. . . This is a comment I posted yesterday to an article on Rawstory, about Duke University's determination that the young woman who made some porn films to pay her way through college hadn't broken any university rules. One commenter said he had no problem with her making porn, as long as she didn't later complain that porn objectifies women. Here was my response:
markpkessinger -> Jeff Hanson •
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/07/duke-university-rules-porn-star-student-has-not-broken-any-rules/#comment-127712526318 hours ago
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Actually, I would say that it does objectify at least the participants in a porn film, male or female, but would disagree that it necessarily objectifies either on a society-wide group. But that is an objectification that porn actors choose to participate in of their own accord. And besides, as a society, we are dishonest with ourselves about this whole business of "objectification" in the first place. The fact is, we ALL are objectified, and we ALL objectify others, in many ways; but we are hypocritical as a society in remaining willfully blind to the many other types of "objectification" we all engage in and experience, and in focusing special opprobrium for objectification based upon sex. Certainly, whenever, say, Brad Pitt appears shirtless on the cover of
Cosmopolitan, both Pitt personally, and the male form more generally, are being objectified. Any performer, be he or she a musician, actor or whatever, is objectified both by his or her audience and by any producer/sponsor of those performances. Hell, even a factory worker is objectified based upon his or her contribution to the enterprise.
Some people harbor this notion that marriage automatically confers some elevated mystical purpose for sex between married spouses, and that such sex is thus always an expression of deep intimacy and profound love. Certainly it can be that (and hopefully IS that at least some of the time for married folks). But sometimes, if we are to be honest with ourselves, even sex with a spouse is, at least on some occasions, more a matter of getting one's rocks off than of any profound, mystical expression of marital love. Spouses, too, objectify one another around sex at least on some occasions.
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