"Consent" in pornography: an analogy with combat sports

[tinaamarinaa]

Yes - that is a much more reasonable comparison.

[AceTrainer]

We have to justify it now?

[Sorge]

Do people still have porn collections?

[SarahConnor]

I think OP's point misrepresents the arguments against porn. The widely-perceived problem with porn, I think, is not that it exploits those few women who actually participate in it, but that it contributes to the sexual objectification of all women. I've never heard anyone make a coherent argument that the women in porn are being coerced into their occupation.

[JewelJ]

^^ I knew you guys would love that. I presume that 'adult' shops still sell something in paper and dvd format, even if there are free sites like xhamster (so I'm told

^ THIS!!!

[LAYDEEjENN]

I've been thinking this for a while through the thread. Thank you for stating it eloquently.

[MissB]

Some of them are coerced into it. But again why isn't there a concern for the sexual objectification of all men? Do gay men and straight women not think about sex?

[Pollyeeett]

Try going to down town Cairo, walk about a bit, then take your sister (if you have one) and leave her alone. I think there will be more than a bit of difference in reaction, sensible clothes and physical attractiveness will mean nothing too. You will probably be fine, she will not.

I've not been to Egypt, but I have been to Jordan which is considered fairly liberal, by Arab standards and that was still a scary experience.

[CassandraSe]

There isn't as much of a concern for it because (a) there isn't a worldwide epidemic of sexual objectification of men in culture and commerce and (b) most porn does not objectify men the way it does women.

[StefanAKASeTeK]

This.

Recently, some people did a couple of tests in a city nearby. for the first test, they dressed a young woman in skirt and top. Nothing indecent or even pushing the boundaries. Just a mini skirt to just above the knees, and something that showed the shape of her breasts without showing cleavage. And then they followed her with hidden camera. Over a short walk through the city, she got a lot of loud comments, a couple of idencent proposals up close, and one time the security crew had to step in to avoid her being harassed physically. This test was repeated a couple of times, with similar results. And many males didn't see it as a big deal. A lot of jokes were made about it.

A different crew tested a sort of role reversal: the put a couple of female construction workers on a scaffold, pretending to do some work there, and they'd shout lewd proposals at passing males. Quite a different reaction, from outrage to embarassment to pure shock, both with the victims themselves and witnesses.

I thought that was interesting. First, it seems that the problem for women is pretty bad, and we (society) are no longer upset about it. And second, when the roles are reversed, suddenly we (society) get upset about it.