MovieChat Forums > Lovelace (2013) Discussion > How exactly does porn 'degrade women' (i...

How exactly does porn 'degrade women' (in general)?

posted 11 years ago by lazarillo
13 replies | jump to latest

People always saying this, but I don't know why.

If you're not a complete moron or a completely inexperienced male virgin with no female relatives, you would no doubt realize that the female "characters" in porn have NOTHING to do with real women. You may as well complain to the ASPCA that "Roadrunner" cartoons are degrading to and promote violence against coyotes

Actually, most porn stars today don't even play characters, but make no pretense of being anything other than unsuccessful and untalented actresses who make large sums of money by undergoing unnecessary plastic surgery so they can pathetically try to act out pathetic male sex fantasies. It's certainly degrading to THEM (but then they're well paid for their degradation), but it's also pretty degrading for the male porn addicts of limited imagination who pay money to watch that crap. But it really has no effect on WOMEN or MEN as a whole. It's not degrading to ME that some MEN choose to work in the sewers, shoveling *beep*

Does porn make men hate women in real life? Who knows? Do violent action movies make people want to shoot hundreds of "bad guys"? Do rom-coms make women fall in love with strange men because they happen to encounter them in some ridiculous "meet cute" situation and can't initially stand them? You ask questions like that you're heading down the rabbit hole and pulling the hole in with you. . .

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[–] tralycr_c-1 11 years ago

Social Justice Warriors. They hate everything and don't know why.

There is a man...he travels fast...he has purpose...he brings violence and destruction.

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[–] timlin-4 11 years ago

It's degrades the women not in porn because they feel bad that they are too ugly to get a role. Yes, the truth is really that pathetic

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[–] hodie 10 years ago

A really beautiful female porn star is relatively rare. Beautiful women have a lot more options than porn. Life isn't fair. The ones I've seen in the last few years are hard-faced tatooed women who joylessly perform sex frenetic acts with even uglier males while making ridiculous noises.

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[–] Rajesh_pimp06 9 years ago

It's degrades the women not in porn because they feel bad that they are too ugly to get a role.

That doesn't make any sense since there are plenty of porn stars that aren't pretty.

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[–] Doc80 9 years ago

Pretty much any woman can be in porn at some level if they want to and that is the truth.

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[–] bethebestforthejob 10 years ago

lazarillo

female "characters" in porn have NOTHING to do with real women.

Yeah, I know, It is true. BUT: porn nowadays is something majority of teenage and virgin boys watch. This is, sadly, bad sex education. It is habit forming and it distorts sexual tastes and sexual temperaments. I wish it was only my opinion, but sadly, there are tons of studies. Overdosing on porn/consuming it at very young age has negative effect on people's social skills (they tend to have problems forming relationships) it affects their potential as lovers (yep, you are bad in bed - since you do it a lot with your left hand) some men become uninterested in women, since masturbation and fantasy gives them enough of immediate gratification. Not being aroused by real women is also, actually a thing now.

Porn completely and absolutely distorts popular knowledge of female sexual satisfaction. What they film is male fantasy, male pleasure etc. women arrive at it in a completely different way, but hey, it is obviously underground knowledge and too boring to film.

Also porn aesthetic is really influential: raunch culture is a thing now, it is mainstream and it comes directly from it.

Mind you, I am not a prude. I simply do not enjoy pornography, I think it is cheap, boring and exploitative and I am really sorry it replaced genuine erotica.

Don't explain with malice what you can explain with stupidity

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[–] hodie 10 years ago

This is so true. I help moderate a relationship Web forum and so many young women write about their men's seeming inability to function with them in the bedroom without watching hardcore porn. And these are young men who you would think could perform all the time.

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[–] Soodinum 10 years ago

If you have to ask the question you won't understand the answer.

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] maxtshea 10 years ago

There have been thousands of women who got abused in the porn industry from the late sixties until present. Linda Lovelace was the only one who get a famous for it. Some women are indeed coerced into the business by abusive boyfriends and drug habits.

Some women get into the business on their own and genuinely love he work and have no regrets.

And there is everything in between.

The anti-porn crusaders deny any woman could truly want to be in the business. The porn spokespeople deny any woman is coerced into doing anything she doesn't want to in porn. Again, the truth is somewhere in between.

If a porn viewer feels sympathy shame for the actress, and the actress is doing exactly what she wants to be doing, it can be harder for the viewer than the actress.

The problem an antiporn feminist such as Gail Dines has is the reality that some of the woman in sex work want to be there and act entirely on their own volition. These women are doing what Gail Dines disapproves of but doing what they want. If this is true, it makes Gail Dines' extreme antiporn argument harder to maintain.

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[–] cathy-creswell 9 years ago

The females in porn movies have no depth. They are pretty bodies doing for the male character whatever he wants. No awkward moments, no arguments, no declining any sexual request. It's a male fantasy, horny woman, instant gratification, no complications, no commitment required. No thought is given to the woman's needs, she's an object to be used. Straight women often say that porn in no way reflects the real sex they are having. Porn reinforces the objectification of women they face in everyday life, it supports rape culture. There are no unwanted pregnancies, no regrets afterwards. It gives men all the bad ideas of what to expect and demand in their relationships.

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[–] Howlin Wolf 9 years ago

It's not degrading unless they don't want to do it... but I guess the problem with the industry as a whole is that it's not easy to tell who is there because they really like sex, and who is there because they're being exploited due to unfortunate circumstances?

There are loads of porn performers who DON'T have plastic surgery, BTW.



"Your mother puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?!"

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