"The Pornography of Everyday Life"

[bloom]

The creators of the documentary "The Pornography of Everyday Life" ( Jane Caputi,Susan Rosenkranz.) apparently take a point of view similar to mine - that belief systems can be analogous to religions - whether people recognize such or not. IOW - we all have a belief system - and much of it is shaped by our culture. Call it religion or not - it doesn't make any difference.


...The film illustrates how the pornographic worldview is a generally
accepted discourse, a habitual mode of thinking and acting that
underpins not only sexism, but also racism, militarism, physical
abuse and torture, and the pillaging of the environment. As such,
pornography appears not only in overt, "hard-core" forms, but also in
virtually every aspect of everyday life.

As the film illuminates, even though pornography is generally thought
to be the opposite of religion, it actually is an irrational belief
system analogous to a religion. Like much patriarchal religious
tradition, pornography is shown to be misogynistic and homophobic,
and defines sex as "dirty" or debased and the opposite of the mind or
spirit.

Pornography is also shown to support the worst tendencies of
patriarchal religions by appropriating previously sacred and potent
images of women, sex, goddesses, and the feminine principle,
colloquially known as Mother Earth or Mother Nature, and then
ritually profaning and defaming them. This works not only to demean
women but to justify and legitimize male divinity and worldly
authority.

The film concludes by suggesting alternatives and by illustrating how
visionary thinkers and artists resist the pornographic worldview by
re-imagining and restoring respect to eroticism, female sexuality,
and the female divine, and by calling for new understandings of
sexuality, nature, and society...

http://www.berkeleymedia.com/catalog/berkeleymedia/films/womens_studies_gender_studies/womens_studies/the_pornography_of_everyday_life

[Evoman]

1. .....

on edit: this is in response to your comment, not the topic in the link (effects and nature of pornography) which is a legitimate topic.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Very interesting!

Of course everyone has a world view. Doesn't matter what they use as a basis for it--they live by those concepts. Those who are frightened of changing a concept are fundamentalists--those who realize that living means changing concepts, sometimes completely shattering them, are the liberals or progressives.

[Evoman]

3. The word your looking for is conservative, not fundamentalist.

But hey, we are in R/T where words don't mean a goddamn thing.

[mongo]

4. What a bunch of talking out their asses

Pornography is also shown to support the worst tendencies of
patriarchal religions by appropriating previously sacred and potent
images of women, sex, goddesses, and the feminine principle,
colloquially known as Mother Earth or Mother Nature, and then
ritually profaning and defaming them. This works not only to demean
women but to justify and legitimize male divinity and worldly
authority.


Ok, besides the sex for pleasure is bad -- and that somehow sex has to be some "pure" mystical act, which is a bunch of hookum - how the hell does porn "legitimize male divinity"? In a good many porno's the male part is a disembodied cock, we never see the man's face. At least there is a cut to the woman's face every once in a while.

Geesh.

[Evoman]

5. I think that talking about pornography and patriarchy

is a good, legitimate topic. If you haven't noticed, porn has been getting violent and..well..unpleasant, to say the least. However, to discuss us it in terms of divinity and mysticism is stupid, and not giving the topic a fair shake.

[mongo]

7. "porn has been getting violent"

A small, small segment of the market is always pushing the evelope. Porn is not on the whole getting violent.

[Evoman]

9. Fair enough. n/t

[CGowen]

6. they define it in the article in this way

pornography (defined as the sexualized domination,
degradation, and objectification of women and girls and social groups
who are put in the demeaned feminine role)



Reminds of an interview I read with Annie Sprinkle and an Anti-Porn feminist

MY COVERSATION WITH AN AN ANTI-PORN FEMINIST
By Annie Sprinkle with Mae Tyme
.......
A: To me pornography is any photo, film or drawing that shows hard-core explicit sex. How exactly do you view pornography?

M: As something that is overwhelmingly by, about and for men. It is a world wide industry that generates gazillions of dollars every year from which women do not benefit.

A: In porn films female performers get paid a whole heck of a lot more than the male performers.

M: I didn’t know that. I’ve always viewed pornography as an aspect of oppression of women, not of our liberation. And I view the nuclear family pretty much that too. So I’ve tried to develop a sexuality that isn’t about men or what they want, but is entirely about women and how we relate to each other.

[mongo]

8. I love Ms. Sprinkle

She has done so much good over the years.

[CGowen]

11. Sometimes people just don't know what they are talking about

I think a lot of problems arise when people don't talk to each other or don't know what they are talking about.

[skepticscott]

13. By Tyme's definition

beer commercials would also qualify as porn

[CGowen]

14. lol . nt

[kiahzero]

15. That pretty much sums up sex-negative feminism.

M: As something that is overwhelmingly by, about and for men. It is a world wide industry that generates gazillions of dollars every year from which women do not benefit.

A: In porn films female performers get paid a whole heck of a lot more than the male performers.

M: I didn’t know that.

:eyes:

[saltpoint]

10. I could see turning the pornography industry over to gifted artists --

both men and women -- and letting them have editorial control.

Some pornography objectifies women, but it objectifies men as well. Often it features mostly parts and not people.

What about the female same-sex sections of pornography, and gay porn? Their definitions wouldn't seem to apply in those cases.

[mongo]

12. And the only way to get there

is to fully legalize adult entertainment -- as you can be arrested for selling a movie in 40 states, and making one in 49, and legitimize it.

Pieces like the OP only do more to further the system and piss poor porn we have today.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

16. I think this is utterly daft, I'm afraid.

This article contains lots of very grand sounding statements so general as to be more or less meaningless, and most of what substance there is to it is wrong.

Pornography isn't a "belief system", let alone a religion, any more that balet dancing is.

The unqualified claim that pornography is mysogynistic and homophobic is silly - much clearly is; some undoubtedly isn't.

Pornography is appropriating the worst tendencies of patriarchal religions? Just think about that claim for a little while - think about Islam and Christianity and what they've done.

I do love the idea of the wicked pornography cult ritually defiling the sacred and potent images of the divine feminine mother goddess. It would make a fascinating premise for a sci-fi novel, but it's got nothing to do with reality.

I am very, very suspicious of calls to "respect the female divine" - in my experience they usually turn out to be squishy, meaningless, postmodern, non-evidence-based attempts to substitute "spirituality" for attempts to understand objective reality. At best, they're harmless; usually, they're not.

This article appears to be the work of someone caught up by their own crusade to the extent that they've lost touch with reality, and substituted their own little world, which is a shame, because whether or not the prevalence of sexual imagery is increasing, and if so whether or not that is harmful, is an interesting and arguably important question worthy of a serious treatment.

[cosmik debris]

19. I agree

That's an excellent analysis.

[mongo]

17. Hit and run post?

Perhaps the author of this post has all the responders on ignore....

[Evoman]

18. I know she has me on it...and she ain't the only one!

Although I have to confess, I was a tad assholish to her, so maybe I deserve it. But I still find it hard to believe that so many people don't like me...I've always thought of myself as a fair person. Oh well...

[kiahzero]

21. It's the pirate.

Piracy scares people, unless you're Johnny Depp.

[Goblinmonger]

20. If we follow the article through to the logical conclusion

than it is just another example of "my religion is better than yours."

But, I do not accept the premise that any "belief system" is analogous to religion. Religion is different and requires very specific things from its followers. A "belief system" is not the same thing.

[Book Lover]

22. How misleading a title can be...

I thought the film's subject would be uncovering the awfulness we are exposed to on a daily basis that ordinary people cannot control: Britney's face everywhere, the ever-growing number of war dead, the disassemblage of our social structure, etc, etc.

As for the actual content: unfortunately, the false premise the filmmakers start with delegitimizes their whole assertion. Any definition of pornography must include both lesbian/gay porn and the work of people such as Annie Sprinkle, as well as the stuff for straight white guys..

[Ron Green]

23. I agree. A healthy world view is earth-based, democratic, sustainable and feminine,

An imperial world view is sky-based, exploitive and masculine. Pornography, in my experience, depicts a natural and powerful life force as something different, usually involving deceit, violence, exploitation or invasion of privacy. These are the same elements fascistic regimes use to maintain control over people.