However, I cannot accept that porn is unquestionably a good thing. Porn is a business, and as with any business, I think we need to be critical consumers. Any business that uses women's bodies as its raw material should be particularly suspect for feminists. It's hard to see the sort of women who would never stoop to shopping at Wal-Mart uncritically defending the porn industry in the name of sexual freedom. Would the same argument work if I tried to defend shopping at Wal-Mart in the name of price-rollback freedom?
Anti-porn feminists aren't as prolific as they used to be, either. Among third-wavers, it's way cooler to identify as a "pro-sex" or "sex-positive" feminist. However, among anti-porn forces, Stop Porn Culture is one of the better known organizations, and their conference is coming up this month.
Well, sex-blogger Violet Blue is pissed. Sure, I understand her pro-sex orientation, and the title of her book The Smart Girl's Guide to Porn indicates her attitude toward pornography. In a perfect world, I share that attitude. But we don't live in such a sexually liberated utopia. And as feminists, we are not wrong to question pornography's impact, good and bad, on our culture.
Upon learning of the upcoming conference, Blue decided to wage a pro-porn campaign in response, encouraging pro-porn folks to make short vids about their love of porn to win prizes. Because of her Web presence, she's managed to garner quite a response in the short time she's known about the conference.
Initially, I was taken aback by her sudden outrage. Anyone even cursorily familiar with anti-porn feminism would know about Stop Porn Culture. I wondered how a feminist who makes her living writing about sex, who has written a book on porn, wouldn't have her finger on the pulse of the opposition. Violet's "discovery" of the conference was old news to anyone familiar with the debate.
Unfortunately, the aim of Blue's pro-porn campaign has not been to create dialogue or even to present an opposing perspective. Instead, it has been yet another attempt to construct anti-porn feminists as hopelessly naive, culturally and technologically backward, and generally oppressive to the clearly smarter and more liberated sex-positive feminists. Here's her film introducing the pro-porn video contest:
Her tone of derision is evident throughout, but one highlight is her calling anti-porn activists "douchebags." That certainly elevates the conversation, doesn't it?
I wonder, though...
- How does misrepresenting the anti-porn side's argument and mocking their perspectives contribute to the discussion?
- How is condescension a "sex-positive" attitude?
- Isn't it hypocritical of pro-porn activists to parrot the dominant culture's attitudes about porn while portraying themselves as oppressed sex radicals?
Does Blue seriously believe anti-porn activists can even make a dent in the veritable tidal wave of pornography currently available? Seriously, anti-porn forces can't force your porn-loving ass "back in the closet" (a questionable appropriation of LGBT terminology). They can't make pornography disappear from the Web. Porn is a fact of modern American life.
But then condescension toward feminists concerned about the impact of porn on our culture is easier than actually listening to them and responding thoughtfully and respectfully. Saying "hooray for porn" uncritically is more popular than questioning it.
I am a feminist who is sex-positive and pro-porn, under certain circumstances. But I resent Violet Blue and others with condescending, hypocritical attitudes toward the opposition being my compatriots.
More on this campaign next time...
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