Research Paper
Course: Academic Writing
Taught by: Naeem Dilpul and Mehrene Rahman
Thesis Statement: Can Pornography Influence the Rape Culture in Society?
Submitted By Hafsa khan 505
Date: 22nd May 2019
Dictionary
Softcore porn – romanticsed/basic porn, less to no fetish.
Gangbang – an instance of sexual intercourse by several men, one after the other. Mostly against the girl‟s will.
BDSM - a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance
Safe Word - In BDSM, a safeword is a code word, which means that the action should stop Turned on – sexually aroused
Vanilla - conventional sex, sex which is within the range of normality in relation to the culture or subculture, does not show case any BDSM, kink or fetishism.
Abstract
This paper attempts to contribute to better understanding the pornography industry, analyzing its content and the link between that and the rape culture in society.
Questioning the tools of sexual desire and its false creation through advertisements, pornography and movies and it leading to the blurred lines of consent. The paper further investigates this culture on the basis of sociology and psychology keeping it mind the famous Nature Verses Nurture debate. Furthermore it talks about industry from a business point of view as well as a legal point of view. The need for this paper arises after first hand viewing such content and realizing just how blurred the lines of consent have become in such videos. And the industry acting as a platform for such kinks and fetishes.
Introduction
For hundreds of years women have been suppressed in society, they have been forced to deal with fetishes of their partners and try to somehow be desirable to them. Whether its hot wax being poured on their nipples or a large rod being inserted in them, the excoriating pain has always been accepted by the female and somehow become the norm of the society we live in today. It cannot be shared, as people around you will always say that you wanted it to happen, you enjoyed it. Even if you didn‟t, you helped the man express his fetish, thus it becomes “normal.” (MACKINNON n.d.)
The reason why I chose to write such a paper was to explore where and how these fetishes are created, is its nature vs nurture?, as a sociology student I have always found myself somehow blaming pornography for such events ofcourse there are various other elements that contribute to the rape culture in society. But this paper will mainly focus on the lense of pornography. So bear with me as I try to explore how such fetishes have become normal. The main motive of this paper is to talk about how porn normalizes situations of sexual violence as “passion” and creates a demand for such content, that when understood from a sociological perspective, makes the picture clearer about sexual harassment and the rape culture. Porn develops a sort frustration for such women and false desire for such passion, which in reality is blurring the lines of consent and violence. Where does the acting end and reality start? The paper consists of many primary and secondary data, from first hand questionnaires to face to face interviews, as well as viewing such videos myself and interacting with the community online which demands such content to be made. The paper also consists of statistics available online.
Literature Review
Contemporary data regarding this topic was heart wrenching. The main literature content that I have consulted in this paper is a book by CATHARINE
A. MACKINNON (MACKINNON n.d.)called Only words which talks about the various laws pertaining the pornography industry, the book is from mainly a feminist perspective Catherine being a lawyer herself debates about how such laws created by men in power favor the industry. My responses regarding the book will be listed in the later parts of this paper.
Another source I used was a paper that I found online, which talks about sexual violence and the cross cultural link between it (Kalra n.d.) The article provides one with the right statistics related to rape in the society as well as its take on the world health organization, the statistics help in factualizing the paper. There have been suggestions that sex ratio may contribute to prevalence of sexual violence. The male-female sex ratio (ratio of men to women in the population) in India has been “historically negative “ranging from 930 females per 1000 males in 1971 to 940 per 1000 males in 2011, reflecting a dismal situation.
The next article that I consulted was posted by the Washington post which suggests that porn showcases endless scenarios of male dominance and female subordination, and this is just soft core porn available easily on mainstream websites such as Pornhub. (Long 2016) There was another article that I found which talks about the rape culture and the normalization of it through pornography, it prevents them as an inferior and objectifies them and in turn fuels the rape culture. (Phillips 2014). Perhaps the most heart breaking data I received throughout this research was a study conducted in in Utar Partdesh, india by Al Jazeera which tells about how actual rape videos are sold in various parts of this area, for about ranging from $2 to $20. This is not porn, its not acting, its real life rape fueled by a demand to see such content, in it one can see their
face, their screams and all the brutality that they are facing. Why sell it? Because such forceful content is demanded by the people. (Ashraf 2016)
Pornography and the creation of sexual desire
Porn is pure acting, like a movie everything is scripted. Never has porn been this easy to access, all one has to do is click on the above 18 tab and they are in, to a world of fetishes unsupervised impressionable data. One study published in CyberPsychology and Behavior found that 39 percent of college-aged males and 23 percent of college-aged females said they had viewed bondage porn as teens, and 18 percent and 10 percent respectively said they had viewed rape porn. (Kalra n.d.) These children are viewing such content where women are being treated as an object, being forced on by men, we all know it is acting, the actress did sign a consent form before filming the video but what is not shown is that consent, the script asks these actresses to be beaten, screaming the words no while they are being humiliated with words like “whore” or “slut” as their co-actor‟s penis is being forcefully inserted in them. Videos like these creates a false sexual desire, the want that in real life sex should be like this, it becomes more than a fantasy, it becomes an expectation. Men want real life sex to be similar to what they have seen online, which is why you have horrific instances of women being penetrated steel rods by their husbands, porn creates a platform for such people to express their fetishs and desires and then when the frustration sky rockets they go out in the real world demanding the same thing. Feminist Andrea Dworkin once said “equality cannot co-exist with rape . . . and it cannot co-exist with pornography . . . because implicit in [both] is the inferiority of women.” A vast majority of porn degrades women. It also encourages male aggression, it normalizes such instances for the women also that maybe this is what „passionate‟ sex is all about.
Other Medias depicting similar scenarios
Porn narratives are not just the ones being accessed by users online, they are also found in other aspects of the society, such as the jeans advertisement that replicates a gang bang scenario; the perfume advertisement mimicking the penetration of a woman‟s shaved vulva; the underwear advertisement that utilizes an “up-skirting” image. All of these advertisements reinforce that inferior image of a women, it further objectifies them. (Long 2016) Sure, the box office hit Fifty shades of Grey also depicts a BDSM fetish but the consent of both parties is so clearly shown that they have an entire scene with a contract in which the terms and conditions are negotiated by both parties, and a safe word is decided. None of such scenes are showcased in porn, there is no use of a safe word, the penetration stops once the girl is unconscious, atleast that‟s the case in BDSM porn.Upon viewing such data on my own I found comments underneath such videos which promoted such scenarios with comments like “I would like that” out of 5 comments only one stated that this is wrong and actually is turn off for him/her.the rest of the users were demanding that more content like this be made.
Bollywood movies show case the lover to initially be a stalker, someone who the girl despises or has actually asked to stay away, but he doesn‟t stop. Data like this creates a narrative that stalking someone is absolutely legal and something that an “aashiq” (lover) must do in order to get the girl. And if the girl rejects his love or humiliates him then he has the right to harm her, something that was very recently showcased in the film “Badri ki Dhulania” in which he went to Singapore to kidnap the girl in order to bring her back and humiliate her infront of the entire village for running away on their wedding day, but he lets her off easy and only kidnaps her and later on tells her he loves her and he forgiven because what he did can somehow be justified
under the laws of love. Doesn‟t this data remind you of most of the acid attacks taking place? Or even the Khadija Siddique stabbing incident?
Even in Soft-core Porn there are instances where there are no fetishes, there are instances which show that the girl was previously being recorded on a video camera by a stalker, and when she find out she‟s angry but after a little seduction from the male actor, she is turned on and ready to have sex. This again creates a narrative that every woman with just a little bit of seduction can be sexually aroused. And further normalizes the fact that guy was initially a stalker.
How real world desire is connected to porn
Pornography and porn websites offer these individuals to express their fetishes and desires and get a chance to experience them through a screen, but what happens when you do not find that in reality? A frustration develops, that desire turns into a need. Sure, one can argue that porn is just a fantasy something to be experienced behind closed doors, and the reality of sex is far from it. But the expectation does rise the expectation that real life sex should also be the same. Which is why actual rape footage is being sold in small towns across India. (Ashraf 2016) these videos are available in tiny kiosks and are transferred to the customers phone through Bluetooth. Some say that these videos are stolen from the Rapist‟s phone when he takes it to the shop for mending other suggest that these shop owners are also part of the rape ring. This market is the height to porn vs reality.
Pornography as the only sex education
When talking about the south Asian society we know that no formal sex education is given to children, what they learn is through their peers, online or on their own or by over hearing other‟s conversations. Now fast forward this into a child hitting puberty and unraveling the great world of pornography as a way to learn about sex. (Fight the new drug 2018) its like taking a driving lesson from a car chase video, porn is a huge lie, everything Is so exaggerated and unrealistic but in this society where the topic of sex is so hushed, this is the only means of education regarding the matter. And so false hopes and desires are created, even the scenarios depicted in these soft core videos are so relatable, like neighbors, land lords etc. Watching porn is about constantly searching for something new, constantly being shocked and surprised. That‟s not cool, and that‟s not real life.
This creates a narrative in the impressionable mind that perhaps sex is that easy to get and the fact that maybe every girl waking around is asking for it. And so these instances of sexual harassment occur, because in their subconscious mind the culture is that all it requires is a little bit of seduction. That powered by the authority given to the male gender in this society, results in them believing that their presence is enough to sexually arouse a girl. Hence the tagline “she was asking for it”
Sociological aspects in relation to the issue
The sociological debate to this issue is gathered from a book called Sociology Themes and Perspectives by Haralambos and Holborn, in it there are various theories of media, some of which are relatable to the topic at hand. The Hypodermic needle theory suggests that media has the power to inject highly influential messages directly into passive and susceptible audiences. (communication studies n.d.) Some of these audience members have no other sources of
information and so no avenues to compare the media‟s messages with thus they have no choice but to act on those messages (porn as the only sex education)
Secondly the imitative model also suggests what the audience is seeing they would want to repeat the same, such as kids watching video games, they start taking real life as a video game and so there is a higher risk to them being prone to violence which is shown in these games. Lastly the cultivation theory also suggests that when a person is exposed a certain type of genre for a long period of time, that data becomes part of his/her‟s personality.
Nature versus Nurture
Now that we have covered the nurture side of the argument, let‟s get into the nature side of it. The debate that porn is not just the sole influencer of rape in society. According to the Freudian theory, a rapist is not made; the individual already has psychological problems of abuse and sexual violence that they faced as a child perhaps that it leads to such a heinous crime as they grow up. (Sage Journal n.d.)
Furthermore, (Rymel 2016) suggests that that men who commit rape and men who don‟t commit rape both view pornography. Milton Diamond, the director of the Pacific Center for Sex and Society at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, says, “There‟s absolutely no evidence that pornography does anything negative.” Though the statistics vary, depending on who you ask, one report said 77% of Americans view pornography at least once a month. At the same time, sexual assault has decreased by 45% in the last 20 years. With a population adjustment, that number shows a decrease by 55%. In 2007, researcher Alan McKee, designed and sent out a questionnaire to determine sexist tendencies. The results showed that pornographic consumption did not dictate the fact that those men were sexist towards women, except for the men living in
rural areas, uneducated or politically conservative backgrounds. Thus proving that pornographic content does not create a sexual predator. Sexual assaulters and non-sexual assaulters have both proven to consume porn.
Pornography as a mere consumption
This is in response to the book I mentioned earlier, which debates on the laws surrounding pornography industry as well as the objectification of women in it with relation to a “free will”.
(MACKINNON n.d.) The first glaring inconsistency to be addressed is the consideration of pornography as „free speech‟ rather than the mere or the raw form of consumerism. Free speech entails engaging with an idea, the ability to intellectually stimulate mental capacities or even the mere appreciation of the arts. Pornography, however, does not involve the engagement with an idea or even the consumption of an idea rather using what it portrayed within the pornographic film to engage in a physical activity that in no way deals with intellectual stimulation. Rather it is more similar in nature to the consumption of a loaf of bread. You buy the item to fulfill a momentary physical need. Just like a loaf of bread is needed to fulfill hunger, pornography is needed to fulfill lust or prurient interests. Whereas, in the case of a novel, its consumption has a long lasting effect. The written speech stimulates the mind to raise questions, retain the information and appreciate the linguistic skill of the author. Even erotic novels, if not anything else, add to the vocabulary of an individual so their writing capabilities are enhanced. Pornography does nothing of the sort. Moreover, pornography involves a real life act that affects the parties involved. Erotic novels are purely fictitious and in their production no one is harmed in anyway. Therefore putting erotic novels, video games, etc in the same category as porn is absurd.
According to McKinnon, pornography does nothing but oppress women, and in more ways than one. First, when the pornography is made women are subjected to violence, rape and in some instances even killed. Later when the pornographic material is viewed, it encourages men to participate in such degradation, rape and murder. An example of this is precisely Ms. Wanda Maximoff‟s death. Further, McKinnon argues that “freedom of speech” is just an excuse for a more dominate speaker to take advantage of a weaker one, and according to her since the parliament mostly consists of men it is likely that this narrative will never change. Another aspect that McKinnon sheds light on is the haunting harm that women have to experience by being a part of the porn industry. According to the Platonian Parliament children “are haunted by the past abuse through pictures and videos that are proliferated in that vast expanse known as the internet.” If this is true for children, then why can‟t the same conception extend to protect women? This is exactly the kind of double standards and hypocrisy that McKinnon talks about.
Laslty, pornography trivializes abuse. Women are restrained from speaking against such abuse because the pornographic industry trivializes it. Same is the case with body shaming, domestic violence, etc. This restraint is further reinforced by the fact that those sitting in parliament are men who have their own agenda and would never encourage women to speak for their rights. All women want is equality. They have been historically always demeaned by men the „one flesh‟ doctrine also proves this. The jist of McKinnon‟s argument is women should be given the equality and opportunity they deserve.
The pornographic industry distorts our view of consent. While the females consent to making the film this consent is given out of sheer coercion. But for being a victim of poverty, Ms. Wanda Maximoff would have never joined the pornographic industry. Keeping this analogy in mind we can say that her agreement with her employers in the industry can be considered voidable and
also that her consent does make do for what she was subjected to. Certain acts in which people do give consent are prohibited by law such as suicide, so why can‟t pornography be too? In R vs Brown men were convicted for their consensual sadomasochistic sexual acts towards one another. If suicide, and the intentional infliction of harm can be banned taking into view public policy, then why isn‟t the same narrative extended towards protecting women in the pornographic industry? So, consent does not always imply that the individual is happy with their choice or is not necessarily oppressed or affected by what they are subjected to.
Research Methodology
For this paper I conducted both secondary and primary sources of information, primary sources would include the fact that too watched such content and more than that interacted with the pornography community online through comments posted on such websites. In those comments I asked them why they would be sexually aroused by such content, something that is so weird and wrong on so many levels of consent, after which I received replies like “if it doesn‟t work for you, leave, it works for us” stating that my opinion was unwelcomed there and perhaps they did not want to be preached on the lines of consent.
The videos themselves were heart breaking to see and to realize that there is a demand for such stuff, they contained verbal abuses, as well as the girl being humiliated infront of a crowd and being thrown around as a mere object which she verbally shouts the word “No” she is still taken by force and forcefully penetrated. To see such content made me realize how the industry is being used as a platform and how much there is to this dark side of pornography.
Even in soft-core porn a lot of reluctance is shown, how one partner in the beginning does not want to indulge in such an act and then they are persuaded, or taken by force. That too in some cases blurs the lines of “no” and the fact that NO means NO whether it‟s said in the beginning or in the end.
Secondary research methods
I used two main methods of secondary research, firstly I constructed a questionnaire online which was sent to many people in my contact list as well as my friends‟ and families, and however I only managed to get about 42 responses. The link to the questionnaire is below:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeZK5G-zkoglhAgrlkpB1eq7NGaNTd3ujhgRvVADOMRkkvqA/viewform
the initial response I got after sending this link to people was “what a weird thing to ask someone” “haha I am not going to tell you my porn preferences” that made me realize how big of a taboo this thing is, and yet it is so well integrated in our society. Even though the questionnaire is absolutely anonymous still many people preferred not to engage in it. Here are some of the responses I gathered from the survey. Below, figure 1 indicates exactly how many percent from the audience consume pornography.
Figure 2 and 3 give the interactive responses of people as to why they do not find themselves consuming porn now, some of the answers the serious and some are as joke, which further proves my point that this topic is not taken seriously most people in the society, as the link is something they do not wish to realize. Figure 4 also suggests the non-seriousness of the audience taking the survey. Figure 5 proves this research papers point of view as many answering the question also feel that this link is reasonable.
The face to face interviews I conducted was an entirely new process for me, especially because I had never asked such personal questions to anyone before. My interview consisted of about 8 questions, which were very openended, I conducted this interview on 10 people who wish to remain anonymous , out of which 5 were men and 5 were women, further from which one male
was 35 years old and one female was 30 years old. Both of whom were married and had kids, there take on this link was that after getting married they both realized that sex is nothing like that shown in porn videos, its exactly the opposite of it, and they said that yes it does create a false desire, objectifies women. Both these individuals told me that it does create a want to have the same type of intercourse in real life but as they grew up they realized that the reality was far from it. The 30 year old woman told me that she found porn quite liberating for her as it made her realize her needs in bed, something she could verbally share with her partner but after 10 years of marriage, at first she though that she would always be judged by him for watching such a taboo thing.
The other interview answers were surprisingly in favor of my thesis statement, many watchers suggested that yes pornography did showcase a lot of reluctance and a lot of no being turned into a yes forcefully but one 20 year old male also said that this was all just a fantasy, something to be expressed behind closed door, that men did not actually desire this in reality. Two other 22 year old females suggested that since pornography industry was owned by men a lot of such videos were unaccounted for, as it was a predominantly male demanded industry, they also said that till this day they do not feel comfortable telling their respectable partners the fact that they consume porn, so for them it did not liberate them, it educated them about their wants but they could never express it.
Most of the replies I received while conducting this exercise was that yes, men wanted their partners to be like that, like the girls in the videos, to dress the same, make the same sounds and in some “vanilla” cases have the same scenarios. Women also suggested the same that they did feel that a false sexual desire was being created and that they had to match these pornstars when being intimately involved with their partners.
Conclusion
From a sociological perspective, this type of content does and can influence the impressionable minds of children consuming it, especially when it is the only tool of sex education in the society. This is their sole means of understanding what it is all about, what‟s hard to grasp at that age is that it is all acting, or over acting. And so porn becomes the ideal of sex and when these needs are not met by mainstream sex, a frustration develops, porn normalizes such fetishes, such abuses, and so the consumer does not remember the social lines of consent. However it is difficult to talk about pornography without infusing the conversation with personal opinion and conjecture. Even the way researchers view and interpret the data can be influenced by their own biases and agendas. Most people who view pornography are not sexual predators; most sexual predators would be sexual predators, regardless of whether or not they viewed pornography. Howver, Statistically speaking, pornography does not lead to sexual assault. (Rymel 2016)
Sexual assault may be a cause of various other aspects of a society also, such as it‟s a power play. Rape in most cases is about power, the culture that man is more superior and in order to show off his power he can have any woman in the land, during war when villages are taken over the order is to kill the men, kidnap the children and rape the women. Throughout history rape has been used a tool to exert power. Hence there are many other tools that go into creating such a culture but my research is on the fact that pornography is one of them.
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