2008 Woodie Awards
Women Are Beautiful, Pornography is Ugly
Janice Phillips, guest commentary
Issue date: 2/6/06 Section: Opinions
- Page 1 of 1
When I was a junior, I lived in the dorms on campus. Although I never spoke to the men that lived next door to me, I felt like I knew them too well. You see, they had this habit of watching pornography and playing it really loud. Loud enough that we could hear it in my suite. Inevitably, a couple of times a week one of my roommates would shriek that they were watching porn again. We'd laugh, imagining these popular athletes huddled in a room together watching their dirty movies, like a bunch of trench-coated, dirty old men.
Sometimes their habit would interfere with our lives at the most hilarious of times, like when we could hear sex noises while we were watching the battle sequence in "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers."
Their laughter sticks with me. I do have guy friends and I've seen some of their porno. It always strikes me as anything but sexy; just funny and awkward and weird.
But then I start to wonder about the actresses. I wonder why they would let someone videotape them having sex. Why would they want the world to see them having anal sex with a man that looks like the neighborhood pervert?
What people don't know or don't care to think about is that a lot of these women have been sexually abused. Instead of going to therapy, they fuck the pain away on screen.
Many do drugs or alcohol to cope, and some got into porno to pay for drug habits. The job isn't glamorous or fun. It wears your body down. I read one article about a particular actress who fasts for three days before shooting and also does enemas during these three days. Imagine doing three days-worth of enemas!
The point is that these women are being degraded and aren't even paid as much as the men. They live lives of quiet desperation and psychological damage. Some kill themselves. Some overdose. Several have been violently murdered.
Sexually transmitted diseases and infections are also a major problem. Remember the AIDS outbreak among porno actors a few months ago? The SPY Column last week described Kiara Patrick engaging in oral sex without a condom. It is possible to contract an STD orally.
The thing with the porno business is they're always competing to be kinkier. At first it was just kinky to film intercourse, then it was anal sex, and now it's multiple penetrations, with few sets mandating condom use.
At this point I know some of you are thinking, "These women choose this life." I disagree. We live in a society with a limited amount of economic opportunities for the majority of its citizens. Beyond that, we live in a world where women are taught to be beautiful, to be sexy but not sexual (Or to be sexual as long as you don't threaten the patriarchal heterosexist standard), to be consumed, to consume, and be rich.
If we lived in a society with equal economic opportunities and racial and sexual equality, then a woman could genuinely and willingly choose pornography. Otherwise, she will be pushed and pulled by a variety of factors. Poverty, drug habits, abuse, and lack of economic opportunities are some of the reasons people choose porn as an occupation.
Remember all this when you look at what Kiara Patrick is doing. Remember that there's an actual person calling herself a "dirty little slut" and wonder why she's doing it. Would you want your sister or your mom doing that? With all its cheesiness, porn isn't funny; it's heartbreaking.
What's to be done? As a feminist, I'm disgusted by porn and find it offensive and degrading, but as a citizen I don't believe in censorship. An alternative means of protest is simply not to consume porno. Also, pushing for the legal recognition of sex workers would allow them to receive health care and legal protection and rights.
Legalizing drugs could also help. Addicts live in fear of being caught and this can prevent them from seeking treatment. If drugs were legal, they could be regulated to a medical standard and distributed in survival doses - enough to allow addicts to function. The prices could be regulated so people wouldn't have to work in porno to pay $150-a-day habits.
Increased economic opportunity would allow people to reach their potential and achieve in legitimate fields. Then, poverty wouldn't be a force pushing people into pornography.
What really needs to change, however, is society's attitudes. This is the 21st century. People say our society is more sexual than in the past. It's not more sexual, it's just that sex has been commodified and is used to sell everything, yet no one talks about it. Instead of honest discussion, our own president promotes promise rings, chastity vows, and abstinence-only education for young people.
Finally, sex has to stop being used as a tool of violence, oppression, and economic gain.
Kiara, I really hope that you quit what you're doing. There are people who can help, including; http://www.oneangrygirl.net /antiporn.html
Janice Phillips is an NCAS criminal justice major and a women's studies minor.
Sometimes their habit would interfere with our lives at the most hilarious of times, like when we could hear sex noises while we were watching the battle sequence in "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers."
Their laughter sticks with me. I do have guy friends and I've seen some of their porno. It always strikes me as anything but sexy; just funny and awkward and weird.
But then I start to wonder about the actresses. I wonder why they would let someone videotape them having sex. Why would they want the world to see them having anal sex with a man that looks like the neighborhood pervert?
What people don't know or don't care to think about is that a lot of these women have been sexually abused. Instead of going to therapy, they fuck the pain away on screen.
Many do drugs or alcohol to cope, and some got into porno to pay for drug habits. The job isn't glamorous or fun. It wears your body down. I read one article about a particular actress who fasts for three days before shooting and also does enemas during these three days. Imagine doing three days-worth of enemas!
The point is that these women are being degraded and aren't even paid as much as the men. They live lives of quiet desperation and psychological damage. Some kill themselves. Some overdose. Several have been violently murdered.
Sexually transmitted diseases and infections are also a major problem. Remember the AIDS outbreak among porno actors a few months ago? The SPY Column last week described Kiara Patrick engaging in oral sex without a condom. It is possible to contract an STD orally.
The thing with the porno business is they're always competing to be kinkier. At first it was just kinky to film intercourse, then it was anal sex, and now it's multiple penetrations, with few sets mandating condom use.
At this point I know some of you are thinking, "These women choose this life." I disagree. We live in a society with a limited amount of economic opportunities for the majority of its citizens. Beyond that, we live in a world where women are taught to be beautiful, to be sexy but not sexual (Or to be sexual as long as you don't threaten the patriarchal heterosexist standard), to be consumed, to consume, and be rich.
If we lived in a society with equal economic opportunities and racial and sexual equality, then a woman could genuinely and willingly choose pornography. Otherwise, she will be pushed and pulled by a variety of factors. Poverty, drug habits, abuse, and lack of economic opportunities are some of the reasons people choose porn as an occupation.
Remember all this when you look at what Kiara Patrick is doing. Remember that there's an actual person calling herself a "dirty little slut" and wonder why she's doing it. Would you want your sister or your mom doing that? With all its cheesiness, porn isn't funny; it's heartbreaking.
What's to be done? As a feminist, I'm disgusted by porn and find it offensive and degrading, but as a citizen I don't believe in censorship. An alternative means of protest is simply not to consume porno. Also, pushing for the legal recognition of sex workers would allow them to receive health care and legal protection and rights.
Legalizing drugs could also help. Addicts live in fear of being caught and this can prevent them from seeking treatment. If drugs were legal, they could be regulated to a medical standard and distributed in survival doses - enough to allow addicts to function. The prices could be regulated so people wouldn't have to work in porno to pay $150-a-day habits.
Increased economic opportunity would allow people to reach their potential and achieve in legitimate fields. Then, poverty wouldn't be a force pushing people into pornography.
What really needs to change, however, is society's attitudes. This is the 21st century. People say our society is more sexual than in the past. It's not more sexual, it's just that sex has been commodified and is used to sell everything, yet no one talks about it. Instead of honest discussion, our own president promotes promise rings, chastity vows, and abstinence-only education for young people.
Finally, sex has to stop being used as a tool of violence, oppression, and economic gain.
Kiara, I really hope that you quit what you're doing. There are people who can help, including; http://www.oneangrygirl.net /antiporn.html
Janice Phillips is an NCAS criminal justice major and a women's studies minor.