The concept of women watching and enjoying porn is awesome. Any medium through which women can safely and proudly reclaim and take charge of their own sexuality should be celebrated.
In a perfect world, porn would allow women to become aroused and explore their own bodies. It would provide them with ideas for things that they would like to try with their partners to gain more pleasure. Porn stars would be respected in the workplace and regulations would be in place to ensure that. It has the potential to be a really progressive thing in the feminist world.
Unfortunately, like many things in today’s society, the porn industry does not live up to expectations. Numerous ex-porn stars have exposed the industry to be abusive, riddled with addiction, and generally destructive to one’s self worth. Porn films routinely glorify violence against women and damaging fetishes. With the women’s empowerment movement on the rise, it’s more important now than ever that while learning to take pride in their sexuality and fighting for the rights of exotic dancers and other women who chose to partake in similar industries that women and allies do not lump the women of the adult film industry into the same category. The fight for the right to be in control of your own body must focus on making porn humane and sustainable before it can embrace pornography as a tool for advancement.
The statistics don’t lie: 88.2% of porn videos with the highest ratings feature violence. In 70% of those videos, a man is the aggressor and 94% of the victims are women. Less than 10% of videos contain tender actions such as kissing, complimenting, or laughing.
Many porn viewing sites utilize categories that allow visitors to filter videos based on women’s ethnicity, size, and age. Popular fetishes include incest, rape fantasies, and “submissive” Asian women. These things are dehumanizing and dangerous. Many young people use porn to learn about sex, and when this is the only or most prevalent information they have access to, their expectations of what to expect from a real-life sexual encounter are way out of whack. And what people see on screen is what is actually happening to the actors during filming. If a woman is seen being repeatedly punched, that’s not special effects or make up. It’s real. It crosses the line from actors playing parts to real abuse.
What happens to adult film actors off screen is can be even worse than what is shown. Ex-porn stars have reported becoming infected with chlamydia and gonorrhea, typically numerous times. Vanessa Belmond, a 25 year-old ex-porn star reports suffering from tearing and bleeding after being forced to perform sex acts for films. Many become addicted to drugs or alcohol after using them as coping mechanisms. Actresses have filmed scenes while high on painkillers because they are in so much pain that it is the only way they can get through the scene.
Additionally, after watching porn, men are more likely to believe that women dressed certain ways deserve rape, that women to flirt with them owe them sex, and lower empathy towards rape victims. They are also more likely to be violent. It’s essentially breeding ground for men’s rights activists.
Sex should be fun and exciting, but above all else, it has to be safe. The porn industry should be a thing that women can use as a tool to explore their own bodies and to find pleasure. And sometimes on screen, it seems like that’s what it is.
But when all aspects of the industry are taken into consideration, it’s clear that that’s not the reality. It would be great to see some strong and fierce feminist porn companies emerge, like production companies run by women with women in mind. They would create videos that showcase women receiving equal pleasure that they give to their male partners. Violence and racial stereotyping would not be tolerated. All scenes would be regulated and monitored by a third party who would ensure the safety of all parties involved. Drug screenings would be mandatory, and help would be found for those who need it. The porn industry could evolve into a safe environment. It could even be a vehicle for change, creating the expectation that sexual partners are kind and that sex must be consensual and non-violent.
But that’s not the way that it is right now. It is damaging to the women who directly partake in it, to the women who come in contact with men who have been influenced by it, and to all of subjects of degrading fetishes. The porn industry can’t be empowering to females until it empowers all females.
Cover image courtesy of Shutterstock.
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