Right on FunkyD! I hope your points are addressed.
Also, I agree with 6of9, that women objectify women as least as much as men do. Who likes my avatar?
by seattleniceguy 55 Replies latest social current
Right on FunkyD! I hope your points are addressed.
Also, I agree with 6of9, that women objectify women as least as much as men do. Who likes my avatar?
Its a cool avatar Stinky
I love your avatar, SP.
But I don't accept the idea that people who enjoy looking at naked bodies of their favoured gender (or both genders) are necessarily objectifying people. Well, SP's avatar isn't a good example because that body doesn't even have a face. But in general I think porn is often more complicated than just objectifying women. Many men have a complex relationship to women and femininity and sex and love, and porn is situated in that context.
Wow! This thread is getting some major play! Chalk one up for SNG, baby!
I think the thing I've agreed with most so far on this thread is that it is the attitude of the beholder that makes porn harmful or helpful. It might seem harmful to a guilt-ridden Catholic altar boy, and he will probably feel dirty and ashamed about it. But that's more because of his culture and attitude, than because of the external stimulus. The same photos might just be good clean fun to a person raised in a different culture.
And I think one interesting thing about the proliferation of porn on the internet - and it seems that this was one of the major points of the study - is that it is not just "perfect" people. You've got all sorts of incredibly normal looking people. The article indicated that porn viewers had a more balanced view of various body types. Maybe we're shifting away from a culture of untouchable glamour to one of reality. Human are sexual. That's reality. Maybe people are just becoming less prudish about that fact.
I dunno. Just my two cents.
SNG
i have not read the replies in this thread. I just wanted to give my personal opinion. While i think occ porn could possibly be useful for a married couple, generally speaking, porn creates a diseased mind.
It shows mostly unrealistc images of womens bodies.Unrealistic sex.
My husband i viewed it for a while as a marital aide, but we both came to feel like we needed a bath after viewing it. It seers over your conscience and heart. I am not a prude. I enjoy sex . but i feel ill watching people exploit the bodies of 18 yr old girls.
this is my opinion.
It shows mostly unrealistc images of womens bodies.Unrealistic sex.
Considering the largest growing seller right now is "ameture" porn I disagree. This aint 1986 anymore. Most porn is becoming cattle calls for any aids free indiviual that can show up in a warehouse on a wensday night.
Unrealistic and sex don't really go together. It is not like a hollywood production where extensive compositing, stunt doubles and bluescreens are the norm.
So right now you really are just looking at the lives of average people that are premiscuous. This is more disturbing to many people than the old school glamor porn days where you had a "porn star". Because these people can be your workmates or neighbors and homely as sin. The I was reading a story and the director said he thinks the reason this type of porn is selling is because it is interactive and accessable. You can not only have a chance of scoring with a person of that caliber, but you have a chance of scoring with the actual person in the video, and heck you could be the person in the video.
Maybe the problem which I do find is that there are more people being sucked into the porn circuit unintentionally. I dont even look for porn, but get it all the time even though i avoid it due to the nature of the internet. Because video and pcs are so cheap anyone can set up a porn site now. You (providing you are not in a high control group that sucks up every free evening) could get quite a porn life going annonymously. Another problem is you see how "immoral" people are, and not just hedonist or nihlist. Anyone that has tape or photos of someone having sex can now become a pornographer. If it is the right person you can make millions.
It is kinda sad to think illustrious "unrealistic" porn could become the lowly realm of school teachers and janitors. Anyone able to have sex and willing to sell the footage for a few extra dollars. Then again who thought you could put these types of people on an island and pay for the footage of them eating bugs for a milliom dollars.
XQ
Anyone able to have sex and willing to sell the footage for a few extra dollars. Then again who thought you could put these types of people on an island and pay for the footage of them eating bugs for a milliom dollars.
Good point, and funny too. Interesting take on the whole thing generally.
The beauty with golf is I play with 18 holes, and from different positions.
Guest 77
My profound apologies. I shouldn't have used the term "call someone a Nazi" when I actually meant "arbitrarily liken someone/something to a Nazi/Nazism".
Okay, let's see if I can explain this very simply so you can understand. Ms. Steinem is saying that a woman who reads playboys feels a little LIKE a jew reading a nazi journal. She is comparing two situations where people are victimized and what they might feel like. She is not saying they are exactly the same. Here is a definition from the Webster's online thesaurus of the word victim:
2
one subjected to oppression, loss, or suffering <victims of social injustice>
Synonyms: bottom dog, casualty, prey, underdog
Related Words: quarry
3
Synonyms: FOOL 3, butt, chump, dupe, fall guy, gudgeon, gull, mark, pigeon, sucker
Idioms: easy mark, easy pickings
Now, like I said, studies are studies and any group or cause, no matter how good or vile they might be can do studies that find they are "healthy". My use of neonazis was to say that even a group as vile as the neonazis can do their studies to try to make them more acceptable, doesn't make it true.
My main point here and it is my opinion, FD is that it's ridiculous for the writer to point to a study and declare porn healthy.
If you haven't met anyone who has been hurt by porn, then that's wonderful for you. Unfortunately I have met many, many people including myself who have been hurt by it. Have I ever looked at it. Yes, I have. Have I ever thought it was exciting? Yes I have. Do I think it's healthy? No I don't. I am not saying any and all naked pictures are harmful and unhealthy. I am saying the porn industry as whole causes a lot of problems for a lot of people. It's a huge stretch to say it's healthy. If in your life you haven't seen this then blessed you are: for now.
Flyin'
I think we're on the same page as to the definition of "objectification". We're probably in totally different books with regard to the root causes/harm of/solutions to, said objectification.
When I say objectify this is the problem I am talking about: when many boys and men look at picture after picture of women spread eagle or whatever sexual pose, they most times are not thinking about this woman/girl as real person with feelings. This attitude can spill over into their everyday life. I have known plenty of boys and men to speak of women as "pu$$y" or "a piece of a$$." Often I have heard, "look at the tits on her" or "get a load of that a$$". Also, there is the ever charming, "I'd like a piece of that." The list could be endless of similar things.
When I say porn encourages many men and boys to think of women as objects, this is what I mean: When they see women they find attractive in their everyday life they don't see a person who works two jobs and goes to college or a person who is grief stricken because the just lost their relative in death, etc., etc. They see a "piece of a$$".
Now, that said, can women objectify men in the same way? Sure they can. I'll stand up against anything that encourages that, too.
Flyin'
PS: I think Stinky's avatar is art not porn.