Pornography: The Normalization of Violence and Abuse
- By AntiPornography.org Supporter and Contributor Emma-Li Thompson
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“I'd like to really show what I believe the men want to see: violence against women... Men get off behind that because they get even with the women they can’t have.” (1)
- Bill Margold - Pornographer
Sexism and violence, prevalent parts of our society, have been leading factors in creating a male-dominated porn industry; it is designed to satisfy the desires of men who do not care for women. By encouraging violent behavior and sexual abuse in productions, this industry is sending a very negative message to society. Male behavior should, according to porn, be violent, dominant, aggressive, and tough; young males end up internalizing those standards for male behavior instead of developing on their own. (2) The pornography industry promotes domestic abuse against women and creates twisted delusions of masculinity.
“It might promote violence against women in the United States, but I say, ‘Good. I hate those bitches…" (3)
- Dan Sandler, "Rape Camp" Website Founder
Men such as Dan Sandler, founder of “The Rape Camp”, promote violence against women, especially in the bedroom. Sandler’s operation in Cambodia openly promoted the sexual abuse, fetishization, and degradation of women. (4)
Porn often shows a submissive woman undergoing humiliation or other violent acts in the name of sexuality. These videos, many feminists would agree, are severely lacking in sensuous appeal, and are exploitative of the people performing in them. What kind of message is porn sending to the younger male generation? Is it considered normal to humiliate and abuse a partner without consent because pornography says so? Being a real man, porn says, entails showing only one side: the strong, dominant side. Boys still growing in their sexuality have become used to this violence in porn. As a result, these boys grow up desensitized to the extreme cruelty depicted in pornographic media. (5)
Even disturbing events such as the sexual assaults in Steubenville, Ohio, fail to rouse teenage boys' feelings of injustice or rage towards rapists. Rather, the reactions to the news paint the victim as responsible. The rapists who are actually responsible, young college-age men, face nothing compared to the hatred thrown the girl’s way. (6) Desensitization to violence in pornography should not be carried into the real world, yet these young men disrespect women without a second thought. Such aggressive, cruel thoughts can easily be translated into violent acts, as constant nationwide sexual assaults prove.
What truly defines masculinity? Men themselves are not sure how to act because of the inconsistencies in the definitions. Magazines such as Ask Men say, “Don’t confuse being a man with being a jerk. A real man operates with respect and consideration for the people in his life.” (7) However, other websites such as WikiHow state, “It is typically seen as manly to be sexually assertive, bold, and experienced.” (8)
Conflicting views on masculinity lead teenage boys down the dark path of identity crises. Young people are constantly told to act naturally, and are shamed if they act “weirdly” or “unnaturally.” Peer pressure comes into play when boys are insecure about their interests or fears. The boys who have already established their aggressive definition of masculinity are perfect tormentors for those who are still developing. (7)
Michael Kimmel, author of Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men, wrote:
"While these violent images are indeed disturbing, what might be more disturbing is that by viewing pornography, and by relying on pornography to inform them, guys are sustaining an “us against them” attitude toward women that is not going to serve them in the long term. They’re missing out on developing the skills -- sexual and otherwise -- that might help them to sustain relationships with women in the real world…" (9)
- Michael Kimmel, pg. 187
Because gender stereotypes and roles are so clearly defined in porn films, many young male viewers tend to apply these “life lessons” to the real world. Men and women are no longer viewed as free-thinking individuals. Women become sexual objects waiting to be dominated, and men become dominating animals. Women are represented quite unrealistically in pornographic media; as a result, easily manipulated young men begin to believe that all women are passive and “slavishly dependent upon men.” (10)
Without proper representations of realistic men and women in the media, how can young males truly understand their role in society? How can young males learn how to properly treat women? The violence in porn contributes greatly to the negative perception of women; the degradation of women, widely shown in porn, is one of the main ways a man can show his dominance. Boys learn that being manly consists of degrading women, thinking less of women, and calling women “bitches” or “whores.” Young men’s anger, caused by the poisonous media, can easily be triggered and left to explode. (11)
Admittedly, not all pornographic films depict horrible scenes of violence. However, the trend for sexually violent films has been growing popular among young men because the porn industry capitalizes on producing brutal or vicious scenes. If the trend for violent porn is growing, the industry reacts the same way a typical company would – it encourages it, produces mass quantity, and is blind to the effects on the consumers. The male consumers, consequently, end up with a delusional opinion of how relations between men and women work.
The clearly defined gender roles represented in each “hardcore” film play an unfortunate part in young male development; teenage boys learn that it is normal to be dominant, violent, and angry -- to submissive, passive women. (12) The cruelty is normalized for men through the spread of pornography because they see it all the time. Men become desensitized to the violence and, as a result, mistreat women with little to no remorse.
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Works Cited
1. Interview with Bill Margold, from Coming Attractions: The Making of an X-Rated Video, by Robert J. Stoller, Chapter 3, pg. 22
Many thanks to Emma-Li for taking a strong and uncompromising stand against the devastating harms of pornography, and for her much needed efforts to educate others about those harms. Emma-Li is setting an excellent example to everyone, and we really appreciate her important contributions!
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Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexualitytakes an unflinching look at today’s porn industry: the stories woven into the images, the impact on our culture, the effects on us as men and women, the business machine that creates and markets porn, and the growing legitimacy of porn in mainstream media. Above all, PORNLAND examines the way porn shapes and limits sexual imaginations and behaviors.
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ANTI-PORNOGRAPHY ORGANIZATIONS GROUPS AND WEBSITES:
Saavi Accountability -- The only online accountability program that works with all online addictions. It is also the only program that sends notifications instantly via text message to an accountability partner so that they can be supportive when an individual needs it the most at the point of weakness, while they are accessing the online content. The software was created by a young man (26) who overcame his addiction and is trying to help others.
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"Pornography is a marketing device for sex trafficking: It normalizes degradation and violence as acceptable and even inevitable parts of sex, and uses the bodies of real women and children as objects. The difference between pornography and erotica is clear in the roots of the words themselves -- porne means females slaves, eros means love -- so pornography, like rape, is about violence and domination, not sex. Millions of lives depend on our ability to separate pornography from erotica, and to disentangle violence from sexuality."
Gloria Steinem, 2006
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“I'd like to really show what I believe the men want to see: violence against women... Men get off behind that because they get even with the women they can’t have.” (1)
