Does Porn Degrade Women?

[Warren DeMontague]

183. we haven't had a good one of these in a while, and it shows.

Last edited Mon Oct 24, 2016, 06:57 PM - Edit history (2)

some people really need to get it out of their systems.

I've already been called all the usual names, here.. you know, I "luuuuuuuuv" the porn industry, I'm panicked that the mean anti-sex brigades are "coming to take it away", all that shit. And -this one's great- I "will criticize Christianity but not porn"!

Santa's not coming to my house, this year, that's for sure.

Again, the idea that there might be something resembling a coherent philosophical point under this, too difficult to grok.

I should keep my mouth shut, if I don't want to be insulted by the usual suspects, I guess.. although since I don't actually give a shit about being insulted, fuck it, I'm gonna speak my mind.

I worked for an indie video store, back in the day. Saw plenty of that old time VHS smut come and go, so to speak. And I would be the first to admit that some porn does have misogynistic overtones. Certainly. Just like some rap music does. But criticizing a specific work of art or piece of media is different than making blanket assertions about the medium itself.

And if you look at the stuff regularly trotted out in these threads- like someone has a Gail Dines quote "we know how images affect people". Gee, Gail, that sounds serious. And authoritative. But do we? Do we "know how images affect people"? It's typical of the sciencey-sounding bullshit passed off that folks gobble up because it validates their preordained conclusions. Sort of like "we know about the relationship between vaccines and autism"- an anti-vaxxxer could say that, and they might not even technically be lying, because we DO know about the relationship- it's not there.

Similarly, despite decades of hyperbolic hand-waving around "pornography", none of the apocalyptic noise the anti-smut people have been pushing has ever come to pass.