to be surprised at how many Mumsnetters are fine with pornography?

[Elizabetth]

Particularly as porn has become so much more mainstream in the past few years, I'd have thought that people would be concerned about premature sexualisation of children. Also I'm surprised that so many women are fine with it given that the humiliation and degradation of women is the central theme of pornography. You only have to look at the titles to realise that.

she shaved it because of personal choice-ffs

Down among the Dworkinistas tinker

i don;t particularly care either way if you are shocked, or not shocked, or watch it, or make it, or don;t watch it

what annoys me is the inference that if you don;t mind porn you are fine with sexualisation of childrne and exploitation of women and you are immoral and reprehensible

I have mine waxed cos it gives me better orgasms.

no I am not madly fine with it, but yes I agree with Marina it is probably an age thing.
I do think though it is hard to make generalisations about porn in general. I think the normalisation of the objectification of women has an icredibly negative influence on our culture.but I don't think the porn industry is wholly or even mostly to blame for that either.

It's a bit of a tangent but... I loathe that trend, mmj! makes me shudder. About that I don't know if I am an old prude or am right to be concerned, but women all getting rid of their pubic hair seems wrong wrong wrong to me.

When men get all theirs ripped out too, then maybe...

I am going to be fighting a losing battle here

DH and I have watched porn together, I'm talking probably four or five times in eight years together.

We do not keep a "stash" in the house. If we did, it wouldn't be left anywhere where DD could find it.

I dont agree with the way things have become sexualised in the wider population, but I dont think that porn is the big problem, nor has it gotten "worse", just more easily avaiable with regards to the internet; as has many things.

And with regards to the idea that all women who star in porn films are abused, forced into it etc, that (although I have not personally asked every porn star!) is probably not the case.

oh AGREED lulu

I do read erotica though. and there are certain films I watch if I am in a certain mood.
so maybe I am a porn snob.
surprise surprise
you look at porn
I read erotica ...

it is purely semantics , harpsi

have ppl really got his idea of women in the porn industry as drugged up sexually abused women being forced into lewd acts?

Marina - I guess I was thinking about video/film type porn, not the wider context.. and the other posts were written while I was S-L-O-W-L-Y writing mine
SO yes, I guess I agree that it is more normal for sex and sexuality to be a part of everyday life.. doesn't this become a problem when children see this stuff on newsagent shelves and don't have a balance to it, from parents and schools, don't have the chance to talk about what sex means beyond the media portayal?

maybe if consenting adults wanting to watch other consenting adults getting jiggy were not made to feel so dirty and immoral, then the huge underground nature of porn would be diminished and a lot of the nastier side of it would disappear

I'm not against porn - I like it and will watch it either with DP or on my own.
He hardly watches it apart from normally when I'm there (or lately cos I haven't the stamina due to being pregnant)

I don't think ALL porn degrades women - However I have heard of a thread of porn which is scenes which are re-constructed to look like "rape" scenes. However, these aren't available publically (due to the fact it may encourage men to do it in real life) Those are disguisting and I have to wonder what kind of PEOPLE (not not just men) enjoy that kinda stuff.

Porn doesn't necesarily mean that we aren't prudes (seeing as I only ever have sex in the bedroom and have never used a dildo in my life, i'd consider myself a bit of a prude) or that we haven't been through some kind of bad experience when we were younger.

I have (don't even ask me what it was as I refuse to divulge to a world of people I don't know)

Porn is socially exceptable now and personally I think it's better as there is now more care taken. For example aids were spread quite rapidly through the porn industry years ago but now thanks to constant screening it's died down and the industry is safer.

My question is if we make home videos is this the same? Is there anyone who doesn't like porn but is quite happy to make their own "blue" movies?

What do you think inspired these boys to act the way they did, Elf? Take a good note of the fact they called their film "C**t, the movie". Also I don't think they mentioned it in this article but the boys put a disclaimer on the DVD that the girl they sexually assaulted "consented" - the age old claim of all pornographers.

Werribee sexual assault

It is becoming more and more common for males who commit sexual assaults to film them.

I have been astonished by how many on MN are not only fine with it, but argue very fircely in favour. This is one are in which MN has definitely enlightened me (albeit in a way that rather saddens me). Also agree Senora that these threads almost always turn into aggressive, name-calling bunfights, so I reckon there are a lot of people who don't participate.

don;t think that all women in porn are abused or forced - tho some are - but was trying to say that that fact, in and of itself, does not mean that it's not - on the whole - misogynist.

I don't think that porn is entirely responsible for the sexualisation of culture - but do think that all these things are inter-related and support each other. And that most of it is going in a general woman-unfriendly direction..

BTW has anyone else noticed how anal sex has become the norm?

"personal choice" is just not much of an argument when it comes to feminism though. The issue is people degrading themselves, because a sexist society has trained them to do it. It may be their personal choice, but it doesn't make it right or healthy. (I'm not applying this to pube-shaving in particular btw - as I said I'm a bit undecided about that - but to women appearing in porn and being willing to be degraded in general).

For example, an abused wife may stay with her partner for years. A rape victim may not report the rape, and start self-harming. A woman may accept unequal pay for the same job rather than make a fuss about it. Personal choices, yes, but still worth worrying about.

or even normalized. (on both counts!)

SOME women MAY be abused/forced into porn, but the VAST majority wont be and do it because they enjoy it - so SHOULD it stop you watching porn?

trying to think of an analagy here....

hmmm....

Just like SOME diamonds you buy come at a huge cost to people in third worlds, the VAST majority wont and come from legitimate sources - should it stop you wearing diamonds?

when wasnt it onebat?

prostitution and pornography/ erotica are as old as time, so it is not some nasty modern invention designed to scupper feminism. the internet etc has made disemination of porn far easier and more accesible and therefore supply and demand has increased

or maybe it is the norm and its only me that doesn't know about it?!

On the pube shaving part (cos it took me so long to write mine)

I only shave mine for cleanliness and DP shaves his for the same reason - Nothing to do with porn as started doing mine when I was 14, never seen a porn film till I moved in the DP 3 years ago.

Oh God OBM, DO NOT get normabutty onto anal sex