Fetishism and Pornography: Some Thoughts on the Pornographic Eye/I

Pornography is a reflection of a collective fantasy. Pornography can be subtle and nuanced or it may be graphic and direct. Regardless of the form it takes, most pornography reflects a collective fantasy that interacts with societal definitions of gender. The interaction with gender is at the center of the socially objectionable aspects of pornography. It is through gender identity that it is possible for pornography to become violent, to objectify and to become an oppressive force. Pornography's power to do these things is powered by the demands of a capitalist system and supported by the societal structures that create and consume the pornographic commodities. This paper will proceed with the assumption that sexuality in itself is not a shameful occurrence and that it is a central part of the human experience. The potential for societal taboos in regard to the viewing of sexual imagery are set aside so that attention may be given to the gendered systems at work in pornography.

2015

From the early days of the Internet, online pornography was an immensely successful industry, with a consequent phenomenal increase in both production and consumption of cyber porn. Prior to 1995, Anti-porn feminists were working to legally censor violent pornography. They received considerable resistance internally from pro-porn feminists arguing from the perspective of rights and free speech. The exponential increase in pornography consumption has inspired significant psychological research on the possible implications of cyber porn consumption on gendered expectations and attitudes. This research adds a theoretical and historical component to research exploring cyber porn as cultural contributor to social and sexual gendered beliefs that may result in violent behaviors such as cyber harassment. Using Greg Urban’s theory of cultural motion and Michel Foucault’s theories on sexuality and disciplinary practices, this thesis analyzes discourses surrounding the motion of pornography—before and after the Internet—investigating potential consequences of pornography on the social construction of gender and misogynistic social behaviors. According to Urban, the internalization of cultural beliefs is directly proportional to exposure and frequency of contact with a sensibly tangible form he calls an object. Objects are conductors of social beliefs, myths, and messages. According to Foucault sexuality has become an instrument of oppression (rather than liberation). This thesis argues that pro-porn feminists underestimated the impact of pornography on the social construction of gender, and traces the cultural motion of pornography from 1981-2015 analyzing forces influencing cultural motion. Urban asserts we are now in an age of modern culture that focuses on newness and mass dissemination. Objects of traditional culture can adapt by cleverly reforming with new technology. As a historical object that has existed for centuries, pornography contains traditional culture that has transitioned with remarkable success into modern culture. The Internet is a space that has revolutionized dissemination as mass production and consumption. Consumer statistics support the hypothesis that present day pornography consumption in Western culture is normalized among young people and particularly men. This theoretical discourse analysis supports the hypothesis that pornography directly influences gender role construction that negatively impacts both men and women. This research was limited to the theoretical realm and relied on qualitative data from other studies. Further research is required on how the proliferation, anonymity, and accessibility of pornography is currently contributing toward a radical social construction of gender, unanticipated by the earlier feminist theorists.

Explicit Utopias: Rewriting the Sexual in Women's Pornography, 2015

Explicit Utopias explores a problem that has long haunted feminist, lesbian, and queer critics: the obstacles to imagining women’s desire and sexual agency. Pornography is one arena in which women have actively sought to imaginatively overcome this problem, yet pornography has also been an object of passionate feminist contention. Revisiting the feminist sex wars of the 1980s, Amalia Ziv offers a comprehensive and thoughtful reassessment of the arguments and concerns of both camps, tying these early debates to the contemporary surge of concern over the pornification of culture. She also sets out to rectify the lack of critical attention to marginal sexual representations by examining the feminist, queer, and psychoanalytic literature on several key issues, including fantasy, the phallus, identification, and gender performativity.

Sexualities, 2004

This article draws on a qualitative research study which set out to explore women's experiences and views of pornography within the broader context of conflicting feminist positions on pornography. The research methodology posed an implicit criticism of the kind of 'findings' familiar from mainstream psychological research: semi-structured interviews were conducted with women from diverse backgrounds in the UK, and feminist theory and discourse analysis were used to inform interpretation of their accounts. Although the question of feminism was not explicitly raised by the interviewer, it emerged as a recurrent theme in interviews, with interviewees suggesting that the feminist anti-porn stance in particular has influenced their perspective on pornography. Their accounts show that women's experiences are variegated, individual and complex, and that discourses of pornography and feminism may be negotiated in unpredictable ways.

… Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, 2010

From the early days of the Internet, online pornography was an immensely successful industry, with a consequent phenomenal increase in both production and consumption of cyber porn. Prior to 1995, Anti-porn feminists were working to legally censor violent pornography. They received considerable resistance internally from pro-porn feminists arguing from the perspective of rights and free speech.

2016

Radical Feminists on Objectification Women who indulge themselves in the pornographic industry are subjected to the harm of objectification. They are treated as objects, dehumanizing them and bringing them down to the level of an object merely to be tossed around in the hands of a dominant male figure, all of which only reassures the already existing pervasive patriarchal notions in the society, this is the line of argument followed by radical feminists. Helen Logino was one of the first anti porn feminists, through her theory, she argued that pornography is harmful because it dehumanizes women and subjects them to be objects in the hands of their male counterparts . Logino was one of the first feminists who attempted to carve out the harm of objectification, and how the patriarchal structures are only held on together by viewing pornography. The researcher would first attempt to analyze the views of the so called “Radical Feminists”. The anti porn feminists are by and large feminists who believe that pornography has more harm than good in it. They believe that all pornographic content may not subject women to objectification, however most do so. This very fact leads to the arguments’ posed by most of the feminists who make a sincere attempt to carve out harms caused to the women who indulge themselves in the pornography industry plus women in general who are further subdued in the society by contents that propagate notions of patriarchy. Catherine Mackinnon and Andrea Dworkin both radical feminists were in a way influenced by Immanuel Kant’s writing on objectification of women with a spin of feminism . Kant believes that each human being should only enter into a sexual relation within a monogamous marriage, failing which would lead to loss or sacrifice of humanity. Immanuel Kant recognizes that both men and women can be victims of objectification however women are more vulnerable to it, further enunciating his views by giving examples of prostitutes and concubines. Kant explained his theory by referring to situations which causes a person to lose their humanity and be reduced to a status of an object. Although radical feminists approach this argument in a completely different manner what is of importance in both theories is the fact that women can be and are subjected to objectification. For radical feminists like Andrea Dworkin and Catherin Mackinnon, the root cause of pornography being inherently bad for the society lies in the fact that inequality of gender is pervasive in the society. Inequality of gender is further linked to objectification which is promoted through men’s consumption of pornography. For Mackinnon and Dworkin, first, gender is a social construct; it is different from the sex of a person which is biologically defined. It is further the concept gender on the basis of which stereotypes place its roots on leading to discrimination and subjugation of the female gender. For Mackinnon, it is not all pornographic content which is problematic, however those which clearly propagate a females subjugation by a man in terms of her being objectified and used as a commodity which is deeply problematic. Feminists such as Alison Aster also focus on the idea is that what is wrong with pornography is not that it creates sexual arousal however that it creates sexual arousal by objectifying women.

Chaturbhujeshwar Academic Journal, 2024

This study examines female subordination in pornographic films through “bodily power,” a concept that evolved from Foucault and Butler. Pornographic films, now commercial visual products, shape societal views on sex, gender, and more. The paper analyzes films using textual data for interpretation. It reveals the construction of subjectivity and cognition by presenting bodily experiences within power dynamics, interpreted through post-structural and feminist lenses. It uncovers the alienation of women’s bodies, hidden exploitation mechanisms, and the secretive construction of subordination. Pornographic films objectify women, making their bodies consumable commodities to fulfill male centric fantasies, supported by a patriarchal culture of false desire, reinforcing the objectification of bodies. This work reveals and explains reality, which others do not perceive easily, and the social constructs hidden within it. In addition, this work prompts a critical reevaluation of gender domination and broader socio-economic discussions. Keywords: bodily power, subordination, pornographic films, feminist perspective How to cite: Zhang, Y. (2024). Female Subordination in Pornographic. Chaturbhujeshwar Academic Journal, 2(1), 56–73. https://doi.org/10.3126/caj.v2i1.72216

Gender and Authority across Disciplines, Space and Time, 2020

Hypatia, 1999

The Feminist Porn Book: The Politics of Producing Pleasure, 2013