Pornography is any material that shows explicit sex. This short definition is clearly debatable. Some people would argue in favor of art - some works that may show explicit sex but are in the domain of art and not pornography. Others will debate that porn is or can be a type of art. Other will question what makes the sex explicit. Pornography involves cultural conceptions of the body, social taboos, different manifestations of sexuality...
Debates on pornography surround the extremes. How can someone be pro-porn if there is child pornography, videos of bestialism, violent acts, etc. For this purpose, my definition of pornography will exclude any type of representation of sexual activity with children, animals and acts whose purpose is to hurt (excessively and without consent - I determine what is excessive for me, as well as I could interpret when there is an act without consent - curious arguments that need to be taken into account in pornography's subjectivity).
Pornography deals with sexual arousal. It is common to hear that pornography's purpose is to lead to orgasm or sexual pleasure. It is also accused of not having purpose beyond sexual arousal, that it is devoid of substance or content. The fact that pornography expresses sexuality gives it a purpose. The fact that there are different ways to express sexuality and that recording (graphing, writing...) one of these manifestations requires a (un)conscious selection means that it carries certain ideas and meanings socially accepted or not. This selection can be taken as a reflection of society or a way to contest ideals, it can be the enunciation of a different type of sex/sexuality, it can be fantasy, etc. It is/has substance and content.
It is usually the argument of anti-sex advocates that pornography is a mirror of society of how men perceive women and objectify them, and of how pornography reinforces or makes evident the ideas behind men's oppressive behavior toward women. However convincing this argument may be, it lacks a historical view of body as a concept, of generalization of women and the creation of an ideal Woman. As Judith Butler argues, the body has been taken for granted as material, biology: a body is a body, no questioning the body itself as a construction. For Butler, the body is a sexed body, charged with meaning, receiver of the inscriptions of culture, and thus performative in the sense of being the acts performed with it, on it, for it, those that constitutes its reality. As she argues for gender identities as regulatory fictions, I argue that in our contemporary society, despite having contested gender roles, we continue to impose them. This can be seen in how we make assumptions about consumers of pornography, how women and men perceive pornography, who gets to enjoy it, who produces it and for whom. On the other hand, Mohanty argues how women have been constituted as an homogeneous group with same interests and desires, implying notions of gender and sexual difference (and patriarchy) that can be universally applied. This analysis of homogenizing the experiences of different women erases the possibility of marginal and resistant modes and experiences.
First, there is the assumption of a compulsory heterosexuality with a focus towards reproduction as the ideal type for female and male genders to follow. Pornography not only shows other types of sexuality, but embraces them (in some cases exploits them, in good and bad ways- makes them known, markets them and can also fake them). Pornography is not about reproduction in the biological sense. It's about representation.
The images may be materially/physically real/concrete; but they represent a person's fantasy, giving it a realistic feel without it being real. Anti-porn feminists caution that pornography may conduce to people acting out what they see. However, this is not the industry's fault. A person has a responsibility regarding what they do or not.
When talking about pornography, there should be an important discussion on how to analyze pornography. There is a dimension of pornography whose purpose is to enjoy sexuality, discover other expressions, get in touch with own likes and dislikes. On the other hand, arguing that pornography is a reflection of society (porn as a mirror) is a shallow analysis. This does not take into account society's own flaws and taboos regarding sexual manifestations. This argument stays in the sphere of male domination over women. A fact that can be contested through pornography too. But most importantly, it does not consider the possibility of pornography being other than real. Pornography plays in the realm of fantasy. Pornographic content is considered so because of the existence of general body and gender taboos. If these did not exist, pornography would not have such a success in the consumer market. Pornography is capable of admitting these taboos and use/showcase/exploit them. By doing so, it constantly requires the consumer to push their limits regarding how they see man-man, man-woman, woman-woman, transexual-man, transexual-woman, man-man-woman... relationships. In this sense, it makes possible the idea of women and men wanting other types of sex and being able to exchange (power) roles.
There is a complexity trying to analyze pornography. For example, a representation of a woman bent over another woman's lap being spanked can be pornography. We cannot ascertain if the woman bent over is being pleasured, if the woman spanking gets pleasure out of the act, if the first on consented or not. How this representation is understood is completely subjective and is in the realm of fantasy. One can interpret this act as highly erotic, as abusive, as oppressive, as freeing, and so on. This is the opportunity that pornography gives its consumers, being able to add or subtract meaning from the material, make it their own, give it shape as they will. Fast forward, rewind, stop watching at a certain point, see just the end, cut the picture, fantasize oneself into it...
This sounds more like my position, than a definition of porn. I still have to identify where it became both, and then actually come up with an operational definition of pornography...
ReplyDelete:S