arguments against anti-porn feminism are always so fallacious and based on ignoring material reality. i think if you question porn and its normalization even briefly, it’s incredibly difficult to come to the conclusion that it is good and/or feminist.
porn advocates ignore the conditions of women in porn. oftentimes they don’t even mention it. they accuse anti-porn feminists of “collaborating” with the right-wing against porn and that both are against it for moral reasons. this idea of morality - an accusation that denigrates the material harm that porn caused - ignores how real the effects of porn are, on the viewers, on the performers, on wider society. then there is the idea that porn will be more representative of sex if women are creating it. this is just the same girlboss shit regurgitated for the porn industry. women who choose to be cops are no better than the men who do and the same is true for pornographers.
let’s be clear: the position of anti-porn feminists has never been that sex is disgusting or that sex on video is inherently immoral. it’s that porn is actively harmful to women. you can’t just ignore how porn has clearly created a culture that encourages violence against women during sex. a culture that says violence against women is ok. there is absolutely no context where it is ok. strangulation during sex is never safe and yet it is unbelievably common, even without consent!
another argument made by Carole Vance is that for every pornographic image, 1/3 of viewers will find it erotic, 1/3 will find it revolting, and 1/3 will find it funny. but this is so irrelevant it’s almost bizarre to mention it in this discussion. i don’t care if i find something erotic. i don’t care if something is erotic to me because i will never want to enjoy material created from the exploitation of other women. i don’t care if i find it obscene or not. that’s not the point. it isn’t a moral crusade against the obscene vs. the erotic. it’s a question of eliminating the exploitation of women, both those who perform in pornography and those who are affected by its societal impact (which is most of us).
if there were convincing arguments that address all these points, i’d be willing to listen to them. but if it comes down to pleasure is good, then there is no argument. these are real things affecting real people. we need to address this. anti-porn must become the mainstream ideology.
