Pornography is deeper than uncensored sex
By Jennifer England, Assistant Campus Life Editor
October 18, 2007 | 12:39 a.m.
It’s a late night. A student is feeling lonely, so he gets on his computer and runs a Google search. He types in one small, four-letter word and gets over 158,000,000 results. Keyword: porn.
For many people, viewing pornography is a seemingly harmless activity. They get their fill of sexual stimulation while the porn actors and actresses receive a hefty paycheck for their talent. Rarely does anyone consider the meaning and consequences of pornography, but one man has, and he wants to end it.
Robert Jensen, author of “Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity," spoke to a full audience in Margaret M. Walter Hall Wednesday night about the ill effects of pornography. His speech was meant to awaken attendees, both male and female, to the idea that pornography is more than just cheesy sex tapes and Internet clips. It’s a growing fascination that is negatively affecting society.
“Pornography is what the end of the world looks like,” he said. “It’s a material representation of the consequences of hierarchy based on patriarchy, white supremacy and capitalism.”
Pornography, bluntly
Throughout history, people have explored sexuality through forms of art because for many, sexuality is a mystery. Jensen fully supports this expression through art. However, he argues that pornography doesn’t fit that mold.
“It’s not art,” Jensen said. “Pornography is an industry.” In fact, it’s an estimated $12 billion industry in the U.S. that’s been steadily increasing during the last 30 years. While bringing in more money, pornography is becoming crueler, more degrading and more racist.For Jensen, this phenomenon is the basis of his speech, appropriately titled “The Paradox of Pornography: Sex, Intimacy and Communication.” As pornography becomes more mainstream, “how is it that in a civilized society, an industry that’s becoming more degrading and racist can become more accepted?” he said.
There is a category of pornography called interracial porn, which typically features black men having sex with white women. Given the earlier history of keeping white women away from black men so that they wouldn’t be raped and lose their purity, Jensen said that interracial porn is the ultimate way of degrading white women by having black men “rape” them. It is also racially degrading.
“Every ugly, racist stereotype that exists can be found in pornography,” he added.
To further illustrate his point, Jensen discussed the increasing popularity of gonzo pornography, a type of porn that abandons typical conventions of Hollywood films and is literally only sex on tape. Gonzo films depict sexual acts that aren’t common in everyday life, including double penetration, double anal and vaginal sex, ass-to-mouth and gagging. As one member of the porn industry once said, gagging is just “aggressive throat fucking.”
The pornography industry continually produces material that solely intends to humiliate women. With 13,000 new films coming out in the U.S. last year, Jensen said that clearly these tactics are attractive because “pornography works” and is also “very painful” to stop using.
Put an end to it
Jensen argues that although it may be especially hard for men to stop viewing pornography, it would also be well worth it to quit. “Connection, communication and intimacy, real intimacy, [result when pornography is no longer used],” Jensen said. “It doesn’t come in seven minutes. It’s a struggle, but it’s worth it to get there. If you do that, you will ‘get off,’ not in the sense that we traditionally think of it, but in the way of getting off the addiction,” he added.
According to Jensen, people are hesitant to deal with pornography because it’s a mirror into whom they really are, and that is something that people just aren’t willing to face. He believes that there is only one way to disperse of any paradox: prove a falsity in one of its assumptions. In the pornography paradox, the false assumption is “that our culture isn’t civilized,” he said.
Whether or not our society is civilized may be debatable- although once Jensen announced that no images would be shown about 10 men left the room- but what’s not disputable is the question of where pornography will venture next. Jensen said that one porn producer believed that hardcore violence is probable, as well as younger and younger girls being featured in films.
The lesson to be learned is clear: combating sexual frustrations and crises with pornography is not the best solution to the problem. The next time a male student, colleague or friend decides to catch the latest Jenna Jamison flick, remind him that she’s more than just “a piece of ass.” She’s a human and a woman.