February 27, 2003

SAGE Discusses Smut

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Students Acting for Gender Equality (SAGE) sponsored an open forum on smut, entitled “PORN: Are We Fucked?” in Rockefeller Hall. Ten men and ten women participated in the intimate discussion.

Courtney Ritter ’05 and Harriet Antczak ’04, two of the presidents of SAGE, were partially inspired by controversial pornographer Larry Flint’s recent visit to Cornell.

“We started talking about issues in feminism and where feminists agree and disagree. There’s a huge divide among feminists regarding porn. Some feel that porn is women’s empowerment, that they are able to do this, and others disagree,” Ritter said.

To spark the debate, the organizers distributed a large stack of Playboy magazines, with issues from the 1960’s and 1970’s, including “Women of the Ivy League Revealed” from 1979. They then proceeded to show a short excerpts from pornographic films, including Private Lessons: Hot for Teacher.

Audience members noted the Catholic schoolgirl stereotype presented in a clip, and also the cinematography which completely left out the man’s face while he was being pleasured orally. Others commented that this sort of pornography might lead to men having looser attitudes towards violence and rape.

Jacob Hoffman-Andrews ’03 offered a different opinion which compartmentalized this attitude.

“I think [pornography] is a reasonable release, a sublimation of a sexual urge. As for porn promoting violence, it’s the same argument as with video games. Do video games make people violent?” Hoffman-Andrews said.

B ’05, a female member of the audience who did not want her full name used, shared Hoffman-Andrews’ perspective.

“We can’t blame porn if there is a very small group of the population who lack the sense to realize that porn does not represent reality,” B said.

Comparing the vintage Playboys to the hard-core movie clip, the audience noted a stark transition towards much more exposed, contrived pornography.

“It’s completely artificial. Look at the people in porn. They’re not real: they’re caricatures of people who are created through plastic surgery,” said Jamison Moore ’04.

“People want more bang for their buck,” Moore added.

Many varying viewpoints were represented in the heated discussion.

“I’m definitely against pornography. I’d like to look at women as women, and not as sex objects. What damage does pornography do to the institution of family?” said Geoffrey Mull ’04.

Others felt that pornography could be an emotionally scarring, repressing force for women involved in pornography. The discussion took an interesting turn as a member of the audience revealed herself work in the phone sex industry.

“I’m a sex worker, and I’m not emotionally scared, I don’t come from a broken home. I think if you look at the business world, doctors, dentists, mothers, there are a lot of people who are emotionally scarred,” said Lela ’03.

“We’re not talking about a lot of emotionally fucked up women, we’re talking about some incredibly brave and strong women,” Lela added.

Lela also set off a scholarly tone to the debate, citing a groundbreaking 1982 feminist conference hosted at Barnard College, “Towards a Politics of Sexuality”, which opposed the anti-porn movement.

“What you do with your body, that’s a personal and political choice. We should set aside our impressions about women porn stars. We should give non-judgmental support to women of all walks of life,” Lela said.

Mull was distressed about the welfare of women in the sex trades and international pornography market.

“Porn is a dirty industry, women’s’ rights are trampled on anyway,” Ritter replied, noting his worry.

Female audience members then voiced their concerns regarding the inequality in access to pornography, that the majority of it is geared towards men. Lela noted that Ithaca pornography stores did not stock visual material geared towards women.

B was skeptical about such equality, citing that societal attitudes have not changed enough to permit women to watch pornography as much as men.

“Would a gender-equal scene be more accepted? I would see gender-equal scenes as a teaching aid for lovemaking. What classifies a porno? Boys Gone Wild? I don’t even want to see that. It’s just an example of how we’re socially brought up not to be able to live out our fantasies on a general level. Selling porn to men is a sure bet,” B said.

This prompted a heated debate about economics of the pornography industry, of supply and demand, and of why most pornography targets men.

“A good business goes hunting where the ducks are,” an audience member said.

Many of the females saw faults with the supply-demand characterization of the pornography industry.

“It’s not just only men wanted porn. Only men were in charge. They figured out what the social norms would be, and women didn’t have a say in it at all. Of course porn has always targeted men,” said Talia Ron ’05.

“Women have not always been equal consumers due to the puritanical stigma,” said B.

Lela, however, argued that the pornography industry should market more towards women.

“If we give [women] the variety they want, perhaps attitudes will change. Women should be proud of their sexuality and value themselves as beautiful,” Lela said.

The debate then moved on, discussing the common view of the U.S. as a sex-crazed nation, noting singer Britney Spears’ purported virginity juxtaposed with scantily-clad magazine covers of her.

There was ultimately no clear consensus on viewpoints, other than a common disregard for violence and brutality in pornography.

“People were really good at sharing what they thought. It was great to get all those voices out there and hear what others think, definitely something that I as a feminist want,” Antczak said.

Archived article by Krishna Raghavan