Is contemporary porn still demeaning to women?

[SlaverTickler]

Hey, this may seem like a no brainer to some, but very philosophical to others. After watching the two Pirates films as well as "Young Gunns" and several other Adult Features produced by Digital Playground, I was wondering if women's perspective on Pornographic movies could be swayed (or even gradually changing). In my opinion the folks at Digital Playground have really gone out of their way to produce stuff that isn't just Pornographic, but actually erotic, as well as entertaining in other ways.

First and foremost they have brought up the game on the engineering side of things, including using CGI in the two Pirates movies, Young Gunns, and Fly Girls. The acting is still... B-Movie at best, but that doesn't mean it's god awful either. More over, most of their films have a story... stop laughing... I mean it man, stop laughing, ok I'll wait until you come back from peeing from laugh so hard...

... ready, can I continue now, are you sure? Ok good.

Considering the above, and the fact that I feel most performers go into the business seeing it for what it is, rather then under the delusion that it will get them into Mainstream Acting. I believe Jenna Jameson reinvented the definition of a porn star, and others have taken what she's done and run with it. Not that Jenna hasn't had her issues with drugs, booze, or other things (but you can find that in any industry correct?). What I mean is she went into the industry, fully aware of what it was, and with the intent of becoming it's biggest star (which she did by the way). Thanks to Howard Stern she was able to get several mainstream rolls, including his film, and a few tv spots. Most importantly though, were her Endorsement for jeans, shoes, and her own line of sexual aids.

Would I want my sister to do it, no, but I would have her back if that's what she wanted to do. Would I date an currently active porn star, no, but if the industry was in her past, and she was doing something else... hey who doesn't have shit in their past somewhere. We aren't exactly talking about murder here correct, and since I am going on 38 don't exactly expect the woman I date to be virgins anyway.

So, back to the question, do women still feel porn is demeaning?

Please post a comment.
ST

 

[MrMacphisto]

I've always found the concept of porn being demeaning to someone or other to be rather strange. With the exception of snuff films, porn is generally something produced consensually. All the parties involved are acting voluntarily.

If you've agreed to participate in something of which you're fully aware of all the details, you're not being demeaned unless you're getting off to simulated demeaning.

Demeaning women would involve forcing women to do something degrading against their will. For example, forcing all women to wear a burqa is demeaning. Porn doesn't really come into play here.

 

[Bothersome]

"Is it demeaning for gender X to consensually perform action Y?"

Fill in the blanks.

 

[Bohemianne]

Some part of the society will declare it demeaning while the rest will say no. In my POV, when a person makes a choice on any task, unless it is at gunpoint, he/she is accountable for the consequences of such actions. We also know how numerous people are basically unkind and judgmental on a whole lot of things in general.

 

[obama666]

So if 6 females decide to make, say a tickling video and the government, Gloria Steinem or Tipper Gore declare it's exploitive of women and declare it should be banned, then I guess it should be banned because some people know what is best for others (?) (!)

 

[Bothersome]

So if 6 females decide to make, say a tickling video and the government, Gloria Steinem or Tipper Gore declare it's exploitive of women and declare it should be banned, then I guess it should be banned because some people know what is best for others (?) (!)

Nobody's discussing whether anything should be banned. Don't make this a political discussion.

It's a discussion of whether an act should be considered demeaning. Legality has nothing to do with it.

 

[General Zod]

If porn is demeaning to women.why is not dememaning to men?

 

[Dave Pavet]

Actually the marches against porn in the 60's and 70's were organized by political movements (feminazis and their leftist loon followers) and were introduced into the mainstream media as an issue that was "framed" as deameaning toward women so they could cleverly tip toe around the first amendment. In other countries (socialist/Islamic) they get rid of porn by a government agency declaring it illegal for whatever reason, I guess demeaning toward women is as good a reason as any.

 

[Wolf]

Nobody's discussing whether anything should be banned. Don't make this a political discussion.

Yeah, you're gonna start seeing a lot more of that bleed out into these forums, now that they're enforcing some rules in P&R. Some people just can't help themselves...

 

[MrMacphisto]

Actually the marches against porn in the 60's and 70's were organized by political movements (feminazis and their leftist loon followers) and were introduced into the mainstream media as an issue that was "framed" as deameaning toward women so they could cleverly tip toe around the first amendment. In other countries (socialist/Islamic) they get rid of porn by a government agency declaring it illegal for whatever reason, I guess demeaning toward women is as good a reason as any.

Some of it came from that, but it also came from ultraconservative religious groups.

Groups like Focus on the Family have always been anti-porn. The same is true of the American Family Association.

 

[goddess_nemesis]

I can understand why it would be considered demeaning to women because porn is still mainly aimed towards men. The porn industry has maybe evolved over the years by realizing that some women are into porn as well so they've created porn aimed towards women.

 

[Amnesiac]

It really depends on the producer, I think.

Because porn is a broad niche market--weird but true--the people who get into it have a wide variety of emphases in which to specialize; they do so for money, but then tend to cast their own creative perspective on the medium. The focus tends to change depending on the age of the producer in question. Old school producers from the Golden Age of Porn (a.k.a. The 70s) still tend to hold more of the older-fashioned attitudes of sex, porn, and women and the like, so their products tend to be among the more familiar pornography associated with "degrading"; New-School producers, having grown up with porn, tend to think of it as a creative medium, and so they try to do more audacious and unorthodox projects.

Added to which, a producer has to consider what kind of customer base they want to tap, and film accordingly:
Jim Powers of JM Productions caters to the extreme scum-porn crowd with cheap productions that focus on extreme endurance sex, hiring mostly part-time prostitutes because of their affordability.
Tristan Taormino specializes in sex-positive educational videos that emphasize fun and communication as important ingredients in sex.
Khan Tusion focuses exclusively on the exploitative and degrading aspects of pornography, requiring emphatic discomfort in all his videos
Eon McKai considers porn to be an art form and incorporates avant-garde editing and montage techniques into his work.
Brad Armstrong, Sam Hain, Robby D. and Joone explore the Hollywood potential of porn by adapting A-/B-list production values into their projects, blurring the line between porn and mainstream. This approach is becoming increasingly popular.

Individual performer preferences also play a part. Sasha Grey openly indulged in the more exploitative aspects of porn with extreme and endurance sex, while male actors like Jonathan Morgan and Jack Napier have adamantly refused to participate in hard-edged fare, preferring the relaxed and comical instead.

So contemporary porn CAN be degrading to women ideologically depending on your idea of how women should be treated or viewed in society. But the industry has become far more expansive in it's viewpoints, and more producers than before prefer to make porn more mainstream-friendly for a wider audience.

At the end of the day though, the culture's consumption is what determines the aesthetic. If degradation lovers pay more than the sex-positive consumers, then degradation or exploitation themes will be more successful and prevalent (as well as cheaper to produce) than the latter.

 

[kopfhorer]

My two cents:

Some porn production companies think little of their actors and/or audiences, and it shows. Others, especially the woman-run or oriented production companies produce material that's a lot morerespectful to one's intelligence, and is usually a lot hotter. You've got directors like Candida Royalle who show the actors actually enjoying themselves on-camera, and Anthony Comstock (who named himself after a 19th-century anti-smut crusader) making films featuring happily committed or married couples and presenting them as such. Granted, many porn actors lack certain rights and privileges which other show-business workers enjoy, but that may be changing.

In my opinion, there's more work that's demeaning to women at some temp agencies than on the set of a porn movie.

 

[Ishaanshah]

I don't think that the porn really demeaning to women.

 

[SlaverTickler]

Some part of the society will declare it demeaning while the rest will say no. In my POV, when a person makes a choice on any task, unless it is at gunpoint, he/she is accountable for the consequences of such actions. We also know how numerous people are basically unkind and judgmental on a whole lot of things in general.

That't why I don't own any Linda Lovelace movies. As I understand that's exactly what her husband did.

 

[SlaverTickler]

Brad Armstrong, Sam Hain, Robby D. and Joone explore the Hollywood potential of porn by adapting A-/B-list production values into their projects, blurring the line between porn and mainstream. This approach is becoming increasingly popular.

Those guys are awesome. By the way, Brad is from Toronto.

Individual performer preferences also play a part. Sasha Grey openly indulged in the more exploitative aspects of porn with extreme and endurance sex, while male actors like Jonathan Morgan and Jack Napier have adamantly refused to participate in hard-edged fare, preferring the relaxed and comical instead.

So contemporary porn CAN be degrading to women ideologically depending on your idea of how women should be treated or viewed in society. But the industry has become far more expansive in it's viewpoints, and more producers than before prefer to make porn more mainstream-friendly for a wider audience.

At the end of the day though, the culture's consumption is what determines the aesthetic. If degradation lovers pay more than the sex-positive consumers, then degradation or exploitation themes will be more successful and prevalent (as well as cheaper to produce) than the latter.

I'd like to know who did that gang bang video with Belladonna where were really rough with her. The put it in her ass with out even talking to her about it first. As funny as it may sound, it's pretty rude to fuck somebody in the ass without asking first. One guy I can not stand is Hershal Savage, he looks like a cave man, and comes across like a thug. In the end though, the reason why people can't watch porn until they are 18 (or even older in some places) is the fact that by the time you are that age you should know that it is all fiction & fantasy. You aren't likely to get a blow job from a hot chick just because you held the elevator for her... and would you really want it?