Well, needless to say, it was quite an interesting viewing experience. It wound up being fairly informative about the sex industry and the role that women have had in it. Even though I don't personally support it [surprise! I find it rather demeaning to all parties involved] and have lots of issues with the situations [health risks, personal safety, etc.] that these women put themselves in, at least I can now say that I kind-of-sort-of understand where they're coming from. Much of the film focused on the supposedly positive aspects of porn, including women empowering themselves and making their own decisions about when they perform, with whom they perform, how often they work, and oftentimes women even producing or directing pornography scenes. The sex industry was presented as a kind of normal business in which women can work their ways up the hierarchical ladder.
And all these arguments are swell [kind of], but the movie neglected to seriously address the recent rise in negative pornography, that is, performances that include acts of violence or crudity that intentionally dehumanize female performers. In the film, all of the women interviewed spoke out against such trends, saying that the women participating in these violent films are not as empowered as they should be---if they were, they wouldn't partake in them. True; these women probably do have deep seeded psychological issues. BUT, it is also true that the introduction of the porn industry is precisely what opened up the doors to such violent actions.
No matter how much the women in the documentary wanted to undermine recent trends in porn and vehemently spoke out against its practices, the fact remains that the very industry they support, the "positive porn," is the grandmother of these new trends. As Nathan Harden writes in his recent article reviewing a new book [Pornland],:
[T]he goal of much [pornography today] seems to be to depict the maximum amount of humiliation for the girl on screen. One website proudly offers its customers the opportunity to "access total degradation."
That's right. Pornography sights are advertising degradation and dehumanization. Lovely.
So, what does this reveal about "good" porn? Well, personally, I think it shows that there really is no such thing as "good" porn if it led to something as terrible as the degradation that happens today. Even though some porn may be objectively better than others, the fact remains that the initially "well-intentioned" pornography wound up leading to a business culture in which certain women do terrible things that truly humiliate them as people.
It was the introduction of the porn industry and the initial female zealous support of it that opened the door to a future that would allow such terrible things. The wave of bra-burning feminism that swept the country in the 1960s was all about sexual liberation of women--liberation from rules, social guidelines and, ultimately, any notion of sexual morality. But this empowerment and sense of liberation, in my mind, was not, and is still not, at all genuine. Sometimes strictures are precisely what allow for true liberation. In the case of female sexuality, I really think concepts of modesty and chastity are essential to female empowerment. Deciding when and with whom to perform agreed upon sex acts on film is not my idea of liberation [it really is a capitalist-driven industry that legally permits the selling of bodies]; rather, being empowered enough to show yourself [fully clothed...& in public] as a person who demands perennial respect is true liberation from male-domination. It is such personal moral guidelines that allow for true equality and mutual respect. Pornography was never destined to liberate women---women are more than sexual objects. And true equality comes from respectable personhood rather than dangerously thoughtless over-exposure.
It's depressing to think about where misguided bra-burning feminism has taken the porn industry---it has exposed women to, perhaps, greater inequality and disrespect than before [even though the minority of women are in these performances, the performances themselves create a culture that fosters disrespect...the average age of exposure to porn is now 11 for boys]. It ennerves me to no end.
I wholeheartedly believe that a lady should have standards for herself and how others treat her. It is the best defense against the threats of frightening misogyny.
