A young couple sit down together to watch a dvd. The film is Please Cum Inside Me (2000) starring world famous ‘porn star’ Jenna Jameson. This has become a normalised scene in the lives of couples all over Ireland. It is presented as harmless by the media and is the advice regularly given by agony aunts in newspapers and magazines to spice up sex lives.
The Freedom from Pornography Campaign warns us that this may not be as harmless as we have been led to believe. An important message of this campaign is that the widespread acceptance of pornography is harmful to womankind all over the world and can be linked to increased sexual violence.
The group is made up of members of Women’s Aid, the Rape Crisis Centre and other organisations working everyday with women.
Since the mid-1970’s feminists have developed their own non-religious, non-moral based view on the harms of pornography. The anti-pornography movement understand that it may be difficult for some to comprehend the direct effect pornography has on the view of women in the world. Women are objectified and dehumanised; they are presented as one-dimensional objects.
Imagine a girl of 16, in rural Montana, USA, on her way home from a football game. She is brutalised and gang raped by four men. Later that year, a middle-aged family friend rapes her again. She is forced from her family home. She is penniless and sees stripping at the age of 17 as the only option. This girl is none other than Jenna Jameson.
The figures show that most women in the sex industry have suffered some previous abuse or social deprivation. Unfortunately, the sexual abuse or mental scars of the ‘star’ rarely disturb the instant gratification of the viewer. This introduces another dimension into the argument that these women are empowering themselves.
More frightening are the reports from rape crisis agencies in Ireland directly linking pornography and sexual violence. One case from the South West of Ireland involved a woman who was forced to pose for sexually explicit photographs while men watched. She was forced to have sex with these men on video. She was threatened with the images being placed on the internet if she tried to leave. Another woman was forced by her ex husband to watch violent pornographic films and then act out the scenes with him. He physically and mentally abused her in this way for the duration of their relationship.
Additionally, it has been documented in several women’s magazines that girls feel they must be willing to submit to acts they see as demeaning because it has been normalised by the increased pervasion of pornography. The advice in columns, even in Sex and the City, is to embrace pornography as a positive way to explore sexuality. The Freedom from Pornography Campaign argue that the sexuality portrayed is inaccurate. It is not based upon respect, safety, equality or mutuality. In fact, most of the sex portrayed involves humiliation and degradation, and this is presented as pleasurable to those women. In some cases, sexual violence and the implication of rape are presented as normal and acceptable.
Many campaigners believe the answer lies in legislation; pornography is incitement to hatred against women and should be treated thusly. These campaigners point out that there are already laws limiting free speech in relation to racial or religious hatred so including women’s rights should not be such an unthinkable step.
One could argue that education is a more feasible option than a complete ban. Men and women alike need to be educated from a young age about pornography. Men need to be educated that pornography encourages a negative portrayal of women and by providing the demand, he is in turn adding to a cycle of sexual violence.
Women need to be educated in empowering themselves to demand respect. Sex is not about a performance, it is about pleasure, and more importantly, sexual equality. We all need to question our concept of liberation - who said that being sexually free was about openly viewing degrading material and succumbing to your partner’s demands.
One might be sceptical about the motivations of those involved in the multi-billion dollar pornography industry. Nobody can argue that the pervasiveness of pornography has resulted in greater profits for those involved.
In an ideal world, that 16-year-old girl would not have been afraid to seek the appropriate help to cope with the trauma in her life. Instead, she was drawn into a world where the trauma she experienced became her everyday life and ‘normal’. Moreover, countless men and women have enjoyed watching her degradation.
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