Anti-Porn Feminism
If we're going to define feminism as an ideology that supports equal political rights for men and women then I am all for it, gender shouldn't matter when it comes to voting oneself into serfdom, after all, but too often it is invoked for causes beyond this narrow definition. This is not a problem that is unique to feminism, of course, as it pervades all ideologies.
For example, libertarianism is simply a political ideology that takes a normative stance against the use of aggression in the public sphere. Following this logic, libertarians view any law against the use of drugs as an act of aggression against peaceful people. It would be a mistake, however, to assume that libertarians believe that drugs are good. Libertarians might believe drugs are good, but that position is not derived from libertarianism itself. The libertarian position is that one should not use violence against peaceful drug users, but any libertarian may believe that drugs are good or bad.
Now, as an aside, I know that some people will be angry that I would dare to criticize a feminist argument or a self-proclaimed feminist discussing feminism at all given that I am a heterosexual, caucasian male, but I'll take my chances all the same.
Emma Watson and Gloria Steinem recently sat down together for a discussion on feminism, and in their discussion they talked about creating an alternative to pornography that's more in line with their feminist views. The trouble is that they seem to be saying that pornography is for some reason opposed to feminism. Steinem says of porn:
We should at least have a word for sex that is mutual and pleasurable and not about domination, pain, violence, humiliation and so on... I was hoping that having a word for erotica, for shared mutual pleasurable empathetic sex, real pleasurable sex would help us do something about pornography.
The idea that pornography isn't mutual makes no sense. No pornstar is being held against their will and forced to engage in sexual acts, but we do actually have a word for a non-mutual sexual act that's truly about "domination, pain, violence, humiliation and so on": Rape. Pornography, however, is not rape. Pornography is a person or group of people voluntarily contracting to take off their clothes and possibly engage in sexual acts for the entertainment of other people. The reason they do this is because they are paid to do it, and if they don't feel as though they're being paid enough there is no point at which they can be forced against their will to do it.
Watson then chimes in by saying, "We should be creating lots of awesome, great alternatives to pornography." I would simply point out that there are already plenty of alternatives that exist on the market to porn. There is plenty of competition for porn in attracting people's attention. That said, if Watson and/or Steinem want to create yet another alternative, or simply produce pornography that they choose to arbitrarily define as "erotica," that's great as well. Competition is a beautiful thing.
I do, however, have to point out that their anti-porn demagoguery has nothing to do with feminism, and everything to do with their holier-than-thou attitudes. Looking down on and criticizing the choices of the performers, women and men, and the choices of the people who choose to look at porn, is nothing more than being a snob. That's not to say that one can't be both a snob and a feminist, but it's incorrect to equate the anti-porn comments of Steinem and Watson with their feminism when it is actually coming from their belief that they're better than anybody involved in porn.
It may come as a shock to our snobbish feminists Watson and Steinem, but one can also be a feminist and a pornstar. I hasten to make the point, however, that porn is not inherently feminist as Stoya, a pornographic actess, points out.
Nothing about the pornographic material I perform in does anything to intentionally further feminism. It is bluntly superficial entertainment that caters to one of the most basic human desires. Pornography exists and is not going to go away anytime in the near future. I see it as neither inherently empowering nor disempowering. Showing up on set and doing my job is not an act of feminism.1
It is, however, possible for porn and feminism to coexist, whatever Watson or Steinem may think on the subject. While I take little pleasure in defending pornography, I do enjoy smacking down dunderheads who choose to belittle the voluntary choices of others while ignoring the constraints of their own professed ideology.
1 I intentionally chose not to link to this op-ed where the Stoya quote came from for the simple fact that there is some sexually explicit language included that I am not comfortable linking to on this blog. However, some scruple or other compels me to point out that the op-ed is featured on Vice, so you can search for it there if you really want to.