Once considered taboo and watched in secret, various types of pornography now appear in the open within mainstream society subjecting everyone, including women and young girls, to it on a regular basis through television shows, commercials, adverts and films. For most people, discussing pornography is uncomfortable so talking about watching pornography is even more uncomfortable. For some women the topic is awkward and troublesome while others view it as a form of empowerment and liberation whereby they can challenge its repressive and often demoralizing nature.[1] In this reading analysis I analyze the pornographic dilemma women are now experiencing within a postfeminist society and how this contributes to their sense of identity.
Pornography is based on heteronormative ideologies of patriarchy,[2] which means that women regardless of race, class or ethnicity are considered the lesser or the Other. Recently studies have shown that women featured in pornography are not the only ones considered the Other. Black men who participate in pornography are subject to heteronormative ideologies because they reinforce the white man ideals of black men, which is nothing more than a dominated being. Black men are likened to animals, to the Other, and subject to the male gaze.[3] There is a racist assumption that they represent power and savagery; that they are the symbol of the dark, demonic powers let loose to ravage and ruin the angelic white woman. [4] Both the black man and white woman fulfill the heteronormative ideals of being unequal and of lesser importance compared to the white male and therefore subject to his power and control. Ultimately, pornography symbolizes power over another and the person with the power is the one that controls the situation. Additionally, the ideals of pornography insist women involved in the physical production of it are women who are willing and able and therefore, objects to be beaten, violently abused and sexualized.[5] Pornography is a reminder that we live in an unfree society where “most of the activities called ‘consensual’ represent the capitulation of the powerless to the demands of the powerful”(298).[6]
Within a postfeminist society however, power dynamics are shifting. Women are reconstructing their narrative and redefining their femininity. They are moving from the sexual object to the sexual subject[7] and this can be seen in the way women are re-appropriating pornography. Once considered something for a man’s gaze, more and more women and young girls are beginning to participate in the viewing of pornography.[8] By watching pornography women feel empowered and capable of “writing their own sexual identities (284).[9] However, pornography still has foundations within heteronormative ideologies and women tend to remain the sexualized and controlled object. So women are conflicted. Some feminists argue that pornography perpetuates the control and power of men over women while others from a postfeminist perspective argue that pornography is a liberating and empowering expression of femininity and helps in “achieving their sexual freedom”(298).[10] There are many women that enjoy watching pornography yet many of these women express inner psychological and emotional conflict in doing so.[11] So women face a dilemma. Instead of having the ability to watch pornography freely research has suggested women often feel ashamed and experience discomfort between “their beliefs, feelings and actions”(293),[12] while simultaneously feeling empowered and reassured of their individual sexuality.[13] Therefore, women in a postfeminist society face a conflict of identity. On one hand they understand the derogatory and submissive nature of pornography but they also understand it can arouse and free their sexuality. This new sense of freedom may encourage them to work towards reclaiming pornography for their own authority and agency so they can redefine their identity, but in doing so it may present a challenge to their own morals and beliefs. As Ciclitira states, “women may identify with both the oppressed and oppressor, seeing themselves outside and yet within the terms of others who dictate their condition”(293).[14] It is a frustrating dilemma.
When considering pornography from a postfeminist lens, women will feel empowered and become their own sexual subject where the body is theirs to decide how it will be presented. However, because pornography was created through a world of hegemonic masculinity,[15] it is very difficult to separate the underlying message of power and control and the male gaze. The lens we view pornography with must come from a place that is not trying to resist heteronormativity but rather from a place that redefines and recreates the narrative of female and male identity. By doing this it may eliminate identity conflict by welcoming a new criteria in which to understand our sexuality and thus our reimagined identity.
Notes
[1] Karen Ciclitira, “Pornography, Women and Feminism: Between Pleasure and Politics.” Sexualities, 7, no. 3 (2004): 281–304.
[2] Gail Dines, “The White Man’s Burden: Gonzo Pornography and the Construction of Black Masculinity.” Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, 18, no. 1 (2006): 283-297.
[3] Dines, “The White Man’s Burden,” 292.
[4] Ibid., 290.
[5] Ciclitira, “Pornography, Women and Feminism,” 285-286.
[6] Ibid., 298.
[7] Rosalind Gill, “Postfeminist Media Culture: Elements of a Sensibility.” European Journal of Cultural Studies, 10, no. 2 (2007): 147–166.
[8] Thomas Johansson and Nils Hammaren, “Hegemonic Masculinity and Pornography: Young people’s attitudes toward relations to pornography.” The Journal of Men’s Studies, 15, no. 1 (Winter 2007): 57-70.
[9] Ciclitira, “Pornography, Women and Feminism,” 284.
[10] Ibid., 298.
[11] Ibid., 293.
[12] Ibid., 293.
[13] Ibid., 293.
[14] Ibid., 293.
[15] Dines, “The White Man’s Burden,” 287.