Forewarning
This essay will probably be more controversial than many of my other ones, even those on religion. Many of my Facebook friends will probably untag themselves as soon as I create a link.
I am going to start with a confession: I watch a lot of porn. At 24 years old, never having been successful at finding love, this may come as no surprise. But there are a few things about porn that strike me as particularly interesting--even unsettling. Many feminists argue that the woman in porn is objectified and oppressed, and while this may be true in many cases, it is evident to me that onscreen, it is the male that is much less of a person. I don't want to say that there are not any instances where the male and the female are equal, but this scenario is, tragically, the most difficult to find.
Heterosexual Porn
The attention in a pornographic video is placed upon the female(s) and what they are doing, and the (often fake) pleasure they are experiencing, as this encourages both the male participants and the audience. The function of the man lies solely in his penis, as the woman often cries "give me that cock!" and other such exclamations; never is he treated with even the same kind of consideration the males may even pay her: Caresses and massages from the male to the female are never returned; all of their attention, if any at all, is upon his penis because that is all he is.
In porn where there are two women, it is between them that they find any kind of human affection: They kiss, they caress between themselves, and again, the male is simply his penis; a passive object subjugated to the whims of the woman: he receives nothing as a totality in himself.
In porn where there are two women, it is between them that they find any kind of human affection: They kiss, they caress between themselves, and again, the male is simply his penis; a passive object subjugated to the whims of the woman: he receives nothing as a totality in himself.
The Male Orgasm in Porn
At the end of a given scene, after a display of nearly superhuman endurance, the male is finally permitted to release sexual frustration in his one and only orgasm. Here, he is often responsible for his own pleasure; despite the fact that he is allowed to ejaculate on her body, she does not reciprocate for the pleasure he has given her precisely because he is made to masturbate to orgasm after 20-30 minutes of sex. Even though having the male ejaculate on the woman is an aesthetic interest on the part of the pornographer with the intent to further encourage the audience, the fact that the woman does not help him still reinforces the fate of the male in pornography.
Oral Sex in Porn
Oral sex is the only area where men possess the upper hand in porn. A woman may spend anywhere from thirty seconds to a full minute--or, depending on what you're watching, five to ten minutes--on the man, but scenes where men perform oral sex on the woman are difficult to find, and I have only ever found a single scene where the male spends more than 5 minutes. Contrary to what one might conclude from this fact, this reinforces the notion that the man is just his penis, as any other kind of intimacy--such as that which is not focused on his genitals--received from the female is simply nonexistent.
Lesbian Porn
What I said about porn in which there are two women with men present is true without men present, but here there is something else going on: The equality between two or more partners in a lesbian porn video is apparent: There is an equal exchange of pleasure between them, whereas if a male were present, this condition would not exist.
Even in videos in which a strap-on is used; in which a female "becomes" the male, this equality is never broken, because either female maintains consideration for her partner's pleasure, and gives up the "male" in order to receive it from her partner after she (her partner) achieves orgasm. While it can be said that the "male" (the one wearing the strap-on) becomes a mere object by virtue of the fact that a toy cannot feel pleasure, and the woman wearing it is acting for the pleasure of her partner, she again becomes a subject when she relinquishes the strap-on.
This says volumes about men in porn--in fact, it says everything about men in porn. The man (or men) is necessary insofar as he is able to provide the woman with pleasure. The woman is encouraged to reach orgasm whenever she pleases, but the male only achieves orgasm at the end of the scene. She could have as many as four or five orgasms, but the male can only have one, after the woman appears satisfied. The presence of a condom does nothing to change this fact. A man cannot relinquish his penis as easily as a woman can remove a strap-on, and therefore he is damned to be a slave for the star of the show, forever objectified and passive.
Even in videos in which a strap-on is used; in which a female "becomes" the male, this equality is never broken, because either female maintains consideration for her partner's pleasure, and gives up the "male" in order to receive it from her partner after she (her partner) achieves orgasm. While it can be said that the "male" (the one wearing the strap-on) becomes a mere object by virtue of the fact that a toy cannot feel pleasure, and the woman wearing it is acting for the pleasure of her partner, she again becomes a subject when she relinquishes the strap-on.
This says volumes about men in porn--in fact, it says everything about men in porn. The man (or men) is necessary insofar as he is able to provide the woman with pleasure. The woman is encouraged to reach orgasm whenever she pleases, but the male only achieves orgasm at the end of the scene. She could have as many as four or five orgasms, but the male can only have one, after the woman appears satisfied. The presence of a condom does nothing to change this fact. A man cannot relinquish his penis as easily as a woman can remove a strap-on, and therefore he is damned to be a slave for the star of the show, forever objectified and passive.
Hentai (Japanese Animated Porn)
Japanese anime porn is quite different, but the treatment of men is worse in this genre than in any other. Most people agree that because women in hentai are often tortured and abused onscreen that it is they who are most oppressed, but where women are oppressed, it is the men who are often portrayed as sex-crazed demons (literally) and predators. In many hentai series, the man often has power over the women already: often, he is the headmaster of an all-girls' school. The role of the male in hentai is to attack and violate the woman in an incredibly exaggerated fashion. Neither the female nor the male is anything in themselves, but the fact of the male always being the perpetrator of violent crime does damage to a man watching it, and to women who see it and expect not only for men to be that, but also to accept it as normal. It is important to note that the woman in violent hentai often accepts her situation despite her initial shame and fear, which is intended to portray the situation as OK for both parties in order to give a kind of approval to the audience's sexual arousal, but it still leaves a lingering, profound sense of guilt after the scene is over.
Unknown to many is the fact that the Japanese produce interactive novels that are pornographic in nature. One of the most infamous--as it was rejected by Amazon.com--is the game RapeLay, which is exactly what it sounds like: The player takes the role of a sexual predator, and the goal is to violate a mother and her daughter. I know someone who has played this game, and when asked about it, I said to this person, "Watching such anime porn is bad enough, I don't want to be party to it."
There is anime porn that does not victimize women, but I do not know the exact proportion in which it exists relative to the kinds of hentai in which women are victimized.
Unknown to many is the fact that the Japanese produce interactive novels that are pornographic in nature. One of the most infamous--as it was rejected by Amazon.com--is the game RapeLay, which is exactly what it sounds like: The player takes the role of a sexual predator, and the goal is to violate a mother and her daughter. I know someone who has played this game, and when asked about it, I said to this person, "Watching such anime porn is bad enough, I don't want to be party to it."
There is anime porn that does not victimize women, but I do not know the exact proportion in which it exists relative to the kinds of hentai in which women are victimized.
Conclusion
It is interesting to me that an industry so condemned as oppressive to women has so succeeded in an almost total reversal of sexual roles: The males exist for the sake of the woman's pleasure.
The question remains: How does this impact real life? What does it tell us about ourselves? Insofar as a single party can be disenfranchised, the system remains dysfunctional. If pornography is going to mimic real relationships--even a heavily exaggerated view of real relationships (and the physical possibilities of human sexuality--"How many can she fit in there!?")--it is going to have to rectify itself. I am glad to see more actresses saying that they enjoy what they do (and I hope their testimony is authentic), now if only men could say the same thing.
Male self-image is damaged by pornography. Juxtaposed with the dream of the "insatiable whore" is Herculean endurance: "Whoa! How the hell am I expected to last that long!? 30 minutes of thrusting!? That's IMPOSSIBLE!"1. The very point is that both of these extremes are not what constitutes good sex (or even what is expected of us, male or female). The absence of intimacy on behalf of the male can only be described as disheartening, as it can dampen the range of sexual pleasures he can expect to receive in his own life, even if he would ideally enjoy receiving all things which he expects to confer upon his partner--he wants to be treated as a woman is treated, as more than simply his penis.
All media conveys a message, and whether or not this message is true is important for us to examine and decide. If it is false--which, in this case, it is--it should be rectified if it cannot be ignored. We are told things about ourselves and our world that may or may not be true, and it is important for the betterment of our own self-perception and our perception of others that we scrutinize the merit of what we are told, as how we see ourselves and others is integral to how well we function in the world.
1) http://feministphilosophers.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/qzg4v.jpg
The question remains: How does this impact real life? What does it tell us about ourselves? Insofar as a single party can be disenfranchised, the system remains dysfunctional. If pornography is going to mimic real relationships--even a heavily exaggerated view of real relationships (and the physical possibilities of human sexuality--"How many can she fit in there!?")--it is going to have to rectify itself. I am glad to see more actresses saying that they enjoy what they do (and I hope their testimony is authentic), now if only men could say the same thing.
Male self-image is damaged by pornography. Juxtaposed with the dream of the "insatiable whore" is Herculean endurance: "Whoa! How the hell am I expected to last that long!? 30 minutes of thrusting!? That's IMPOSSIBLE!"1. The very point is that both of these extremes are not what constitutes good sex (or even what is expected of us, male or female). The absence of intimacy on behalf of the male can only be described as disheartening, as it can dampen the range of sexual pleasures he can expect to receive in his own life, even if he would ideally enjoy receiving all things which he expects to confer upon his partner--he wants to be treated as a woman is treated, as more than simply his penis.
All media conveys a message, and whether or not this message is true is important for us to examine and decide. If it is false--which, in this case, it is--it should be rectified if it cannot be ignored. We are told things about ourselves and our world that may or may not be true, and it is important for the betterment of our own self-perception and our perception of others that we scrutinize the merit of what we are told, as how we see ourselves and others is integral to how well we function in the world.
1) http://feministphilosophers.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/qzg4v.jpg
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