Thursday, December 10, 2009
Pornography
Pornography is a controversial topic of discussion due to its vulgar and obscene nature. Throughout the porn industry, indivdiuals expose their bodies on a daily basis as a career, yet do they feel forced to take part in these actions? Personally, I feel taking part in sexual acts for public enjoyment is a personal choice, although quite degrading. In Mackinnon's opinion, pornography acts against women twice, when it is made, and when it is viewed. First, women are degraded, raped and (in her belief) even killed in the making of pornographic pictures and films. Then, the pictures and films further participate in the degradation, rape and murder of women by the users of pornography. To cite just one example from Mackinnon's Only Words, Linda Marchiano, then known as Linda Lovelace, was beaten and threatened at gunpoint by her husband during the filming of Deep Throat. The movie then caused men to force women to try acts which Marchiano had only been able to perform under hypnosis. According to Mackinnon, numerous women were hospitalized directly as a result of the film; some were raped by strangers, others were coerced or raped by boyfriends. So is the porn industry led by a demented group of men abusing women on daily basis, or are these women placing themselves in "uncompromising" positions? Where do we draw the line between choice and coercion?
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Are you kidding me? I'm over my allotted 20 comments but this stance on pornography is ridiculous. The interesting thing about these people who think porn is degrading, vulgar, or however undesirable is that they are not involved in any way with the making of it. You could ask Jenna Jameson, a world-famous adult performer who has appeared on FOXNews and defended her opinion that porn actually empowers women by objectifying men, since we never see the man's face while the woman's body is nearly worshiped. So why is it that nobody asks porn stars how they feel? Should we just assume that they're being raped and coerced? If they say they aren't, do we assume they're lying? That's pretty damn arrogant and patronizing. I have nothing but respect for these women who provided me with so much entertainment throughout my high school career (just kidding on that last part).
ReplyDeleteBy no means was I stating that I agree with MacKinnon's beliefs about pornography involving rape and violence against women. Personally, I feel women choose to be placed in degrading positions as porn stars. I found Mackinnon's beliefs to be quite radical and they exemplified women as the weak inferior being, unable to stand up for her rights.
ReplyDeleteI think pornography is definitely a sensitive issue and I can see both sides in the debate. I think, though, that most women are offended by it and the women who do participate in pornography are hurting their sex as a whole.
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