for that kind of thing i guess.

 

[Eukaryote]

You answered your own question ("I don't actually watch porn"). Pornography inherently doesn't humiliate women, but lots of porn in fact is based on humiliating women.

Cleo

How so? Are you talking about consenual BDSM? Because I don't see how a little whipping between consenting adults is disrespectful. I can see how that is humiliating though.

Objectifies women.

Well yeah, objectifies women means to view them purley as sexually attractive and fun to have sex with, which por does, but of course we all know that once the cameras are off they go back to being regualer people. And you can't exactly expect porn stars to start a phisophical debate in the middle of their movie. So shouldn't this "sexual objectification" be tolerated? After all, when your friends go see a concert, you don't have a problem with the fact that for an hour they'll be "musically objectifing" a bunch of rock stars.

 

[LucyDuke]

Porn isn't inherently degrading to women. A lot of porn is, though. I suppose it would be a lot easier to provide examples but that's against the rules.

But like obscenity itself, when porn is degrading, you'll know it when you see it.

 

[LucyDuke]

Dammit, Cleo.

 

[Brighteye]

On the other hand, some people regard all pornography as degrading because it makes the women involved merely visual stimuli when these people think that sex is inherently and intimately linked to romance.
It thus is degrading because it gives the visual satisfaction without the depth or effort of getting to know and trust another person.

Personally I think that's a load of rubbish, but I'm tactful enough not to say so in front of my mother.

 

[scy12]

What happens when Women watch porn for enjoyment ... (how i am the one to say this after so many posts ....)

 

[raketooy]

Here (I don't know if this the case in rest of the world) opponents of porn always pull out the card that a) 'it gives the wrong impression of real-life sex' or b) 'depict sex outside the context of romantic relationship'.

Ok, both statements are probably correct, but who really thinks that sex usually happens when your hot teacher comes to speak of your poor grades and you two end up with clothes off on the teacher's table. Besides, movies tend to give the wrong picture of real life, then what? And as for the second statement, what's even bad about showing exclusively sex and no other relationship? I don't think that if one wants to watch porn (s)he cares about seeing relationship drama, or life of average couples with not a lot of drama. Are many romantic movies bad for showing romantic relationships without sex, which is usually a quite integral part of it? And a lot of real-life sex happens outside romantic relationships, right?

 

[Defiant47]

I will make a list of evidence on porn objectifying women:

- There are more . .. .. .. .. .. .. . videos of women performing on men than vice-versa
- Gagging for . .. .. .. .. .. .. . videos is overvalued
- Body parts such as breasts are overvalued
- Scripted movies usually show the women be either dumb or really slutty

Not all porn is like that, but a lot of it is.

 

[skadistic]

Objectifies women.

Even gay porn?

Some porn is great some is far beyond the pail.

 

[m4gill4]

Or maybe those of us who have the answer have seen too much?

Cleo

Touche. Seeing as how I'm caught out I might as well go ahead and make a more substantive post

The act of recording female nudity and sex in and of itself is not disrespectful towards women. Rather it is the industry and the marketing of pornography that tends to portray women as submissive sex kittens etc.

The classical painters painted nude women in a way that was respectful, even glorifying. It is only when erotic pictures and movies became a modern industry that the sexist/misogynistic attitudes of the producers/executives began to color their work and change it into the sleaziness which rightly offends some women.

Not all porn is patently offensive, even to those sensitive to such things. I'm no expert on feminism but I'd imagine even a dedicated feminist would not advocate banning all images of sex/nudity/porn. However, these days almost all commercial erotica has highly sexist undertones. It's not the sex, it's the image of woman as sex-kitten/male plaything which is offensive.

 

[bathsheba666]

It's just like War and Peace objectifying and demeaning Russia...

Read it too many times, and you just have to invade...

 

[scy12]

Ahm ... Peoples sexual fantasies often may be "Offensive" , is that necessarily bad ? One may make a distinction with them and his real opinion on things.

 

[Veritass]

Traditional porn objectifies women because it appeals primarily to the visual stimulation of men and reduces women to mere "eye candy" for this stimulation, and allows men to create a fantasy sex life.

Gay porn is a slight variation on the theme that actually objectifies good-looking men in the same way.

While some women might enjoy traditional porn, the actual counterpart to this is romance novels. Sappy romance novels gloss over sexuality with romance and appeal to the fantasy of women in the way that visual porn appeals to the fantasy of men.

The Internet is for porn...

 

[Bugfatty300]

Well porn only reflects the collective fantasies of most men. Porn shouldn't be on trial here.