Interview with Robert Jensen on pornography (1 of 5)

Interview with Robert Jensen, author of "Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity"

Synopsis of the book: Pornography is big ... all » business, a thriving multi-billion dollar industry so powerful it drives the direction of much media technology. It also makes for complicated politics. Anti-pornography arguments are frequently dismissed as patently "anti-sex"—and ultimately "anti-feminist"—silencing at the gate a critical discussion of pornography's relationship to violence against women and even what it means to be a "real man." In his most personal and difficult book to date, Robert Jensen launches a powerful critique of mainstream pornography that promises to reignite one of the fiercest debates in contemporary feminism. At once alarming and thought-provoking, Getting Off asks tough but crucial questions about pornography, manhood, and paths toward genuine social justice.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• pornography
• porn
• sex
• media
• feminism
• commentary
• analysis
• interview
• robert
• jensen

[sgsilver]

The physical damage to women's bodies isn't enough of a downside to watching pornography? That along with the warped view of sexuality and the damage to relationships that it propagates?

[95topaz]

Sunclov: I've been more men than I care to say. In my experience, the ones who didn't view porn on any regular basis didn't expect me to do things I felt were degrading. All the regular porn viewers did. I, too, have chosen to be alone. Will we eventually have a society of women choosing to be alone and men wishing they could be with women and wondering why we women don't want them? HInt for men: It's the porn and your insistence that we all degrade ourselves like the women in porn do.

[lilprince585]

Yeah, because when a woman has fifteen guys fuck her and then cum in her mouth/on her face while calling her a cum-dumpster or a slut, it is really empowering and good for women. You sound smart!

[Plato86]

There is so much pornography in our society that one no longer needs to pay for porn, it is given away for free. Online you can find the hardest porn out there and watch it completely for free. That being said I do not see any down side, besides the physical damage done to the bodies of the porn actresses themselves. In fact if you look at studies done in Japan you find that increased usages of porn are positively correlated with reduced rates of rape. Jensen is right about racism in porn though

[sgsilver]

@johndory16 The "choice" of entering the pornography industry becomes much more complicated when looking at a woman's history of sexual abuse, her education, her socioeconomic level, and her economic opportunities. The percentage of women with histories of sexual abuse in the prostitution and pornography industries is much higher than women in general. Again, I'd read Jensen's book to get a fuller discussion of this concept of "choice".

[sgsilver]

@johndory16 I think what you wrote is interesting -- it is not something you would want your daughter to do, yet it is acceptable for other people's daughters to do it. I think you have to ask yourself why it is acceptable to use other parents' daughter for your own sexual gratification, but not for other men to use your own daughter for that same purpose.

[sgsilver]

@johndory16 He doesn't criticize pornography as "unmasculine" -- quite the opposite, I would say.

It may be fantasy for the men consuming pornography, but it is not fantasy for the women who are in pornography.

I would encourage you to read his book.

[JohnnyKubark]

@sunclov Every man you know wants to do anal and bondage? I really don't believe that.

[graleh]

@4teepee Whatever people do, it's always wrong, isn't it?

[4teepee]

@sgsilver -- That's a dodge. Even if his distinctions are correct, it does not preclude discussion of homosexual pornography. Again, though, that would put him in the middle of a PC thicket.

[sgsilver]

@4teepee If you read his book, he explains why he chooses to focus his criticism on heterosexual pornography. The main reasons are that there are different issues with gay and lesbian pornography and that heterosexual pornography is much more widespread and has had much more influence on society.

[4teepee]

@sgsilver -- Why does he single out heterosexual pornography? Dealing with homosexual pornography would put him in the middle of a PC thicket.