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A/N: This was written for my English teacher. The assignment was a philosophical essay. To tell you the truth, after receiving a 60% on this, it seems as if I don't know what it is. Meh. I'll be editing this like mad! My hard copy of this came back covered in red ink.
It has always been something that makes you feel dirty if ever caught looking at, pornography, and the excuse of reading the magazine for the articles has become clichéd and overused. Being caught watching is even worse, because in print, it’s just “tasteful” nudity with women spread out across cars taking on the pose of a feline, or the ever popular canine position. But as a film, the poses cause an immediate reaction that makes a good, hot, steamy pornography that will sell big on the store shelves, or over the Internet. Our society has done what it can to close down pornographic web sites, discourage distribution of smut magazines, and diminish the amount of time children are exposed to racy images. All in all, society has a very negative image of pornography, and all for a good reason, for harming relationships, and creating an image of beauty few will ever achieve in their lifetime. Despite all the efforts being made, why does pornography still seem to thrive in an environment where it is viewed so negatively, and what has it done to our views of sex and relationships? What has it done to women’s thoughts about themselves, and the image that is given?
Sex has always been seen as an intimate act between a man and a woman in a loving relationship, however, with pornography so widely available, sex has now become more and more emotionless and both parties enter and leave the bedroom feeling lonely, as there is not much of a connection. He could be judging her silently, and she may be wondering if she can provide him with what he sees in movies and magazines? Women feel they cannot compete with those curvaceous babes with the bronze tans lacking tan lines, and surgically enhanced breasts. Because of this, some feel they cannot hold onto a man for long periods of time. This issue has to do with beauty, because if a woman doesn’t feel confident in her own skin, and with what she was created with, it shows in her actions, her voice, and even in her sex life. It also makes some women feel like a stand in for one of those busty babes, and can’t compare to the fold out model found on page 3. Just like with women, there is an effect on men. Men express that they get nothing out of porn. They have learnt nothing about being with a woman from that, making sex awkward, and maybe even without much meaning. (‘The Porn Myth’ (www.nymag.com) by Naomi Wolf) There could even be a bit of pressure for the men placed by the women viewers for them to perform like the men in the movies.
It’s sad how you could go walking down some of the busiest streets in Montreal and spot a few women who dress in a manner that imitates one of the scantily clad models, or singers. Pornography has given women a very poor spot in society, adding to the image that women have to be sexy, and have to wear clothing to reveal her goods. Adult films have turned women into an arm piece accessory for their man to show off at company Christmas party, or night on the town. Pornography has also aided in the thought that women have to be helpless, and their man in the dominant position while having sex, or in other manners which women are deemed minor. Such films of male dominancy do nothing for female image, and make a mockery of all women everywhere. With more women trying to match the adult movie industry’s idea of beauty and what’s sexy or not, less clothes means you’re more attractive, and also makes you more vulnerable to rape, and being abused mentally and physically. Being called a “slut” over and over again will have mental effects, not helping a self-esteem that could either strengthen or flicker out, like the flame of a candle. With the fire of a soul and a mind telling ourselves what we think beauty is, the flame will never go out, but we have the gale of voluptuous women breathing down our necks every time we walk into a store and pass the magazine rack. This candle is constantly threatened to go out completely, leaving us shallow, and thinking that men do like the pornographic sweetie who will have anal sex, and will allow herself to be treated like a sex object in the bedroom.
Women subject themselves to all sorts of modifications, and abuse that seems to be coming from everywhere they look: from other women, from magazines, and from commercials on television. As women get older, the notion of vanity doesn’t take up as much space in the mind, because sex drives usually die out with age, and all that’s left is conversation when our bodies grow too old to carry out our every whim and desire. As we age, we are essentially killing off the idea that bronze tans and large breasts are what men go for. While women get older, and wiser, and finally find some understanding in the world to how it works, an understanding is formed that we don’t care. Unfortunately, even the golden years of our lives are being fogged with anti-wrinkle creams, and lotions that can make you appear five years younger in three months, as well as drugs that’ll help increase libido. By doing this, we are immortalizing the young, lithe, blonde performers who make a career of getting men off, because as long as we strive for perfection, and lust for acceptance, we’ll constantly flirt with that fine line of accepted beauty and subjected beauty, anti-wrinkle cream or not.
With our thirst to for perfection, and wondering if we’re more attractive then that cute little redhead on the billboard sporting a hot new miniskirt, no one is more affected then the millions of young girls who look up to these advertisements everyday and want to be just like the girl portrayed. Because of the vast market for pornography, there has been a massive switch in the dressing style and music of the artists in today’s world. The rule has always been less is more, and has been whispered into the ears of young girls all over the world. As an example, we have Miss Britney Spears, who is also very clichéd because of her risqué wear and choice of music. It’s depressing to see young girls wearing tube tops and stuffing their bras because of artists like Britney Spears who sing about being a ‘slave 4 u’ and making out with a man in an airplane bathroom in her music video for ‘Toxic,’ because of a short stewardess costume. Britney Spears has her own vision of what is sexy and what’s not, and the fact that she’s a role model, she has given birth to ideas that have influenced generations of young girls who wear less and less clothing as the years march by with our pre-porno pop princess flaunting a skin colored body suit with diamonds, thrusting her chest to the camera as to excite teenage boys, and men alike. According to www.merriam-webster.com, pornography is defined as: the depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writing) intended to cause sexual excitement. To most boys and men, seeing a blonde, media perfected woman in nothing but diamonds is pretty arousing. The reason why Britney Spears has stayed captive in the minds of males mostly because of the fact that she doesn’t give it all away at once. If she spread out her “sexy” appearances, more people will want to see her music videos of this semi-nude woman. As stated by Naomi Wolf, ‘The Porn Myth’ (www.nymag.com): ”… does all this sexual imagery in the air mean… that the relationship between the multi-billion-dollar porn industry, compulsiveness, and sexual appetite has become like the relationship between agribusiness, processed foods, supersize portions, and obesity? If your appetite is stimulated and fed by poor-quality material, it takes more junk to fill you up.”
This brings up the next point: money. Let’s face it; if the director of the film likes you, you’ve suddenly become an accessory to some dominant male who will have sex with you any way needed to keep men watching. If there are no viewers, there will be no buyers, therefore it will die out. This is why there are such a wide variety of ways people have sex. “Pornography’s profits rely… on the ability to produce erections in men quickly,” written by Robert Jensen on the topic of the pervasive porn industry. (http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/freelance/pornography&masculinity.htm) Internet pornography “has been one of the few profitable Internet businesses from the start, employing thousands of people and generating millions in revenues for site owners, Web hosting companies and computer-hardware firms.” (Jeordan Legon and Linda Keenan, “Sex sells, especially to Web surfers,” www.cnn.com)
It seems that pornography will be around for quite some time, until the human race evolves into a race where vanity isn’t the issue, and when sex will become intimate and private again between two people, and kept behind closed bedroom doors without a camera present. If I may, I’ll make a prediction that as long as we allow ourselves to be led around by media like a lost puppy, we’ll forever be like a flock of sheep, and living off of those men and women who aid in the stereotyping of women. There is no solution to the problem of women constantly comparing themselves to the sex goddesses men worship in their spare time. The human race is a shallow one, forever doomed to achieve perfection or die trying.
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