Laura, please don't be pro-porn or pro-"reforming pornography" when you do know that the radical feminist critique of pornography agues that THE WHOLE FUCKING PORNOGRAPHY ITSELF IS INHERENTLY BAD (condiser the etymology of the word -- as quoted above). Such idea of "reforming pornography" initially appears to be understandable when so many people have been socially trained to consume images for their own sexuality,
instead of having a sexuality of their own that does not rely on images.
Perhaps you should take a look at my website (linked somewhere in an above post) or read
Pornography: Men Possessing Women by Andrea Dworkin or any other feminist anti-porn books (see my booklist, if you need to:
https://www.againstpornography.org/books.html ) and maybe you'd understand the issue more clearly -- why pornography is inherently non-feminist.
I wasn't talking about censorship. There is an alternative to that, such as this one (the Dworkin-MacKinnon civil rights approach), for instance:
http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/dworkin ... ay/TOC.htm Pornography is inherently bad. And thus, it cannot be reformed!
Maybe, in a non-patriarchal society, there would be an egalitarian form of art representing sexuality. But it would NOT be called "pornography". Maybe it would be called Erotica instead (which is rooted in "eros", i.e. "sexual love"). Pornography is inherently bad. So, please forget the whole pornography if you are a real feminist! Do not forget what is one of the most important feminist struggle at the moment:
-- The most important thing at the moment is to communicate with others in order to go against the pornographized culture and change it. We have to talk honestly about the sex/gender crisis we face, along with the epidemic of violence against women and children. We have to Say No to Porn! It is also true that an anti-porn education + a healthier sex education in schools would be helpful. There are many other ways to address this issue aside from censorship, such as educating communities about the detrimental effects of pornography for example.
You should also think about the definitions of "pornography" that feminists have given before (which clearly show why
the material is inherently patriarchal and cannot be reformed):
Accurate definitions of pornography and the differences between pornography and erotica:a. Accurate definitions of pornography:
Pornography is the sexually explicit material that reflects and helps maintain the subordination of women. It is central to the sexual oppression of women. Oppression is a system of interrelated barriers and forces which reduce, immobilize, and mold people from a certain group, and effect their subordination to another group.
(Robert Jensen, quoting Marilyn Frye, in
Pornography: The Production and Consumption of Inequality; 1998).
"Pornography, like rape, is a male invention, designed to dehumanize women, to reduce the female to an object of sexual access, not to free sensuality from moralistic or parental inhibition. The staple of porn will always be the naked body, breasts and genitals exposed, because as man devised it, her naked body is the female's "shame", her private parts the private property of man, while his are the ancient, holy, universal, patriarchal instrument of his power, his rule by force over her. Pornography is the undiluted essence of anti-female propaganda."
-- Susan Brownmiller, in
Against our Will (1975).
"In the subordination of women, inequality itself is sexualized: made into the experience of sexual pleasure, essential to sexual desire. Pornography is the material means of sexualizing inequality; and that is why pornography is a central practice in the subordination of women."
-- Andrea Dworkin in
Letters from a War Zone (1988).
We can indentify pornography, the sexualized subordination of women (or children, men, or transsexuals) as having four main parts:
1. Hierachy: a question of power, with "a group on top ( [usually] men) and a group on the bottom ( [usually] women)".
2. Objectification: when "a human being, through social means, is made less than human, turned into a thing or commodity, bought and sold";
3. Submission: acts of obedience and compliance become necessary for survival. Members of oppressed groups learn to anticipate the orders and desires of those who have power over them, and their compliance is then used by the dominant group to justify its dominance;
4. Violence: when it becomes "systematic, endemic enough to be unremarkable and normative, usually taken as an implicit right of the one commiting the violence." The first three conditions make violence possible.
(Andrea Dworkin,
Letters from a War Zone; 1988).
Not all pornography contains all these [four] components, but all these [four] elements are present throughout contemporary pornography (Robert Jensen,
Getting Off; 2007).
Some defenders of pornography might argue that there is a difference between mainstream pornography and violent pornography but feminists know such claim is untrue. For instance, after visiting pornography shops and asking clerks and managers what was popular with consumers (the sampling method was therefore market-driven), researchers Robert Jensen and Gail Dines rented and analysed pornographic videos and concluded that "violence was portrayed as heightening the erotic charge of the scenes." (Jensen and Dines, "The Content of Mass-Marketed Pornography", in
Pornography: The Production and Consumption of Inequality, 1998). The thing is when violence is portrayed in a sexual context, as a form of pleasure, it is less likely to be seen as violence. Plus, the nearly non-existent difference between non-violent and violent pornography should not even be used as a defense of pornography nowadays with the existence of the Internet and DVD's, the pornographic worlds of "gonzo" and "features" (the most popular kinds of porn on the market) are both increasingly more violent and misogynistic. More recently, In a study, "Mapping the Pornographic Text: Content Analysis of Popular Pornography" (2007), Robert Wosnitzer, Ana Bridges and Michelle Chang concluded that 90% of contemporary mainstream pornography contained scenes of aggression.
b. Differences between pornography and erotica:
"[E]rotica" is rooted in "eros" or passionate love, and thus in the idea of positive choice, free will, the yearning for a particular person. (Interestingly, the definition of erotica leaves open the question of gender.)....[The] erotic: a mutually pleasurable sexual expression between two people who have enough power to be there by positive choice. It may or may not strike a sense-memory in the viewer, or be creative enough to make the unknown seem real; but it doesn't require us to identify with a conqueror or a victim. It is truly sensuous, and may give us a contagion of pleasure."
-- Gloria Steinem in
Take back the Night: Women on Pornography (1980).
"Pornography" begins with a root "porno", meaning "prostitution" or "female captives", thus letting us know that the subject is not mutual love, or love at all, but domination and violence against women. (Though, of course, homosexual pornography may imitate this violence by putting a man in the "feminine" role of victim.)....[The] pornographic: its message is violence, dominance, and conquest. It is sex being used to reinforce some inequality, or to create one, or to tell us that pain and humiliation (ours or someone else's) are really the same as pleasure. If we are to feel anything, we must identify with conqueror or victim."
-- Gloria Steinem in
Take back the Night: Women on Pornography (1980).
"I define "pornography" as "material that combines sex and/or the exposure of genitals with abuse or degradation in a manner that appears to endorse, condone, or encourage such behavior"...."Erotica" refers to "sexually suggestive or arousing material that is free of sexism, racism and homophobia, and respectful of all the human beings and animals portrayed".
-- Diana Russell in
Against Pornography: The Evidence of Harm (1993).
Erotica is typically defined as "literature or art dealing with sexual love" (Dictionary.com Unabridged). One website, NoPornNorthampton.org, quotes some distinctions between pornography and erotica as such:
"-- [S]ome characteristics we associate with porn: mechanical, mindless, uncaring, exploitative, imbalance of power, lack of consent, taking without permission, selfish, careless, heedless, simplistic, shallow, objectifying, deceptive, cheating, violating, rough, harsh, inflicting pain, degrading, humiliating, unloving.
-- [S]ome characteristics we associate with erotica: humane, mindful, caring, respectful, communicative, listening, consensual, balance of power, mutual pleasure, integrity, wholeness, sharing, thoughtful, deep feelings, loving."
Also, there is a strong link between pornography and rape/child sexual abuse. Check out Diana Russell's book excerpts:
http://www.dianarussell.com/porntoc.html http://nopornnorthampton.org/files/2853 ... imized.pdf And I've got loads more resources on my website which show that pornography is inherently bad and that you cannot possibly be a "pro-reforming pornography feminist"....
Consider pornography's atrocious harms to women inside and outside of the industry -- that come from its inherent misogyny -- that cannot be changed -- see
https://www.againstpornography.org/wome ... ustry.html and
https://www.againstpornography.org/effectsandharms.html ).
If all this isn't enough for you to become
inherently anti-pornography, then I'm afraid I can't help you... What that F-Word article talks about is BULLSHIT... I'm afraid to tell you...