Who Wants To Be A Porn Star - SPC
Who wants to be a porn star?
Sex and violence in today’s pornography
industry
A slide show written and produced by Gail Dines (American Studies, Wheelock College),
Rebecca Whisnant (Philosophy, University of Dayton), and Robert Jensen (Journalism,
University of Texas at Austin) for Feminists Against Pornography.
INTRODUCTION:
This presentation includes graphic, sexually explicit images, including some commonly referred
to as hardcore pornography. No one under the age of 18 should be in the audience.
Many people find these images arousing or disturbing, or both. Remember, most of us who have
grown up in this hypersexualized culture—especially men, but women, too—are socialized to
find these images pleasurable. So, it’s not surprising that we have complex reactions to them,
including arousal.
If during the show people feel they can’t continue to watch, there are a variety of ways to deal
with that. If an image is too intense, it can help to just look away until you feel ready. Sometimes
people prefer to put their heads down and just listen. Or if things start to feel too overwhelming,
it can be best to leave the room.
These images also have the potential to trigger memories and feelings connected to sexual
assault and other kinds of violence. If during the presentation you feel you need help, please
signal the presenter or one of the organizers.
And if later you have reactions that are difficult to sort out, it can be useful to talk them over
with someone you trust. If you are in real distress, you may want to contact the local rape-crisis
hotline at _______________.
Slide 1:
Title
This slide show presents a feminist analysis of pornography and of the increasingly pornographic
culture in which we live.
The feminist critique of pornography is rooted not in a reactionary sexual morality, but in
concerns about this material’s consequences. How does pornography affect the women in the
industry, the men who use pornography, and the women and children who share their lives with
those men? What kinds of images are most prevalent and what messages about gender, sex, and
power do they convey?
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Who Wants To Be A Porn Star - SPC
For many, this show is an introduction to a feminist understanding of the pornographic culture,
and some of the slides may be hard to look at. We have included these harsh images not to shock
but to help us understand porn culture so that we can organize against it.
Our world has become what one writer has called “pornified.”
Slide 2:
Pornified book cover
A pornified culture is one in which raunchy, sexually explicit, and often sexist and racist themes
and images pervade our daily lives. Mainstream media outlets …
Slide 3:
MTV
such as MTV and …
Slide 4:
Man Show
other cable TV networks push the envelope with increasingly explicit and shocking content.
Slide 5:
fashion spreads
The pattern is evident everywhere, from fashion magazines …
Slide 6:
children’s toys and clothing
to clothing and toys for children …
Slide 7:
professional wrestling
to professional wrestling …
Slide 8:
Sports Illustrated
to sports magazines …
Slide 9:
Grand Theft Auto
to computer games such as Grand Theft Auto …
Slide 10:
hip hop photo
and many genres of popular music.
Slide 11:
collage of men’s and women’s magazines
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As we’ve just seen, highly sexualized images of the female body predominate in all media.
These women are mostly white, young, thin, and conventionally attractive. Above all, they are
presented as sexually available and willing.
Slide 12:
Britney Spears
Consider Britney Spears, whose catchy tunes and highly sexualized dance moves became a
favorite of young girls. At one time, Spears’ video director was Gregory Dark, who directed such
porn movies as “New Wave Hookers,” “Between the Cheeks” and sequels to “The Devil in Miss
Jones.”
Slide 13:
Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton is famous for two things: being rich and having sex on camera. When Hilton first
emerged on the pop culture scene, her family money made her a minor celebrity.
Slide 14:
One Night in Paris
But when the tape of her having sex with her boyfriend hit the internet, she became a star
overnight.
Porn websites are full of discussion about the Paris Hilton sex tape. One user says that it is
“entertaining because of her pouting and whining,” although, he adds, “I've seen a 14-year-old
fuck better than her.” Another comments that “it was fun to watch that stupid bitch demean
herself like a little whore.” While Paris Hilton may be richer than any of us can dream of, no
woman can buy her way out of a porn culture that reduces all women to bitches and whores.
Slide 15:
Girls Gone Wild
Ordinary women can be exposed in videos like “Girls Gone Wild,” in which intoxicated female
students, almost all white, are coaxed into taking off their tops—and more—in return for a Tshirt and 30 seconds of pseudo-fame. Why these young women agree to do this on camera is no
doubt complex, but their decision illustrates the trap women face: If they don’t perform they are
prudes, and if they do participate they can be ridiculed as stupid sluts.
Consider the pseudo-adoration that women get for total conformity . . .
Slide 16:
Pamela Anderson
as in the case of Pamela Anderson, who is celebrated as a sex goddess while simultaneously
being derided as a stupid blonde slut. Jokes about her breasts, sexual behavior, and presumed
lack of intelligence are common.
Anderson’s journey to stardom was propelled partly by the man who did more than any other
entertainer to popularize porn—Howard Stern.
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Slide 17:
Howard Stern
Stern was elevated to stardom by mainstream media corporations, many of which have financial
stakes in the porn world. His shows, saturated with the misogyny of the culture, have made him
one of the highest paid entertainers in the world. Stern has helped legitimize pornography as a
“boys will be boys” activity, serving as a kind of pimp who promotes aspiring porn star wannabes. And who is it that these young women “wanna be”? …
Slide 18:
Jenna Jameson book
Jenna Jameson—the world’s first true “porn star.” While there have been other famous
pornography performers, Jameson broke into the mainstream in a way never seen before—with a
best-selling book, exposure on television and throughout pop culture, and a huge following
inside and outside the porn world.
Slide 19:
“glamorous” Jameson images
Jenna Jameson is a perfect example of the relationship between a porn culture and the actual
pornography industry. In the pornified world of pop culture—for instance, documentaries on the
E!Entertainment channel and HBO—Jameson is shown living a wealthy, glamorous life with
expensive clothes and a big house.
Slide 20:
real Jenna
However, much of her real life has been anything but glamorous. Gang-raped and left for dead as
a teenager, raped again by her abusive boyfriend’s uncle, stripping at 16, and almost dead at 20
from drugs, Jameson’s life differs from that of many women in pornography only in that she
made it to her 30th birthday not only alive, but rich and famous.
The real world of pornography looks nothing like the chic world that E-entertainment network
sells. It is a world of harsh, often body-punishing sex, boasting such titles as . . .
Slide 21:
Round Butt Sluts [Read this title and the following titles.]
Slide 22:
10 Man Cum Slam
Slide 23:
Double Fucks
Slide 24:
Exploited Babysitters
Slide 25:
White Wife Black Cock
Slide 26:
Brutal Blow Jobs, and
Slide 27:
Jampacked Assholes.
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These images, and many more like them, are widely available on DVD and the web. The
examples of pornography in this presentation were obtained easily and for free through internet
searches. The images we show are from the mainstream of the pornography industry, and it’s
easy to find far more extreme material than we will examine. Our focus is on the most widely
viewed materials that the average pornography consumer uses.
Slide 28:
Looking back: Porn industry history
The mainstreaming of pornography is a relatively new phenomenon. While sexual images are a
part of human history, it is only in the last half-century that commercial pornography has been
widely circulated through mainstream channels.
The porn industry’s legal, cultural, and economic roots can be traced back to 1953 . . .
Slide 29:
First issue of Playboy, and a young Hefner
with the first issue of Playboy magazine. Playboy was an overnight success, making Hugh
Hefner a millionaire and establishing pornography as a legitimate business. Hefner’s willingness
to take legal and financial risks helped pave the way for porn’s next big success story, Bob
Guccione, who published the first American issue of Penthouse in 1969.
Slide 30:
Penthouse covers
But it was a strip-club owner in Ohio who opened up the mainstream hardcore market by
seasoning American consumers to accept the circulation of a harsher kind of pornography.
Slide 31:
Larry Flynt
Larry Flynt’s sophisticated grasp of the sex business, together with his willingness to push the
law, opened up the cultural space for mainstream hardcore pornography.
Slide 32:
Hustler, meat grinder and woman as hamburger
When this cover appeared in 1978, many felt that porn had reached an unacceptable level of
violence against women, and the cover sparked demonstrations by feminists across the country.
In fact, this was Hustler’s response to early feminist protests of pornography: “We will no longer
hang women up like pieces of meat.” He was just kidding, of course—throughout the issue
women are depicted as various kinds of food, such as pepperoni on a pizza, one of the many
ways Hustler sexualized the degradation of women month after month.
Flynt weathered the feminist criticism, and Hustler continued to be the most widely circulated
hardcore porn magazine in the world. Flynt packaged himself as a First Amendment hero . . .
Slide 33:
People v. Larry Flynt
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an image that director Milos Foreman later sold to the American public in “The People v. Larry
Flynt.”
Partly as a result of such media industry spin, pornography is seen by many as the price we pay
for freedom of speech, with little discussion of whose freedom is being celebrated, who pays the
price, and who profits.
Slide 34:
The pornography industry’s revenue
In the past quarter century, the low-tech holy trinity of Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler has
evolved into a complex, high-tech industry with estimated annual revenues of $12 billon in the
U.S. and $57 billion globally. Compare the pornography industry’s revenue with the Hollywood
box office—the amount spent on going to movies in theaters—and you can understand the
financial success of the industry.
OPTIONAL stat to mention (from Top Ten Reviews): The pornography industry is larger than the
revenues of the top technology companies combined: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!,
Apple, Netflix and EarthLink.
Slide 35:
AVN chart: number of hardcore titles released
This was made possible by the way in which the economic, technological, and social factors
came together. The profit motive led pornographers to exploit the opportunities created by new
communication technologies, and more expansive marketing was made possible because of the
changes in society’s norms. This graph from the pornography industry’s trade magazine charts
the incredible growth in the number of hardcore pornographic films released over the past two
decades.
Slide 36:
Internet porn stats
Not surprisingly, internet pornography is most popular of all—especially with very young people
who have grown up in a wired world.
Slide 37:
young boy at computer
This is a generation with unprecedented access to unprecedented quantities of hardcore
pornography beginning, on average, at age 11, delivered on DVD, the internet, and mobile
devices.
Together, these technologies—home video recorders, digital cameras, and the internet—have
made it possible for anyone to become an amateur pornographer (with or without his partner’s
knowledge) and to share pornographic trophies with others across the world.
Slide 38:
The content of contemporary pornography
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Who Wants To Be A Porn Star - SPC
As technology has expanded the means of delivery, the content being delivered also has changed.
Playboy may have been the norm 25 years ago, but today a much harsher hardcore sex dominates
the market.
What follows is a look at the content of contemporary pornography, some of which may be
difficult to view. Again, these images were not chosen to shock or upset, but because we need to
face the reality of “adult product,” as the pornographers refer to their material.
In what follows, the women’s faces are not blurred and are often recognizable. We cannot know
how these women would feel about having their images used in this presentation. We have made
the difficult decision to show them, because the women’s facial expressions are crucial to
understanding these images. We ask you to recognize with us the moral complexity of this
decision, keeping in mind that these women are human beings with dignity.
The pornography industry produces two main types of films, features …
Slide 39:
Forever Devinn
and gonzo.
Slide 40:
Don’t Tell Daddy
Features such as “20 Candles” …
Slide 41:
20 Candles
mimic aspects of Hollywood movies, with some minimal plot, character development, and
dialogue, all in the service of presenting the sex scenes. The vast majority of the stars, just as in
Hollywood, are young white women who meet conventional beauty standards.
Slide 42:
Virtually Jenna and How to Have an XXX Sex Life book cover
With their chic images and sophisticated production values, these movies seem more respectable
than gonzo. But this pornography teaches a man that sex means using and penetrating a woman’s
body however he likes, all the while assuming that she will love it as much as he does. It teaches
a woman that sex means performance, doing whatever pleases a partner, acting like she loves it,
and—above all—looking good while doing it.
Slide 43:
Vivid “girls”
Women at top feature companies, such as Vivid, often command relatively high salaries and can
make additional money on the strip-bar circuit. These are the women we see on the Howard
Stern show, in men’s magazines such as Maxim, and in other mainstream media outlets.
Slide 44:
Wicked “girls”
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Who Wants To Be A Porn Star - SPC
Wicked Pictures is another popular producer of feature pornography. While striving for
respectability and marketing itself as “couples-friendly”—the kind of pornography a man can
watch with his wife or girlfriend—features increasingly adopt the harsher conventions of gonzo.
For example …
Slide 45:
Jenna Loves Pain
in feature films such as “Jenna Loves Pain,” there is an explicit focus on domination, pain, and
violence. In typical porn fashion, the violence is presented as what she wants; the promotional
text claims that Jenna is taking “a punishing look back at some of her most extreme fantasies.”
Slide 46:
Girls Eat Girl
A mainstay of both feature and gonzo porn is the “girl-girl” scene, in which women have sex
with each other as a performance for men.
Slide 47:
Bella Loves Jenna
Pornography users are thus reassured that lesbian sexuality is really for men after all.
Slide 48:
Screw My Sexy Wife
Unlike features, gonzo films have no pretensions of plot or character; they are staged and
recorded sex, often in a private home or on some minimal set. Gonzo is extremely profitable and
the fastest growing porn genre.
These films often start with an interview with the woman about her putative sexual desires
before the man, or men, enter the scene.
Slide 49:
M.I.L.F. Hunter
A standard series of sex acts follows, including oral, vaginal, and anal penetration, often
performed while the men call the women names such as “bitch,” “cunt,” “whore.” As they are
being verbally abused and often aggressively penetrated, the women are expected to say over and
over how much they like it. Virtually every scene ends with the so-called “money shot” of male
ejaculation, usually in the woman’s mouth or on her face or body.
By the way, if you are wondering what “MILF” means, it’s an acronym for “Mothers I’d Like to
Fuck.” The MILF genre has become increasingly popular in recent years.
Slide 50:
Anal Suffering
Anal sex is now a standard feature in pornography, and is often presented as being exciting for
men because they see it as hurting or humiliating women. As one web site proudly advertises…
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Who Wants To Be A Porn Star - SPC
Slide 51:
“We at Pure Filth know exactly what you want, and we’re giving it to
you. Chicks being ass-fucked till their sphincters are pink, puffy and
totally blown out. Adult diapers just might be in store for these whores
when their work is done.” [Read this slide.]
Slide 52:
Altered Assholes
Women are often shown begging for acts that they know will be painful or harmful to their
bodies, with the results prominently displayed for the camera.
Slide 53:
Suckmebitch.com
In scenes with oral penetration, the man’s control, debasement, and humiliation of the woman
are central to the appeal. He may yank her head back by her hair, thrust violently into her mouth,
slap her face with his penis, and call her abusive names.
Slide 54:
This week’s fresh gag victims
In some scenes the man holds the woman’s neck in a choke-hold, or pinches her nose shut while
she fellates him. At the scene’s end, she is often made to demonstrate for the camera that she has
swallowed the ejaculate.
Slide 55:
Gag Factor
Causing women to gag on men’s penises is an increasingly prominent theme. JM Productions,
the producer of the “Gag Factor” series, brags on its website that the series—numbering 23 films
and counting as of March 2007—offers “the best throatfucking ever lensed.” Many of the images
depict women grimacing or crying. The same company has a newer line, “Throat Fuck
Gangbang,” which is on film #6 and counting. [Periodically update the number in each series.]
Slide 56:
Gag on my Cock
On these sites, such as gagonmycock.com, the women are mocked for the very submission that
men demand of them. “Can these fucktoys be any dumber? They think the t-shirts are a fucking
joke . . . the joke’s on them!”
Slide 57:
Her First DP, etc.
An increasingly common type of sex in gonzo is the double penetration or “DP,” in which a
woman is penetrated anally and vaginally by two men at the same time. Sometimes a third is
thrusting his penis down her throat. In industry slang, this is called “airtight”—every hole is
plugged. As one company’s promotional copy puts it:
Slide 58:
“Women were born with three holes for one purpose: To cram a cock
deep inside every cuddly cavity! Like true cock sockets, our whores
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Who Wants To Be A Porn Star - SPC
subject their beautiful bodies to the nastiest 4-way debauchery ever
lensed.” [Read this slide.]
The women in these movies often seem focused on simply enduring the sexual activity. Some
forget to moan and are reminded by an off-camera voice to look like they enjoy it.
Slide 59:
DP women’s faces
And in some DP films, the woman is shown grimacing, or saying things like “that hurts” or
“please make it stop”; her apparent pain is part of the appeal.
Slide 60:
ATM box covers
Some gonzo tapes advertise “ATM,” or “ass-to-mouth,” in which a man removes his penis from
a woman’s anus and puts it directly into her mouth or the mouth of another woman. There is no
increased sexual pleasure for the man here, outside of the woman’s debasement and humiliation.
Slide 61:
Fuck the Nanny
No matter what the specific sexual acts, a central theme of pornography is that in every possible
interaction, women are sexually available to men, things to be fucked, as in “Fuck the Nanny”. . .
Slide 62:
Secretary Porn
Or the secretary …
Slide 63:
Maid Bangers
Or the maid …
Slide 64:
Doctor Adventures
Or the doctor ….
Slide 65:
Nurse Hardcore
Or the nurse …
Slide 66:
Teacher Galleries
Or the teacher …
Slide 67:
Naughty Bookworms
Or the student.
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Who Wants To Be A Porn Star - SPC
Of course no one can predict the specific effects of pornography’s reduction of women to fuckobjects on any one man at any single moment. But ask yourself, would you like to be a female
student in the office of a male teacher who had just masturbated to “Naughty Bookworms”?
Slide 68:
Pornography and race
Contemporary mainstream pornography is not only deeply misogynist but also consistently
racist, in a variety of ways. Look back for a moment at the “Vivid Girls” …
Slide 69:
Vivid “girls” collage
and this time, pay attention to their color. Although a few Hispanic and Asian American women
appear, the women are disproportionately white, and the online “bios” of the women of color
often mention that they are mixed race. Conspicuously missing from this lineup of “sex
goddesses” are African American women, who in the porn industry...
Slide 70:
Hoodhunters
typically are relegated to the bottom. Pornography portrays black women as dirtier, more
whorish, and even more worthy of abuse than white women. This racist sexual ideology dates
back to efforts to define Africans as subhuman, with a raw and animalistic sexuality. According
to this ideology, black women are natural whores, and black men are not only natural pimps …
Slide 71:
Black Cocks, White Sluts and Black Gangbangers
but also sexually savage and debased, with massive, animal-like penises.
Slide 72:
Me Luv U Long Time
Racism also emerges in images of Asian women, who are depicted as slavishly obedient, with
exotic man-pleasing skills.
Slide 73:
Bangkok Suckee Fuckee #2
Sometimes the industries of trafficking and sex tourism, which supply western men with cut-rate
women and girls, are referenced for an extra thrill.
Slide 74:
Asian Street Hookers 40
The text promoting this film advertises “real Asian freaks from southeast Asia,” while the
promotional copy for “Burma Road” reads:
Slide 75:
“The orient has always been the site of sexual fantasy for western men.
The very thought of . . . tiny oriental girls, who open all portals to love is
enough to send most occidental men packing and jumping on an early
flight to the Far East!” [Read this slide.]
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Who Wants To Be A Porn Star - SPC
Slide 76:
8th Street Latinas
Hispanic women are typically presented as naturally hot-blooded. At some sites, like “8th Street
Latinas,” this stereotype is combined with the common pornographic theme of sexualizing
women’s economic desperation: “I go in search of desperate Latina babes who are trying to get
their citizenship and trick them into thinking I can help them out.”
Slide 77:
Pimp My Black Teen
This site, “Pimp my black teen,” boasts that “We find ordinary looking black teens from the
ghetto and pimp them out extreme-makeover style!” Teenaged black women are shown in
sweatpants and jeans for the “before” pictures—and in full hooker get-up for the “after.”
The text reads: “Kianna was in some serious need of some serious pimpin! This girl was just too
ghetto, baggy jeans, flannel and nappy hair. After we done her up, she was bad ass and ready to
get on camera with a big black cock inside of her. Kianna just took control with our man and
showed her thanks.”
This site exemplifies not only racism …
Slide 78:
Sexualizing children and teenagers
but also the idea that children and adolescents are appropriate sexual partners for adult men. This
idea is not new, and the amount of child pornography on the internet and elsewhere testifies to its
continuing appeal. While most people condemn child pornography, less often discussed are the
ways in which mainstream pornography legitimizes and incites adult sexual desire for, and
sexual use of, children.
Slide 79:
Barely Legal
Consider Hustler’s “Barely Legal” series, which advertises “from the homeroom to the bedroom,
these young cuties are eager to please and try everything.” This wildly popular series recently
celebrated the release of its 75th film.
Slide 80:
more Barely Legal, Playboy, etc.
This material is indeed legal because the women are 18 or older, but they are presented in
childlike ways: petite, with small breasts, childish expressions, and hair in braids or pony tails.
At these sites, men can find images of young vulnerable girls who look “eager to please” without
the legal risk of accessing real child pornography.
As pedophiles know, young girls often are eager to please—because they are terrified by adult
abusers and try to minimize the harm by cooperating. Too often, they are then accused of liking
the abuse because they cooperated.
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Slide 81:
Little April, Squirteen, Tiny Titty Teens
Typing “schoolgirls” or “teens” into any search engine reveals the enormous popularity of this
genre of pornography—sometimes called “pseudo-child”—where men can revel in fantasies of
violated innocence without having to see themselves as “real” pedophiles.
Slide 82:
Daddy’s Whore
Many films and websites explicitly sexualize incest, featuring men having sex with girls who are
portrayed as their daughters, stepdaughters, or nieces. Often the girls are portrayed as the
seductresses.
Slide 83:
Use My Daughter
On this site, a man brags about pimping out his daughter to other men: “I love the extra spending
cash I generate from letting these guys fuck the shit out of my daughter.”
The incessant sexualizing of childhood and youth casts another pornographic convention in a
different light.
Slide 84:
Playboy shave collage
Popularized by Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler, and now standard in the porn industry, the
shaving of women’s genitals blurs the line between adult woman and child.
Slide 85:
Shaved Angels
This pornographic fetish now extends not only to the result, but to the process of shaving itself.
Slide 86:
Pornography’s messages and women’s lives
Far from expanding our imaginations and visions of human sexuality, pornography endlessly
recycles a set of ugly and damaging messages: that women are stupid bitches, dirty whores,
worthless cunts; that women not only deserve to be used and abused, but like it and crave it; that
whether or not she wants it at first, aggressive and hostile sex fulfils every woman’s true nature.
Slide 87:
AVN covers
And at every opportunity, the pornographers suggest that what is being delivered is a slice of
reality, rather than a set of carefully constructed images choreographed for maximal male
arousal—and maximal profit.
Slide 88:
list of terms for women in porn
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In the world of pornography, women do not exist as human beings with a sense of privacy,
boundaries, or authentic desire. No part of any female body is off limits to male inspection,
evaluation, use, and abuse.
In this world, women are fuck objects. They have no history, biography, needs, or dreams of
their own. Women exist for one reason: to be penetrated by any available man. All women are
ready and willing to be fucked anywhere, anytime, in any way that he wants. Whatever “it” is,
every girl either wants it or has her price.
Slide 89:
Real women collage
Meanwhile, here in the real world, women struggle for dignity and equality—for equal pay,
access to health care, safe housing, secure employment, good day care, and reproductive control
over our bodies. Women don’t need “monster cocks” and “hot loads of jizz”. Women do need
bodily integrity and meaningful, respectful relationships with the men in our lives, whether they
be husbands, boyfriends, co-workers, employers, or the men we encounter on the street or in the
grocery store.
Slide 90:
Real women and porn collage
But why listen to a bunch of whores, cunts, and cum-buckets, when all they really need is to be
fucked? You don’t give a fuck-object equal rights—you fuck her. You don’t worry too much
about how a fuck-object feels or what she wants—you fuck her.
Thus women are left fighting for equality and respect in a world where the average man is
bombarded with, and masturbating to, images of women as degraded, debased, sub-human fuckobjects.
Slide 91:
Porn and us: Effects
Many people will agree that the images we’ve seen here are disturbing but argue that all
judgments are subjective, there’s no accounting for taste, and besides, it’s just fantasy. As long
as people are using pornography in the privacy of their own homes, it’s their business, right?
Unfortunately, pornography has significant effects on attitudes and behavior in the real world. To
argue otherwise requires us to ignore everything we know about how people develop and
function in a cultural context.
Slide 92:
Advertising collage
American businesses spend about $400 billion a year on mass-mediated advertising, precisely
because those images can have an effect on attitudes and behavior in the real world. Why assume
that pornography is the one mass-media genre that has no effects on people?
The discussion of pornography’s effects typically goes on in scientific terms, which is important.
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Slide 93:
Collage of porn images so far
But let’s start with our own reaction to the images in this presentation. Each of us can ask: How
did this make us feel? That reaction is one of pornography’s effects.
Slide 94:
Men buying porn
Although pornography is often discussed as a women’s issue, pornography is largely about men.
It’s made primarily by men for men. Men profit from selling it to the men who masturbate to it.
Pornography is, at its core, an issue for men.
So, what are the potential effects of pornography on men? One obvious effect is the way it
intensifies the cultural training to objectify women.
Slide 95:
“Literally—and I’m not exaggerating—any woman I would meet in the
course of the day, I would first evaluate on the basis of her breasts. That
didn’t happen before porn. . . . But I became that kind of guy.”
“I was just masturbating [with my wife]. All the while I was thinking
either about porn or trying to make her say things she didn’t want to
say. I was really just using her—she was like a masturbatory accessory.”
[Read this slide.]
Slide 96:
Collage of women’s fragmented body parts
Most men can recognize the way this process of objectifying and sexualizing women works in
their daily lives. Pornography helps teach men to take a human being and reduce her to a
collection of body parts—breasts, legs, buttocks, mouth. The integrity and complexity of the
whole person is lost.
But pornography also can profoundly affect a man’s relationship to his own body and sexuality.
Men speak of their insecurity and inadequacy around the size of their penis, the capacity to
maintain an erection without ejaculating too early, and their ability to satisfy a woman sexually.
Slide 97:
Penis spam
Email spam and other advertising then plays on the very insecurities that men’s porn
consumption fuels. When a man doesn’t experience women, sex, or his own body in the way that
pornography leads him to expect, his disappointment can quickly turn into anxiety and shame
over not being able to meet the porn standard. This leads to a profound loneliness that men
experience not only while masturbating to pornography but also when with a sexual partner.
Slide 98:
“A friend has the expression of ‘masturbating into a woman.’”
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Pornography conditions men for a sexuality that is isolated and disconnected—that feels, as one
young man puts it, like “masturbating into a woman.” Some men even report having to replay
the pornographic images in their head while having sex with a real woman.
These feelings of loneliness and shame easily turn into anger that is often directed at their female
partners. Indeed, men should be angry—not at women, but at the porn industry for manipulating
their fantasies and desires, for taking their sexuality and selling it back to them in a scripted,
plasticized form that robs all of us of our humanity.
Slide 99:
Slide of “perfect” women’s bodies
Pornography also affects women’s sense of self. Given the onslaught of images that women
see—including women’s magazines such as Cosmopolitan, television shows such as “Desperate
Housewives,” men’s magazines such as FHM, and pornography itself—it’s not surprising that
women report dissatisfaction with their bodies.
Women often feel like they don’t measure up to the writhing, oiled, voluptuous female bodies in
this pornified culture. Some women report that this self-objectification goes so deep that during
sex they are less concerned with what they feel than with how their bodies look.
Many women are nagged or guilt-tripped by their male partners to act more like the women in
porn—to shave their genitals, to strip, to have anal sex or threesomes, to be tied up or spanked, to
be filmed having sex—in general, to act in ways that feel demeaning, inauthentic, and
uncomfortable. One woman reports …
Slide 100:
“I wanted to be the cool girlfriend. Like, I’ll be cool and watch porn and
fuck you. I didn’t want to come across as Pollyanna-ish. … [But] there
was something about him needing the objectification of another woman
to turn him on. Then he could transfer that excitement to my body. … I
began feeling very insecure about my body image and I had never been
self-conscious before in my life. I started feeling like I was fat. Like I
wasn’t sexy enough.” [Read this slide.]
And if pressure from our partners isn’t enough, we can always get helpful advice from women’s
magazines, where they’re always ready to assure us that pornography is normal and healthy and
that we should relax and join in on the fun:
Slide 101:
Marie Claire porn promotion
Here Marie Claire promotes internet porn to women as our “hottest new sex toy.” From blow
jobs on the school bus to strip aerobics classes at the local gym, our pornographic culture is
training girls and young women to provide unconditional sexual service to boys and men on
demand.
The price women and men are paying for this is a high level of dissatisfaction in intimate
relationships.
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Slide 102:
“We’ve been together five years. … Recently, I discovered through the
computer that he’s fascinated by hardcore pornography. When
confronted, he said I have no right to be upset. … I feel I’m not going to
be able to satisfy his urges because I’m unwilling to do what really turns
him on … it’s making me question whether I’m willing to continue a
relationship with someone who can disregard my feelings so easily.”
[Read this slide.]
Researchers have also long investigated the relationship between pornography use and sexual
violence. The question isn’t whether pornography causes rape in a simplistic way, but rather how
we can understand the complex role of pornography and media in sustaining a rape culture.
Slide 103:
Rape in the U.S.
This is a crucial question in light of the epidemic levels of sexual assault in this society.
The research to date has demonstrated some connections.
Slide 104:
Research effects
For instance, after viewing pornography, men are more likely to report decreased empathy for
rape victims, decreased sexual interest in their girlfriends or wives, and increased interest in
coercing partners into unwanted sex acts.
As you can see from this summary, there are ample reasons to believe that regular pornography
use affects attitudes and behaviors in some of the men who use it. These effects are even more
troubling in light of pornography’s articulation of the myths about rape that men learn in many
other ways.
Slide 105:
Rape Myth: Women don’t know their own minds; men know better what
women really want and need sexually.
“Lystra is homesick and wants to move back to Korea. Professor Lawrence
…knows what’s best for his best students – like his cock inside her moist, little
hole”
Slide 106:
Rape Myth: A woman might not want it at first, but once she gets a taste
of hot sex, she can’t get enough.
“Katie was a bit reluctant at first but after two hard cocks stretched her tight ass
wide open she screamed with joy.”
Slide 107:
Rape Myth: Women are sexually manipulative.
“Jaclyn Case is pretty smart about how she tricks boys into coming over and
giving IT to her.”
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Slide 108:
Rape Myth: Women are sluts who get what they deserve.
“Gia is a nasty little whore that can't seem to get enough cock. We make sure this
slut gets what she deserves and more!”
Slide 109:
Rape Myth: Getting her drunk is a way to get her in the mood.
“You know how girls act after a couple shots right!!?! They lose their
inhibitions and start sucking and fucking like their life depends on it!!! … watch
alcohol bring the freak out!!!”
Slide 110:
Rape Myth: All women are whores at heart and want to be fucked by
any available man.
“Vanessa might seem like a sweet girl, but deep inside, she’s a whore wanting big
white dick.”
Given the near-total convergence of pornography’s messages with the ideology of rape, it is hard
to take seriously the idea that using pornography makes men less likely to rape by giving them a
harmless sexual “outlet,” especially when no research supports the claim. Pornography
reinforces pro-rape messages, teaching men to respond both physically and emotionally to
thoughts and images of abusive and forceful sex.
Slide 111:
Clothesline Project
Rape hurts . . . [pause as long as necessary to allow the audience to process]
Slide 112:
“rape porn” search results
And pornography presents the sexual abuse of women as masturbation material.
No one claims that all men who use pornography become rapists, or that rape would disappear if
there were no pornography. But being exposed to powerful and sexually stimulating messages on
a regular basis affects people. As the feminist theorist Catharine MacKinnon has put it …
Slide 113:
“Pornography codes how to look at women, so you know what you can
do with one when you see one.” [Read this slide and pause.]
Slide 114:
Women in the pornography industry
What about the real women behind the images? For many people, it’s tempting to evade
criticism of the porn industry by asserting that because these women choose to participate, the
industry can’t be criticized.
To focus on women’s complex choice to participate, while portraying anti-pornography feminists
as judgmental and critical of the women in pornography, has been a powerful way to erase and
undermine critique of the industry itself and of those who most benefit from it—the producers,
pimps, and consumers.
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It’s true, however, that many young women eagerly seek “careers” in the porn industry, and we
should ask why.
Slide 115:
Pretty Woman and stripper poles
From hit films like “Pretty Woman” to stories in women’s magazines about pole dancing, girls
and women are encouraged to see being a call girl, stripper, or porn star as glamorous, lucrative,
and exciting. If the most important thing in a woman’s life is to be hot, sexy, and desired by as
many men as possible—who fits that description more than a porn star? So it is not surprising
(especially in recent years as glamorizing portrayals of the industry increase in mainstream
media) that many women see it that way.
In her book, Jenna Jameson provides a useful corrective to this glamorized image:
Slide 116:
“Most girls get their first experience in gonzo films—in which they’re
taken to a crappy studio apartment in Mission Hills and penetrated in
every hole possible by some abusive asshole who thinks her name is
Bitch. And these girls . . . go home afterward and pledge never to do it
again because it was such a terrible experience. But, unfortunately, they
can’t take that experience back, so they live the rest of their days in fear
that their relatives, their co-workers, or their children will find out,
which they inevitably do.” [Read this slide.]
For many of these women, the abuse that they suffer in the industry is all too familiar, as they are
survivors of child molestation and/or rape. While there is little research on pornography
performers, a variety of studies over the years have indicated that up to 85 percent of women in
prostitution were sexually abused as children or teenagers. When children are sexually exploited,
especially by people whom they love and depend upon, they come to believe that their purpose
in life is to be sexually used by the people around them. As Andrea Dworkin said, child sexual
abuse is the boot camp training program for pornography and prostitution.
One former porn actress, herself a survivor of child molestation, estimates that 80 percent of the
women she worked with in the industry were similarly abused:
Slide 117:
“I saw them re-living their childhood experiences by getting into that
industry. They were looking for attention, pleasing men, and being
abused. And that’s all they know … a lot of these women are re-living
what they know how to feel.” [Read this slide.]
Pornography performers interviewed on TV pseudo-documentaries typically say they do it
because they just love sex, because they feel good about their bodies, because it makes them feel
powerful and liberated. No one can know for sure what any other person feels, but it’s important
to remember that these women are “on the job,” an essential part of the industry’s marketing
scheme.
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Not featured in glamorized mainstream media portrayals is the bodily damage women risk in the
industry. Many women suffer from botched breast implants and other surgeries, and condom use
is still the exception, not the norm.
Slide 118:
http://www.aim-med.org/Risk-10-28-05.pdf
The website of the nonprofit Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation lists some of the
health risks of standard porn sex acts—from HIV and hepatitis to rectal chlamydia, gonorrhea of
the throat, and damage to the vagina, throat, and anus. Scenes in which numerous men ejaculate
in a woman’s face are extremely risky, the site notes, since “the eye is a direct conduit into the
bloodstream.”
Slide 119:
http://www.aim-med.org/recovery.html, first page
The site also lists numerous recovery and support groups for drug and alcohol addiction, as well
as for incest survivors . . .
Slide 120:
http://www.aim-med.org/recovery.html, second page
. . . suggesting that—as many present and past participants have testified—these mental health
problems are rampant in the industry.
The idea that women in porn make a lot of money is itself a distortion, fueled by intense media
focus on the few Jenna Jamesons of the world. Most women in porn do not get rich, particularly
since they have a very brief “shelf life”—so even if they initially command a high rate per scene
or per movie, their market value as “fresh meat” declines rapidly.
It can be a very fast trip from here …
Slide 121:
Sophia Syndrome
to here.
Slide 122:
Brooke, sperm catcher
Pop culture tells us that pornography is a form of empowerment for women, a way to take charge
of our sexuality and make money.
Slide 123:
Recruitment sites
In the last few years, there are many new agencies that specialize in recruiting young women to
the porn industry with the promise of making big money and becoming a star. Indeed, the
money is an attraction for mostly young, working-class women who face limited choices in a
harsh economy. Given those economic realities and the glamorization of pornography, it’s not
surprising that some young women will see this as a viable career option.
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Our goal is not to condemn, but to understand, to empathize, and to create a different world.
Slide 124:
Fighting the porn culture
A first step to that different world is honestly facing what pornography is and what kind of
culture it has helped create, however painful that might be. That was the goal of this
presentation.
Slide 125:
Protest march, books
Thirty years ago, many brave women—and a few brave men—began the work of challenging the
pornographers. Today, we have much work ahead of us as we begin the next phase of a
movement against pornography based in our shared humanity and commitment to social justice.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, but like in all important struggles there are many ways we can
contribute, both at the personal and the collective level.
Slide 126:
What can I do? … Plenty, sister!
Women must insist that the men in our lives stop using porn. It’s understandable that most men
will have done so; they can’t be blamed for having followed the pack. But once they know
better, there is no excuse: it has to stop and it has to stop now.
Men who use pornography must quit. Don’t collaborate with the porn industry and allow them to
manipulate you into buying their products—or buying their lies about women, men, and sex.
You have to take a stand against an industry that is out to bankrupt you both financially and
personally.
Slide 127:
No porn pledge
Many people have already decided not to use pornography, and not to have relationships with
those who do.
Slide 128:
One angry girl
Women and men are starting, once again, to speak out against porn in books, blogs, websites,
and other venues. The resource sheet we’ll be handing out lists many sources of information and
analysis, and gives you some ideas for getting involved. Training is available for those who want
to take this presentation into their communities, schools, and religious organizations.
Slide 129:
Kiss the pimp goodbye
The pornographers have hijacked this culture and have met little resistance. While they get rich,
we get poorer in so many ways, and all of us suffer as we sink deeper into a porn culture that
robs us of our humanity, dignity and self-respect.
Slide 130:
NFAM
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It is now time to put up a fight and take back not only the night, but the day, the society and
ultimately our lives. Thank you.
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