My Take on Things.

I've been reading discussions on some of my other favorite feminist blogs debating the pornography issue today, and I think it's about time for me to do a little bitching, if you will. I have alluded to my opinions in my previous posts, but I'm feeling like it's time to get serious... so here I go. First of all, to me, feminist porn is the following:

1. Made by women with women in mind

2. Depicts actual female pleasure

3. Portrays all body types

4. Doesn't necessarily show models with overwhelming bodily enhancement

As far as point one goes, mainstream pornography today is dominated by men. It is owned, directed, and shot by men. Think about Playboy. Every spread in that magazine shows exactly what Hugh Hefner thinks is sexy: big boobs, usually long,

blond hair, ample makeup. Let's face it, pornography is a HUGE part of society, whether or not we want to admit it. If we allow men to control every aspect of pornography, we basically allow them to decide what men want to see in women. Women need to be more involved in the porn industry because we can't, nor do we want to, be held to the porn industry's idea of what women should be.

Not only are men's interests sometimes in contrast to women's interests as far as porn goes, in most pornographic productions, women do not experience any sort of pleasure. The main purpose of mainstream pornography is male pleasure. But do we really want sex in real life to be that way? Is it that way? I have heard that pornography makes more sense to be aimed at men because they are stimulated visually more than women, but I'm just going to simply say this isn't true.

Going back to point one, women come in all shapes and sizes. We are not all 00's with double D's. We don't all get every inch of our bodies waxed. We don't all have long, blonde hair. We don't all like wearing heels 24/7. Some of us have tattoos, some of us have piercings. In short, we all have different ideas of beauty, and those different ideas should be embraced. This is where the oppression of women comes into the porn world in my opinion.

To the anti-pornography feminists, no, banning pornography is not the answer. I do agree that porn doesn't always have women in mind, but we should start looking to the Internet because it might be our hope for reforming the industry. If we ban pornography, we only allow it to be stigmatized, and we only allow for women to be suppressed. This could be an opportunity for us to change many of the issues in society surrounding women's equality, and the Internet is giving us more options than ever. Society is changing exponentially so let's change our ideals right along with it. Ignoring pornography as a key part of it is like trying to pretend that change doesn't happen. It's not progressive. Please, let's be progressive.