Dworkin was right about porn

[DonkeySkin]

I know the porn debate has been had many times on this forum, and few seem to shift their positions as a result, with feminists on the more radical side arguing that it needs to be seen as a significant force in perpetuating women's oppression, and liberals tending towards 'free speech' and 'it's just sex' arguments.

But this column by Glosswitch really puts the feminist case against porn very starkly and clearly. She cuts through what I consider to be a great deal of liberal obfuscation on the topic, so I thought I'd share.

www.feministtimes.com/dworkin-right-about-porn/

donkey witch - interesting link, thanks for posting it. We need to be more vocal about the way being against sexual exploitation and sexual violence has been conflated with being against sex (I hate that phrase "sex positive feminism" - it's precisely because I think sex is great, and should be a positive part of peoples lives that I think it's so hideous when women or men are coerced into unwanted sex through violence or financial necessity - that's not sex, as far as I'm concerned, that's rape).

re-regging troll, sorry folks - he's gone now.

"Internet porn must be to blame for rape" Said no-one. Ever. (apart from duedater)

Internet porn is a product of rape culture and help maintains it. It changes men's perspectives on women. It is a continuum. Not all men who watch porn are going to rape women.

Thankyou, Rowan. I was invoking my mental "hide poster" button, but it was quite hard work!

I think she raises a crucial question when she asks: how serious are we about ending male violence against women and girls?

Because it really does seem to me that most people, including most feminists, believe deep down that rape and violence are just things that will continue to happen to women and girls, even as they protest against them. They can't envision a genuine transformation of the culture. If they could, there's no way they'd insist that pornography be a sacred cow that is off-limits from critique or challenge regarding its role in perpetuating the ideology of male dominance and female subordination.

Terrible things happen to women and girls but when it comes to blame (such an awful word!) we are circumspect. Men rape women, boys rape girls, but it’s nothing to do with how we represent sex. It’s nothing to do with the stories we tell our children. Hatred of women just is.

If nothing else, the porn industry relies on men continuing to rape girl children so there is a steady supply of teenagers or women whose boundaries have been sufficiently destroyed so pornographers can continue to push them into performing ever-more dangerous and degrading sex acts.

I’m not so prudish about what happens to women that I’ll insist we turn off the lights.

Exactly.