EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a response to ‘Porn should not be condemned’, published in The Daily Cougar on Feb. 11, 2009.
Pornography gets a bad rap. Feminists have railed the explicit misogyny and degradation. They claim it has inherently existed in the industry for years. In recent memory, several books examining the prevailing cultural attitudes toward porn have surfaced. Pamela Paul’s Pornified or Elisabeth Eaves’s Bare, an examination of the world of exotic dancing from an insider’s perspective are two volumes worth noting.
Two parties are vying intellectually over pornography and its place in the civilized world – apologists who feel that porn services a legitimate social need and detractors who claim it is degrading, both to those who produce it and perform in it.
It isn’t a question of what is or isn’t allowed. For adults, the right to produce and watch pornography is protected.
‘If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable,’ Chief Justice William Brennan wrote in the famous 1990 flag burning case hinging on the question of free speech.
Simply because the government doesn’t expressly prohibit something does not mean it is worthwhile or edifying.
The case for pornography usually revolves around its supposed value as an educational tool. Americans are curious about sex, the argument goes, and watching porn answers questions in a healthy and safe way. Countless studies have been performed on people who watch porn and results have been largely inconclusive.
Thousands of anecdotes from viewers – mostly men – have helped the case against pornography. Most of these men claim that watching porn has given them unrealistic expectations about sex, while skewing their view of women.
But porn cannot possibly educate. It is designed to titillate, not inform. After all, when children ask their parents about sex, parents don’t respond by acting out elaborate sexual positions. Simply watching sexual acts is not the best way to learn about sex, or even a good way.
One lesson that can be inadvertently learned from watching pornography is that anybody is up for anything, anytime, anywhere. Pornography is essentially a parade of surgically enhanced bodies rutting in and on a variety of locations, scenery and props
Those who disagree with pornography often make the case that porn is degrading toward the women who perform in it, and endorsing it is essentially an implicit endorsement of misogyny.
That case is probably overstated, but pornography is degrading in general. It’s essentially sex by surrogacy, using a performance by a total stranger to stimulate arousal.
Ultimately, any justification for pornography rings at least a little false. There is nothing about sex that can be learned from watching paid professionals, except perhaps how to fake excitement and arousal.
Like professional sports, if sex is viewed simply as a collection of skill sets, watching and absorbing tricks and moves might be beneficial. But viewing sex as a sport undervalues the emotional and psychological aspects in play.
Kevin Cook is an English junior and may be reached at [email protected]
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