Kylie Gillette
Professor Melissa Santos
ENGL 199-003: Women In Pop Culture
27 February, 2015
Anti-Porn/Pro-Women
Trigger Warning: Mentions of rape and abuse.
It is absolutely crucial, as feminists, that we critically analyze the pornography industry. It is impossible to call oneself a feminist while simultaneously supporting such a devastatingly harmful industry. Porn benefits off of the abuse and dehumanization of women. Many liberal feminists will try and support “ethical pornography,” however, such a thing doesn’t exist. One of the main goals of radical feminism is to dismantle the power systems that allow such an industry to thrive.
Plenty of research has been done to prove that porn is detrimental to the lives and safety of women. A 2010 study showed that 88% of porn contains physical abuse, such as slapping, spanking, gagging, and choking, and 48% contained verbal abuse. The victims of such abuse were overwhelmingly female, and the perpetrators were most often males. Pornography normalizes and supports the victimization of women, creating a culture in which it is acceptable to bring harm to women. In fact, “86% of rapists admitted regular use of pornography, with 57% admitting actual imitation of pornographic scenes in commission of their crimes” (Against Pornography). There are hundreds of even more shocking statistics (take a look through the listed websites below) that prove a relationship between sexual abuse abuse and use of pornography.
Porn normalizes rape and rape culture in such a way that males often believe that women enjoy being raped and abused. (In fact, over 60% of men claim that they would rape a woman if they knew they wouldn’t be caught.) The porn industry normalizes rape by, in fact, publishing videos in which porn actresses are literally being raped by their male counterparts. Thousands of porn actresses with admit to being physically abused and violated while filming scenes. For example:
- Linda Lovelace: My initiation into prostitution was a gang rape by five men, arranged by Mr. Traynor. It was the turning point in my life. He threatened to shoot me with the pistol if I didn't go through with it. I had never experienced anal sex before and it ripped me apart. They treated me like an inflatable plastic doll, picking me up and moving me here and there. They spread my legs this way and that, shoving their things at me and into me, they were playing musical chairs with parts of my body. I have never been so frightened and disgraced and humiliated in my life. I felt like garbage. I engaged in sex acts for pornography against my will to avoid being killed... The lives of my family were threatened. (From her autobiography: Ordeal)
- Corina Taylor: When I arrived to the set I expected to do a vaginal girl boy scene. But during the scene with male porn star Eric Everhard,he forced himself anally into me and would not stop. I yelled at him to stop and screamed no over and over but he would not stop. The pain became too much and I was in shock and my body went limp. I couldn’t fight him off anymore. After the scene, they wouldn’t give me a ride home. I called a taxi and went to a medical clinic to check me out due to the severe pain I was in. A day later I received a phone call from Vince to keep my mouth shut about the rape. He threatened me that I didn’t know who I was messing with and that his edited footage of what happened would prove me a liar. When I went to Red Light District to get my check, I was only paid for vaginal, not the anal rape. The anal scene was so traumatizing that I hid out for six weeks. (From her interview with The Pink Cross
These are not the only cases of rape and abuse in the porn industry. In fact, nearly every porn actress has her own horror stories of being abused by the industry. The creators of such videos will admit to catering only to the male fantasy of violence towards women.
With the porn industry growing rapidly, it is becoming more easily accessible. Because it is easily accessible, and often free, children are finding online porn at younger rates each year. This allows children to grow up believing that it is okay for boys to hurt girls, and that girls should like it. (So think twice before you tell a little girl that boys pick on the girls they like.)
It is unbelievably undeniable that the porn industry benefits from systematic degradation of women. Porn relies on the abuse, dehumanization, and rape of women to make its money, and it succeeds. Somehow, society has normalized this violence towards women to such an extent that it is considered “a natural part of life” to discover pornography for the first time. I urge all people, especially women who claim to be feminists, to critically analyze the porn industry. Don’t let yourself, or your loved ones, become swept up in the notion that porn is harmless. Thousands of studies and porn-victim testimonies are available to prove otherwise.
Feel free to research the following websites for more information:
Works Cited
"Pink Cross Foundation." Ex Porn Star Corina Taylor Story. The Pink Cross,
10 Oct. 2011. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
"Social and Behavioral Science Research on the Impact of Pornography.
"Against Pornography. Against Pornography, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
I like how you included a lot of information on this subject. I agree with you when you say how its unbelievable that the porn industry benefits women. The porn industry is growing rapidly as you say because there are young girls who are dressing completely inappropriate.
ReplyDeleteThese statistics are really scary. I never really thought about how pornography was affecting society(besides child pornography which i know is also a huge problem). But the fact that these statistics aren't enough to shut down pornography as a whole, shows how important people think women's rights are. Although these women sign up for this, these problems that come after are not okay and the women who are involved should realize that they deserve so much better and don't need to stoop to that level.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Kylie. Women and young girls are still treated like we don't have any educational background. I am still surprised that they haven't shut down the company yet. Also, it worries me because children can go online to go watch it even when they don't know what it is, and would try to do the same thing.
ReplyDelete