Tits, ass, pussy. These are the words that choke the media of today. All we see is naked ladies and their genitals spread open cross the magazine covers. With this said, what is the difference between commercialized pornography and the sexualized material we view at bus stops, on television, in magazines, or in movies?
I don’t know what to think about strippers, prostitutes, exotic dancers, or the women who work in Gentlemen’s Clubs. I don’t know what to think about pornography itself. I have this innate feeling that these women are so much more than the curved reflections of their bodies. I completely understand and support bodily autonomy. What one decides to do with their body is entirely in their control. As a woman, however, I cannot imagine myself in pornography? performing, more or less, for the benefit of others. Personally, this type of work appears degrading. If these women really enjoyed pleasuring strangers with their bodies, then I would tell them to go for it. If there are women in this world who receive physical, mental, or emotional satisfaction from working as a sexworker, stripper, or an adult film star then I am glad they found their calling. However, most women do not. They “do it for the money.” In the documentary Nude Girls Live , a woman responded to the question, what do you think about when you’re working , with “bills, things I have yet to do, my body.” When asked how it is working as a sexworker, another woman responded, “It gets boring.” The woman selling herself is not enjoying it. She is just enduring it? tolerating it.
Mostly to blame is our society, which condones misogynistic ideas found in media. Young minds absorb these visualizations. For some women, these norms make choosing this sort of lifestyle (pornography, stripping, etc.) a lot easier and quicker. They are normalized to seeing women in these positions.
All the stereotypes and violence that exist towards women especially towards female sex workers is another compounding factor. A sex worker is automatically questioned and judged, and often thought of as an occupant of the “bottom of the totem pole.” They are seen as prey rather than a predator. Furthermore, as much as I’d like to believe that women thoroughly enjoy it, I just don’t. I think they often serve their customers without benefits, and do so regardless of safe spaces or conditions.
Whether physical, verbal, psychological, interpersonal, or institutional: violence towards women can happen anywhere at any time and in any occupation. Women always have to “watch their back,” but it is even worse for the women whose backs are naked. Furthermore, if someone argues that pornography, stripping, or sexwork promotes “sex positivity” (a movement that encourages a healthy outlook on consensual sex), I have to stand against that idea. I do, however, individually stand for “sex positivity” full heartedly. But, in a society that condones sending girls home because “their outfits are distracting boys?” or trivializing sexual assault with photo memes? manufacturing decals for cars of helpless, bound up women in order to see whether or not people would notice? and then having decal orders increase as a result of this sort of promotion (Terkel, Huffington Post) is simply morally unjust.
Sex is great – mentally, emotionally, and physically beneficial – but only when it is done consensually, confidently, and consciously. However, until men, as well as the rest of society, can create an environment in which people of all sexual identities feel that gender inequality no longer exists, I do not think work that submits women to sell themselves and their identity should be supported. Saying that “porn is good” or “sex work was the only choice left” may encourage misogynistic tendencies. Women are not just flesh. Society needs to redefine the existing attitudes toward women, the oppressed, and sex in general.
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