Jon Ronson defends pornography

[Coyoacan]

twitter.com/jonronson/status/1137085036719742976

I find this outrageous but my brain isn't working so well today.

I think he's deleted this one, but it's dreadful. I'm really starting to distrust all men who think they are good feminists because they support "TWAW" and "SWIW". So many of them strike me as incredibly creepy and misogynistic.

That comment from porn-supporting Trixiebelle saying there's dignity in all work. But is there dignity in sex, as work or not? Sex had never struck me as being dignified, but maybe it's just the way I do it.

🤢 What has happened to Jon Ronson ? Has the move to America addled his mind ?
This is the dirty undercurrent of lefty “feminist” men....

Or you could read this tweet where he says that pointing out that pornhob has made pornography a more viable career choice for children doesn’t mean he’s ok with that and in fact he very much isn’t.

Jon Ronson is reporting changing attitudes to porn, not celebrating them.

After listening to the butterfly effect, it's clear that Jon doesn't approve of the business model of porn hub.

But I think he glossed over the abuse that's always been in porn. Pretending that the old school dvd producing industry was any better for the women involved is a lie.

Reading the thread on twitter sounds to me like he thinks it's a OK awesome tbh

I don't know he is though the only Jon Robson I know is the guy who did the song with Amy winehouse

Well I am not the only one who misunderstood him, if he is really criticising pornography. Nearly everyone else on the thread are consumers of porn and prostitution who are delighted with him.

I saw him on his recent tour. I'd not read The Butterfly Effect or The Last Days of Autumn so had no preconceptions about what he was going to talk about. He did not give any impression at all of defending porn. He was completely sympathetic to the complex reasons about what drives women to get involved.

He likes nuance and complex explanations, I don't think he's a good match with Twitter!

I think if you knew his work, or even if you are academic/scientist you can see the difference between an explanation and a judgement. The internet has normalised a lot of things, good and bad and I'm not surprised more teens think it might be a career choice, that's a really sad thing and wrong on many levels, but we can't argue against something if we can't understand why it's happening.

Mr Ronson doesn't want to see the harm that pornography causes. Whilst he admits that some porn is abusive he goes on to defend the institution insisting that it's the fault of bad producers and agents.

When challenged by feminists about the abused women and broader harms to society he leapt to the same old arguments - how dare you suggest porn stars are victims - many of them LOVE their job. I'm sorry serious side eye to any guy who says shit like that. If you're a woman you understand - as much as you might like sex the stuff depicted in porn - that's extreme. Shooting that all day long - nope sorry I don't think any woman would stay aroused for that. The cheek of a man lecturing women when he's never been a woman and experienced misogony. Lord gove me the confidence of a mediocre white man.

He proceeded to straw man those who opposed him as pearl clutching moralists. He's swallowed the lib fem empowerment (don't listen to them nasty SWERFs) BS without bothering to check our actual positons.

He kept banging on about how he doesn't judge sex workers. He got very defensive when it was suggested he let strangers penetrate him on camera. Funny that. Obviously has never spoken to a "SWERF" because none of them judge the women involved - for God's sake many of them have worked in the industry - getting literally fucked by the patriarchy does have a funny habit of radicalising you.

I can't believe that someone who had made 2 documentaries about the industry has failed to research the work of experts such as Gail Dines. Or think more clearly about the harms that porn does more braodly. Lesbians are being attacked for refusing to perform for men, school girls are having anal prolapses because porn has normailed anal sex, men are literallly getting away with murdering their partners and blaming it on a "sex game gone" wrong. He spent a good long while praising the "balanced" comments of those defending porn and casitgating feminists as simple headed zealouts. Go and check out his twitter feed and you will see what I mean.

He wants to be a nice guy while he continues to get off on films of women being abused. Nope. Sorry it's not going to happen. Quit shilling for porn hub. We see you.

Yep, he refers to "anti-porn ideologues" in a tweet. Sorry phone won't let me link to it.

twitter.com/jonronson/status/1137085036719742976?s=19

As an aside, here's Traci Lords on the early life experiences that led her to doing porn as a teenager back in the pre-pornhub days

transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0307/14/lkl.00.html

How does anyone feel satisfied sexually after watching porn?

I just don't get it.

Have they no imagination?

Great post DJLippy . Agree entirely.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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 .

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