I've always been attracted to controversy. So when my twitter feed erupted with an entire three tweets about an Internet creeper, an uncredited blog post and Internetiquette, I almost came in my pants.
Speaking of orgasms, I came across another post on this blog regarding porn stars.
Oddly enough, I've started to become a bit of a porn connoisseur (in a way). I've watched some of the major porn from the 70s, and several from today.
It's mostly heterosexual porn, although sometimes there are girl-on-girl scenes. With the exception of one pegging scene (in "The Opening of Misty Beethoven"), these movies depict only the standard stuff: vaginal, oral and anal sex.
What I've noticed is that, while the standard of beauty may be diverse, mainstream porn both then and now is a very male-centric, submissive-female genre of film.
Despite all of the advances in women's rights, the working conditions for porn actresses and a (slight) decrease in the taboo nature of working in porn, this simple fact still remains: mainstream pornography objectifies women.
(For purposes of this discussion, let's only consider the most recent spate of porn that I've watched, made in the past 10 years. Also, please don't judge the DVD titles.)
The women in this specific genre of porn are depicted as "perfect" when submissive to their male co-stars ("The Perfect Secretary"), in need of fucking to advance their careers ("The Contractor") and in need of "punishment" (spanking) for their sexual desires (almost all porn movies).
Let me acknowledge first that all of these aspects and story lines have legitimate places. Domination and submission, sadomasochism and bartering sex are fine as part of the genre, but they have largely become the standard for the genre.
Which, in and of itself, would not be a problem either, except that it translates to borderline physical abuse of the women actors.
Cunnilingus in these movies is violent and mashing and when the actors fellate one another they gag and gurgle uncomfortably. From personal experience, I know that residual vaginal fluid and a palmful of spit does not pleasurable anal sex make. Sometimes even vaginas look too dry for gratifying consensual sex.
Sex is supposed to be fun and enjoyable for both (or all) parties. Whatever revs your engine is great. But I have yet to see porn (that I would watch and enjoy) that looks like everyone is truly being pleased by their partners.
Posts
