"The Porn Effect"

[delphyne]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... ect05.html

The porn effect: sex = power in our "look at me" culture
By MARTHA IRVINE
The Associated Press

CHICAGO — Porn used to be relegated to a video hidden in the bottom drawer, or a magazine under the mattress. Today, it's part of everyday life.

Hugh Hefner's girlfriends have become TV's "The Girls Next Door." Porn stars have MySpace pages and do voiceovers for video games. And while "porn on demand" is standard for hotel TVs and upgraded cable packages, it's even easier to find it with a few clicks on the computer.

In April, more than a third of the U.S. Internet audience visited sites that fit into the online "adult" category, according to comScore Media Metrix.

So the message is clear: In today's world, sex doesn't just sell. The pervasiveness of porn has made sexiness — from subtle to raunchy — a much-sought-after attribute online, at school and even at work.

Many agree that the trend has had a particularly strong influence on young women — in some cases, taking shape as an unapologetic embracing of sexuality and exhibitionism.

"I am one of those girls," says Holly Eglinton, a 31-year-old Canadian who recently won a talent search competition to appear as an unclothed newscaster on the Internet's "Naked News." She auditioned after meeting a producer for the show on a social networking site where she's posted provocative photos of herself — an increasingly common practice.

For Eglinton, taking off her clothes for an Internet audience was freeing, fun and a little rebellious.

"It's something that sort of suits my personality," she says. "I'm kind of an extrovert and a bit of a camera hog, a poser."

It's a prevalent sentiment in our look-at-me culture. But many wonder if it really is empowering, especially for younger women and girls who try to emulate what's already on the Web.

Too often, educators and health professionals say, the results are cases of "Girls Gone Wild" — gone wild.

Michael Simon, a therapist and high school counselor in the San Francisco Bay area, has seen an increasing number of girls and young women in his private practice after episodes in which they undressed or masturbated in front of a Web cam for people they met online.

"Instead of pornography or performative sexuality being one choice among many ways of being sexual, it's essentially become the standard of sexiness," says Simon. "It's also the standard by which a man or woman is a prude, depending on how much they embrace that kind of sexuality."

Yvonne K. Fulbright, a sexologist and author who co-hosts the "Sex Files" program on Sirius satellite radio, also has seen the shift in attitude.

She's posted messages on Craigslist looking for people who want to comment on various topics for the show — and, instead, often receives responses from young women who send descriptions of their breast and waist sizes.

"They're under the impression that they can be the next big thing," Fulbright says. "Unfortunately, for a lot of females that means taking off your clothes and being sexual.

"It's a really warped sense of what it means to be sexy."

Indeed, there was a time when dancing for the masses in barely-there outfits was the realm of music video stars and strippers. Then the Internet and reality TV came along, providing new platforms for young women to flaunt it for a shot at fame.

In one hit prime-time series, for instance, eager young contestants perform soft-core porn dance routines in hopes of becoming the next member of The Pussycat Dolls singing group.

The fascination with being "hot" also has made its way into the workplace, where confidence is often conveyed in the way one looks and dresses.

"I would say that, in the world of Washington, D.C., power brokers, it's important to be sexy, but in a more sophisticated, muted way," says Charles Small, a 25-year-old young professional who works in the nation's capital. That's in contrast, he says, to cities such as Los Angeles and Miami, "where overt sexiness is more the status quo."

Some employers — taken aback by the trend — have responded by setting tougher dress codes. Many school administrators have done the same.

"As a high school teacher, I see 14-year-old girls dressing in a way that makes me shake my head. Where do they get that?" asks Dennis Brown, an educator and parent in Huntley, Ill., outside Chicago.

Recently, he says his own 5-year-old daughter proclaimed, "Daddy, I look fat."

"And I thought, 'Oh my gosh, here we go,' " he says. "Now I have to start deconstructing that mind-set."

It's a big topic of discussion among researchers. A 2007 report from the American Psychological Association compiled the findings of myriad studies, showing that the sexualization of young women and girls, in particular, can hurt them in many ways. Problems can include anything from low-self esteem and eating disorders to depression and anxiety.

Simon, the California therapist, has seen those symptoms in several of his young female patients.

While boys tend to seek out porn for their own sexual pleasure, he sees a sexual disconnect with girls who exhibit provocative behavior they're not ready for — from undressing online to performing oral sex on boys.

"It doesn't have anything to do with their sexual pleasure," says Simon. "It has to do with pleasing somebody else — the grasping for attention.

"As a parent, it makes me want to cry."

And while they tell him they feel empowered, too often, he says they end up getting pegged as "sluts."

Julie Albright, a sociologist at the University of Southern California, has noted that dynamic in her research. She's working on a book about "players," men who juggle more than one sex partner and earn a title of esteem for behavior that much of society still frowns upon for women.

"If you 'act like a man,' in that sense, you're trying to grab hold of that same kind of power, that same kind of lifestyle — and claim male privilege," Albright says.

"The problem is, you're still female and it's still a man's world."

Anna Stanley, a 25-year-old in Madison, Wis., knows all about that double standard. She also wonders if she and her peers place too much importance on the power of sexiness.

"It seems like it stems out of the 'Girl Power' thing of the '90s gone awry — men objectify us, so let's objectify ourselves and get something out of it. It's not really progress," she says. "But it's something I have mixed feelings about — because sometimes I do it, too.

"Sometimes you do dress up to get noticed and attention, and you do feel more confident when you do that."

She wishes there was more focus on helping women develop a healthy sense of their own sexuality.

Missy Suicide — founder of the "Suicide Girls" pinup Web site — couldn't agree more.

"I think that women shouldn't be afraid of their sexuality. It's a part of who we are. You shouldn't be embarrassed and ashamed of your body and yourself," says the 29-year-old entrepreneur, who lives in Los Angeles. But, she says, it shouldn't be the sole focus.

She and the women on her site are known for challenging the stereotypes of beauty, with their tattoos and piercings and varying body types.

"I get messages from girls all the time saying they never felt beautiful before because they never saw girls like themselves in magazines or on TV. Then they saw a girl like them on 'Suicide Girls,' " she says of the site, an online community that attracts a worldwide audience of both admirers and women who want to become nude pinups.

Victoria Sinclair, the lead anchor on "Naked News," also sees herself as a role model. She left a job in the corporate world to join the show as lead anchor in 1999 — and never looked back.

"Sometimes, there are moments when I think, 'Oh my goodness what am I doing?' " says Sinclair, who recently turned 40. "But I'm really OK with it."

She says it works for her because she has control over what she does on the show and has been allowed to age gracefully, without plastic surgery.

Still, many skeptics remain.

"To be sure, it can make you feel powerful to know that you are arousing strong feelings in other people, that you have their attention and admiration," says Eileen Zurbriggen, a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who helped compile the APA report.

"This is the same sense of power experienced by charismatic rock stars and politicians. But politicians also wield other kinds of power. They can make actual changes to the legal, economic, and geopolitical landscapes — changes that have far-ranging impacts.

"Women," she says, "might be better off developing other sources of power."

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company"

[sunnysmiles]

I wrote these comments elsewhere on this board - thought they'd be relevant here as well:

That's why I have a problem with other feminists who say 'it's her fault' she's in it. She's bringing other women down. Most women don't even know how they're bringing themselves down, let alone someone else. The standard has shifted, it's not about 'dirty' anymore - it's about priding yourself on being HOT. Men do want to date strippers and models it's not a big deal. It's not a big deal to marry them either. Wasn't it Dr. Phil's son who is marrying a playb*y bunny? It's not 'wrong' to be with one of them anymore. Being hot - is kind of like what virginity used to be like. BUT having said that, even the concept of 'slut' has changed. So you aren't a slut if you are in playb*y, but you would be a slut if you were in hard core. You wouldn't be a slut if you were in ma*im - but if you were in something by bang bros. You might not be a slut if you were in GGW - but you'd definitely be 'dumb'. You wouldn't be a slut if you had a onenight stand, but you would be if you did it every other weekend. you would be a slut if you had more than 5 partners... there's these stupid arbitrary lines that have formed around all this.

We're sold on the idea that being beautiful is important, by whatever means. It's a completely unrealistic standard that is set. But I believe there are many women who do not suffer from 'low-self-esteem' when they attempt to be in playb*y or to glam out. There is a lot of internalization of 'the way things are'. Many women do this because it gives them a lot of kudos/status. But what this does is affect the young girls who do not live up to those ideals at all. many girls who would be considered 'average' in the past know that with a little make-up, some accessories, the right clothes they too can be 'hot' (let's not forget money).

We are really in the centre of a very self-absorbed, vapid and hollow culture. But this self-absorption has really just led to a highly individualistic/each person to themselves/non-communal culture. In which - obviously nearly everyone suffers from some type of fucked up depression. A large part of this is that our primary existence is as 'consumers' vs. compassionate beings. I.e. take white supremacist patriarchy, add capitalism - stir and voila you have a cocktail worthy of selling anything and everything to you.

most young girls aren't just glamming up to 'find a guy' or judging themselves for men - they do it for the approval of other women too. By this I do not mean to say that there isn't a patriarchy, but rather that patriarchal standards have shifted - and mixed messages are being set out to young women and girls. I mean to say that - many girls know it isn't their priority to find a guy and settle down. They do have the confidence to do all the things they want as well but it's often 'within boundaries'. Almost damned if you do - damned if you dont' kind of way. And mostly a huge fragmenting of associating with other women due to a heavy internalization of 'success' as being measured by highly superficial achievements.

[gerry]

A number of radical feminists have noted that the prostitute is the paradigm for all women. I guess the phenomena described in the article is just one more (contemporary) proof that this is so. Male sexuality knows no bounds in the sexual institutions it creates nor in the number of tentacles each produces to occupy women's space.

[Andrew]

Right-o, Gerry.

[RGM]

Note that men are completely invisible in the article, and there isn't a singular reference to how their increased demand for porn may have an effect on this disturbing trend.

[elecn]

version 3 ( I can post versions 1 and 2 separately upon request ). GB.com has a two hour log in limit when no activity occurs it is a good thing I was backing up my work because the cookied, non script posting method does not save typed in text in the textbox when you mouseclick backwards or forwards. Whew.. Kickin' ass and taking on online personas instead of names. All in a day's work..

- -

You shouldn't have to recursively rationalize the points on that level, sunnysmiles. I've gotten to some of the sources of satyrisis by using pieces of assessment, rebuttal, retraction and reconciliation -- then applying my language, interpretation and the facts as critique. I go after specific issues without doing the devil's advocate or major straw man arguments (making it external to me by a larger context) and I don't pretend to put myself in the position of the demand.

If I mess it up I look at the best of what I got and go at it again in an unpredictable manner. That's the point of activism and making mistakes while achieving development. You've got to love yourself but somehow take both others and your logic seriously and understand there are asymmetrical fights that can be won but only through hard work that is at times unfortunately repetitive. I don't mean sex. Sex is the fun kind of repetition.

Big up to Portland! If I was into big cities living in NW on or around 23 St. with artwalks and small cafes is my first pick. Bring back the local beans! Down with Starbucks!

Now for my article, my ''radfem'' rant. I'm not going to publish the address of this mostly soft core board and have stricken some words to that effect. Why do you want to know? Those places are all mostly the same; run by males in denial who are always on the verge of capturing too much personal detail, treat women mostly like measured objects and screw up physical and virtual realities.

That being said I am an advocate for fetish artists. I keep saying this to the point of sounding ridiculous but I'm going somewhere with this freedom of expression is now more important than ever since it is now illegal to unfurl banners that read Bong Hits 4 Jesus in public schools. In a legal and ethical sense, there is nothing wrong with fetish exhibition because the latitude, degrees of professionality from the creator and intransigent oversight linked to it demonstrate that that form of showing off (if you WANT to; it's all about choice in America) is practically harmless.

Given, there are real wingnuts who do both soft/hard core (have no doubt in this instance that the 'core is based on agenda, takes place in compromising public settings, is for money and the footage can later be used against both the abused and the johns) AND they do well-crafted fetishism (where the bad personal and political gotchas don't occur or occur very little at most). Watch out for those vampires they're socially and physiologically clever. Please reread these two paragraphs until you get it I'm really trying to nail this "-ism" down.

Some fetishism is little more then a guy buying a prostitute for one hour and doing one good session of whatever it takes to qualify as fetishism without crossing into carnal knowledge or porn territory. Dust in the wind.. A trained eye often can spot the difference between artist-fetishists and pornoggers. To counter the latter it is morally imperative the artists must continue to make cutting edge art, learn from one another, get clean, watch the Evil Eye staring down some hapless shill without achieving vanity, do it again and love life for its the natural wonders and beautiful people. Live to love! ( FYI, my fav art is digital mandelbrot fractals and those heavy pens attached to a string mounted to a desktop pendulum that draw symmetrical, orbital patterns on paper when you let go of the pen. All you have to do is change the color of the pen and the artistic diversity increases tenfold or more. )

My board message to Fotogs/Pornoggers:

- - - -

I just saw Mira Nair's "The Namesake".

http://imdb.com/title/tt0433416/

You all should see it because it tells a good story about Indian immigrants who come to the city. In some instances they focus on legs but not in ways you'd expect. The focus is spiritual and positive, not forced. The instances I described are unique to the Indian culture, not fetish based. I now know one more reason why Indian men are usually very calm in demeanor. They don't eat cows, they also have a history of rebellion against the British, and they follow in the footsteps of great women but don't seem to semi perpetually self-aggrandize their belief in Shiva and the greater universe - something people who post to this board should look into.

If all you amateur and professional fotogs haven't done it yet, figure out how to set aside your self-aggrandizement for yourselves ( think good thoughts, get a dog, take a walk on the beach, meditate ). Then, help your lifes(?) work take the goodheart path to getting professional lives part time outside of, then independent of your studio. If you're cool and don't get carried away with the vibes then you can probably handle fotog co-dependency. If the models are really in to you or vice versa then you're up for collaboration. If it's better then that - which by all accounts is quite rare on this board and just about everywhere on the Internet then you have a mutual interdependency with equitable checks and balances that you should sell as art for a high price in a safe community, not some run of mill commodity that all intelligent women and many men are seen through in trenchtown.

There isn't enough real fetish art here and that's lame. I think those folks who earnestly believe one cannot sell digital art at the expense of their models should thrive and always be given space here or elsewhere. I also think once more people get more time on their own, get lives and not jobs and new U.S./African/European business models competitively start to make gains and impact us that could change how we relate to each other permanently but, ever vigilant, I warn against such a System's evil counterstroke which consists of businesses and hackers hijacking identities (trawling customer databases, cookie data, Exif data and at times reading these boards) and stealing other's ideas for themselves or at the behest of others in the natural quest of learning, imitation and reconciliation gone bad.

I don't see enough tattoos/Mehndi/henna, harmless fetishes like trained pedal pumping, natural spontaneity and true posing like [stricken] and nations' culture here. I can tie it all together like any smart person but in the long haul I'd like to know what a woman has to say about this or anyone who has been disenfranchised. I see a lot of heterosexual American, Latino and Canadian branded stuff here a lot of jeans and [stricken] but not a lot of hot chicks rubbing breasts and other parts together, very little interracial subject matter and almost no tops of hands doing things or after being henna painted getting exhibited. Considering that henna is temporary it would be very nice to see more of it and it also is very much the least exploitive photographical method to models.