Pornography also dovetails with industrial capitalism. The advertisers and marketers of mass-consumption society train us to think of ourselves as consumption machines. Such a cultural climate provides added support for the idea that as sexual beings we are little more than pleasure-seeking machines. In a world dominated by the industrial model, it’s not surprising that a view of sexuality as primarily pleasure-acquisition by a body-as-machine flourishes. So, while pornography constructs women as objectified bodies for male pleasure, it also reduces all humans – men and women – to industrial objects, bodies devoid of any deeper humanity. It is dehumanizing in the same sense that the industrial model is dehumanizing.
The pornography industry in capitalism is engaged not in the exploration but in the exploitation of sexuality. The DVDs and Internet sites to which men are masturbating are not being made by struggling artists who work in lonely garrets, tirelessly struggling to help us understand the mysteries of sexuality. In abstract discussions about sexually explicit material – the kind pornographers prefer we get lost in – a focus on the reality of pornography drifts off into musings about the nature of ‘sexual expression’ that ponder the ‘transgressive’ nature of pornography. Such discourse obscures the reality that the vast majority of pornography is produced to turn a profit.
Conclusion: Reading the Resistance
It is interesting to note, however, the resistance from the Left to this critique of pornography as propaganda. Leftists who otherwise pride themselves on analyzing systems and structures of power can turn into extreme libertarian individualists on the subject of pornography. The sophisticated, critical thinking that underlies the best of Left politics often gives way to simplistic, politically naïve, and diversionary analysis that leaves far too many leftists playing cheerleader for an exploitative industry. That analysis is all about individual choice, not about the culture’s ideology and how it shapes people’s perceptions of their ‘choices’. A critique of pornography doesn’t imply that freedom rooted in an individual’s ability to choose isn’t important, but argues instead that these issues can’t be reduced to that single moment of choice of an individual. Instead, we should ask: What is meaningful freedom within an industrial capitalist system that is racist and sexist? Leftists, who challenge the contention of the powerful that freedom comes in accepting one’s place in a hierarchy, need to make the same challenge to the sexual hierarchy of pornography.
Leftists who take women’s well-being seriously should recognize that pornography, along with other forms of sexualized exploitation – primarily of women, girls, and boys, by men – in capitalism is inconsistent with a world in which ordinary people can take control of their own destinies. This critique focuses our attention on systems. It offers an analysis of the failure of our dominant systems rather than misdiagnosing the problem as individual failures within otherwise healthy systems. It also asks us to critique not only those systems but ourselves, to examine how the values of those systems live within us.
There is a powerful argument from justice – the obligation to act on the principles we claim to hold – to inspire men to engage in this kind of critical self-reflection. There also is a compelling argument from self-interest – our desire to be fully human. My own experience has been that when I face these questions, no matter how painful the struggle, my life is richer and fuller for that struggle. For those of us socialized to be ‘real men’ in patriarchy – or to be white in a white-supremacist society, or middle/upper class in a society based on economic exploitation – the struggles are always there. If we ignore that struggle out of fear of the pain, we not only impede progressive political struggles but surrender some of our own humanity.
Bibliography
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Dines, Gail (2010) Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality. Beacon Press, Boston; Spinifex Press, North Melbourne.
Dworkin, Andrea (1979) Pornography: Men Possessing Women. Perigee, New York; reprinted 1989 Dutton, Boston.
Jensen, Robert (2007) Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity. South End Press, Cambridge, MA.
Jensen, Robert (2011) ‘Pornography as Propaganda’ in Gerry Sussman (Ed) The Propaganda Society. Peter Lang, New York.
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Tjaden, Patricia (2004) ‘What is violence against women? Defining and measuring the problem: A response to Dean Kilpatrick’ Journal of Interpersonal Violence 19 (11), pp. 1244–1251.
Tjaden, Patricia, and Nancy Thoennes (2006) ‘Extent, nature, and consequences of rape victimization: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey’ US Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, http://www.ncjrs.g/pdffiles1/nij/210346.pdf.
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Nina Funnell
(Australia)
Sexting and Peer-to-Peer Porn
Historically, debates about children and pornography have typically played out in 2 directions: either children are discussed as being the victims used in illegal child pornography or, alternatively, they are constructed as the damaged consumers of adult pornography which they inadvertently or deliberately access.
Both the ‘exploited victim’ and ‘damaged consumer’ approaches have produced a wealth of research that has contributed to public debates about pornography. However, while these approaches have offered important frameworks for understanding and discussing the harm caused to children, they have not been able to account for a recently emerging trend whereby young people are not merely accessing and consuming pornography, but are now the active producers of pornography.
Youth, sex and technology
In recent years, academics have been focussing on the ways in which young people are incorporating technology into their dating, courtship and sexual socialisation practices. While many young people report that technology has enhanced their social lives, girls have also expressed distress over the ways in which technology (such as digital photography, mobile phone cameras and web cams) has contributed to making them feel increasingly exposed and visually vulnerable.
The ease with which photos are now produced, the speed at which they travel, combined with the permanence of those photos once online, has meant that young people’s private lives are now being shared and recorded in ways never seen or imagined before. The advent of the smartphone which allows users to access the World Wide Web directly from their personal phones also means that young people are now able to upload and retrieve digital information from anywhere and at anytime, with few time-delay barriers that might otherwise give an opportunity for reflective thought.