Jon Ronson defends pornography

Worth noting that in one of his tweets Jon credits Conner Habib @connerhabib on Twitter) for being his contact in the porn industry. I saw that guy's account linked elsewhere and he's horrendous. The fucker is one of those "abolish prison/"restorative justice" types - (isn't it interesting how they always want to start off with abolishing prison for rapists and pedophiles?)

In the context where I saw him linked, he was saying that someone on Twitter was "anti sex worker" for complaining about sexual harassment in her DMs. The logic was apparently that "sex workers" would be fine being spoken to like that so why would any woman object to it unless she thought that she was better than a sex worker? I know this sounds made up, but I saw the conversation linked on Reddit. It stayed in my head because it was so egregious, and it's that same fucker that Jon Ronson is so grateful to.

I am blocked despite never having interacted. He must use Terfblocker or something. Feministblocker more like.

How interesting that his female producer who worked closely with him on both The Butterfly Effect and Last Days of August seems to have been written out of the narrative that Jon Ronson supports porn and that all his reporting is via the male gaze.

Yes the woman who did that thread above says he's very matey with a couple of male porn stars in twitter who work in the 'kink' side of the industry.

He's now locked his account for 'safety'. He seems utterly unwilling to listen to differing points of view and experiences.

I think he is trying keep in with the porn industry for careerist reasons. Poor porny mans Gail Dines.

It is the way he is chatting about it, and the context. Incest porn, what a laugh etc, even though it is a factor in child-rape. Nice guy image but prick at heart.

I tried to start a thread here after listening to The Last Days of August earlier in the year - it's an utterly heartbreaking listen and treats its subject humanely. It covers how an incredibly vulnerable and abused young woman was drawn into the porn world and chewed up by it. Every single male "character" in it is horrifying.

I think Ronson has a lot of compassion for the people he's met since starting to study the adult film world, in particular the women and they obviously trust him (and his producer Lisa) a great deal. I get no indication that he gets off on anything he's seen since starting this, in fact he seems more repulsed by it.

Jon Ronson writes humorously about lots of awful people. He hung out with Omar Bakri Mohammed, collected money for Hamas with him (Ronson is Jewish), went to Aryan Nations and chatted to Neo-Nazis.

Ronson being in places and writing humorously about situations is not an endorsement.

Why is anyone suprised. Left wing men hate women as much as right wing men. Men on the right view women as private property men on the left view women as public property. Podcast discussion here.
makemorenoise.libsyn.com/suffragette-city-radio-six

I don't normally do trigger warnings, but there is definitely some upsetting content there, as you may expect.

Anyone who is a bit on the fence about Ronson may wish to read this thread.

twitter.com/SuzzanBlac/status/1137718569427447809?s=19

"@jonronson humorously chats about 'babysitter/incest porn' & being on a 'public disgrace' porn set. He also talks about 'Ethical porn'
Kink. com make 'public disgrace' videos that abuse degrade & humiliate women.They also have many lawsuits against them."

I think the most charitable thing I could say is he didn't do his research thoroughly enough...

Exactly Coy. He just comes across as a man defending his masturbatory tool.

We are where we are now due to the widespread acceptance of "nicer porn". Ethical porn is an oxymoran. Gail Dines has some great stuff on this, for example

Totally agree Enthusiasm. I thought he highlight just how much more young women were being exploited in the pornhub model, completely disposable, on a much more significant scale than before. I think he put women's voices in the centre of the reporting.

I have read his books and listened to his podcasts

I have never got the impression that he isn’t aware that the porn industry can be very damaging, exploitative and is having detrimental impact on how sex is often viewed

There has always been an interest for many to view others acting out sexual fantasies and for some to enjoy taking part I think rather than claiming all porn is wrong and all women are being exploited is to work with young women safer

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p072n13y/porn-laid-bare-series-1-1-inside-the-industry

I also note men on twitter posting the horrific images of the lesbian couple assaulted on a London bus, with captions saying how this justifies compulsory LGBTQ teaching in schools , rather than looking at the problem as MALE VIOLENCE and the objectification in porn of lesbians .

JR was recently criticising Glinner for posting an artice with pic, of a man who had abused women in prison.
He is presenting porn as a job choice in that twitter thread.

He sounds like he is trying to play a "good porn" "bad porn" trick. Not buying it.

Between this, and his pontificating on the trans thing (finding it terrible that we mention prison cases like karen white and the threat to female sport, seeing male violence as isolated incidents and not part of a pattern of behaviour) he is showing a fairly typical male-centred pattern of thinking.

I have listened to the podcast btw but not heard the new one. I just think he made a series of tone deaf tweets and then proceeded to double down and blame the women for being thick and not understanding nuance. No. He doesnt understand that being a man he has a massive blind spot when it comes to these things. The entire episode was stated when someone pointed out his blind spot. Also, many comments pointed out his failure to look more broadly at the social harms of porn on society - which he totally ignored. Perhaps he has covered this in the podcast? I just don't think - from the way he spoke about "anti porn idealogues" that he has researched the feminist perspective (other than the libfem one.) As a journalist surely he should have done this? I think as a man he does not truly understand how harmful porn is to women and the extreme power embalances that exist between the penetrated and the penatrator. It would be nice for him to reflect on the limits of his perception as a man but I don't think he will. He has deliberately cherry picked who to speak to and which porn sets to visit (the most "upmarket" ones) to tell a paticular story. All of these were idealogical decisions. We all know what that ideology is...

He doesn't defend the industry, in fact it's the opposite. He shines a light on the range of harm it causes and the personal cost for the women involved without being salacious or dining out on the horror people experience. He looks at the way the industry is being driven by the pornhub mode and confronts the originator of pornhub with the evidence of the harm.

Perhaps if you read of listened to the actual reporting rather than allow yourself to get frothed up by twitter you'd have a better understanding. I believe it's free on audiable at the moment so you wouldn't have to give him your money.

OK so humanise women fine and dandy. Defend the industry and minimise harm - I'm sorry you ain't no ally to the women you proport to care about. Radical feminists don't need to have the women in the sex industry humanised - they're not sexist aresholes - they know they're human that's why they want to end the abuse. FYI a large percentage of anti porn idealogues are ex strippers/porn stars/prostitutes. To pretend like they are all out of touch middle class do gooders only shows his prejudice and ignorance.

Well OP you are misunderstanding him. Try actually reading or listening to the Butterfly Effect, he describes complex and nuanced experiences of people involved and the worldwide impact of pornhub. He definitely doesn't celebrate porn but humanises the women who work in the industry. It's easy to jump on a bandwagon and point a finger, but it just makes you look ignorant.

I'm not pontificating either. Nor will I ever say 'bless you' to anyone.

It's NEVER a lifestyle choice to go into porn. No more than it is to be working in an huge factory that churns out parcels every day.