Contrasting Romance Novels and Pornography: Male and Female Preferences
I don’t think I’ve ever read a romance novel, not for school, and certainly not for my own enjoyment. Although I’m not much into pornography either, I get much more excited looking at visual images of attractive women than if I were simply reading about them. Growing up, I remember the opposite to be true for my older sister, who often had romance novels lying around in her room. The contrasts between romance novels and pornography underscore how different female and male erotic fantasies are. These differences reflect human evolutionary history and the disparate sexual selection pressures women and men experience.
According to our course handbook and as evidenced throughout history, men have been larger, and thus, the hunters. The role of women has been that of the gatherer, and also the rearing of offspring. To aid men during hunts for food, natural selection has led males to develop enhanced spatial and visual skills, to better coordinate their attacks. Females instead, have developed better verbal and language skills for communication. Since men have adapted to become more responsive to visual stimuli, male sexual fantasies have become dominated by visual imagery, while female sexual fantasies place emphasis on the personal characteristics of the partner and the emotional context of the encounter.
The pornography industry has changed little since Victorian times, it is almost exclusively aimed at males (heterosexual and homosexual); it is overwhelmingly visual; involves many different youthful and attractive partners, and provides instant sexual gratification without the need for emotional commitment. On the other hand, romance novels ...
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...ductive success (Galanti 2003).
Mass-market pornography aimed at men, and romance novels for women feed off the basic desires of each sex. Variety, and young, visually attractive women are what men wish for, while women enjoy the romance and emotional involvement of intimate relationships. These preferences are fundamental in their sexual behavior, and have evolved throughout history.
Works Cited
Galanti, G. (2003). Evolutionary Perspective on Sex and Gender, Basic Concepts. CSULA.
Kastleman, Mark. (2003). How internet pornographers market to women vs men.
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Salmon, Catherine. (2003). Warrior Lovers: Erotic fiction, evolution and female sexuality. London: Yale University Press.
Symons, Donald. (1979). The Evolution of Human Sexuality. New York: Oxford University Press.
Contrary to what any believe, the Battle of Vimy Ridge was more than “another bloodshed” to Canada as a nation. This battle confirmed Canada’s eligibility to participate on the world stage and that they are not to be trifled with by other nations. The accomplishments of the Canadian army brought respect from other countries to Canada. The Canadian army gained confidence in themselves after the victory at the battle Vimy Ridge The Battle of Vimy Ridge was significant to the growth of Canada as a nation.
Because of Canada’s boost in the industrial economy and its status in World War II, job options were abundant. By 1942 there was a full employment as hundreds and thousands of Canadian men and women found work in war industries.
A pornographic world [What is normal] by Robert Jensen takes an inside look at the culture of masculinity and what role pornography takes in shaping that culture. Jensen describes how he was forced to play a “macho” role as a child out of fear of being bullied and ridiculed for not being manly enough. Pornography use started for him and his friends in grade school – they would steal magazines and hide them to share in a group later. He talks of how he learned of a social concept, called the “ideal of prostitution” (the notion of men “buying” women in various forms of undress, solely for their pleasure), at a young age. While there has always been a stigma around pornography, whether stemming from moral or religious reasons, Jenson continued to use porn until his 30s.
Smiles, Samuel. "The Scarlet Letter." The Critical Temper. Ed. Martin Tucker. New York City: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1962. 266.
Particular behaviour and traits are attached with a specified gender. Due to this, the social learning and classification founded on gender are swiftly imbibed into by an individual. Children become aware of the distinction between male and female and definite social responsibility that each gender has to perform in society (Blakemore & hill 2008 , and Goffman 1977 ). Women are often viewed as tender and subtle and men are regarded as more competent to bear pain and rough and tough. Therefore, women are considered as weaker sex. In relationship, the women are the end and men are supposed to be follower or chaser. Women are physically weak and smaller compared to men and physical strength is vested with male realm (Goffman 1977
A review of the contemporary research on the negative effects of pornography is replete of scholarly and anecdotal evidence and opinion about the damages associated with viewing it. But the evidence is limited when it comes to criticism of mainstream media’s damages to certain groups, particularly young women with their romantic comedies.
Romance novels have been a place where women have been allowed to fantasize about the perfect and the ideal life. The novels are usually based on super sexy women who are only missing one thing in their life, the perfect man. The hero is also sexy, self-assured, and single minded in their pursuit of the leading woman. In current times, the romance novel has allowed women to step out of heteronormative behavior and explore their sexuality, where anything goes and their actions are perfectly acceptable by their partners.
James, Henry. “Flaws in The Scarlet Letter.” Readings on The Scarlet Letter. Ed. Bruno Leone.
1917", Philip. All of Vimy Ridge Cleared of Germans ''New York Times'' 11 April. "Military history of Canada during World War I - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2011.
Adding to earlier strain theories from theorist like the French Emile Durkheim, who is considered one of the fathers of sociology because of his effort to establish sociology as a discipline distinct from philoso...
Canada's sacrifices and contributions to the war changed its history and enabled them to become more independent and they friendship with Britain grew stronger and stronger. Canada was first inducted into the World War 1 when Britain declared war on Germany, August 4, 1914. Canada being allies with Britain had to support those in the war even know they weren’t in there and fighting all on the front they were backup just in case the German soldiers broke through the trenches and head towards France. Later on the Governor General also declared war on Germany but the Canadians fought under the ruling of a Britain commander. The achievements of Canadian military during the First World War came during the Somme, Vimy Ridge, and Passchendaele battles and what later became known as "Canada's Hundred Days". They help fight for the freedom and peace for the small village of Passchendaele and however as it was a muddy hell, they still persevered throu...
...pornography often objectify women and force them into submissive positions in movies and society. But pornography has a detrimental affect on men as well, in that it “hurts men’s capacity to relate to women” (189). Generally, men consider it is better to have power, and do not recognize the need for men and women to work together. Pornography is one of the largest obstacles that prevents men from seeing this truth, and the practice should be banned. Even according to MacKinnon’s definition of pornography, sexually explicit material could remain legal if it portrayed both sexes equally. However, this can not happen until men and women are equal in society. If this is accomplished, the male need to view pornography would drastically decrease. Women could become part of the power structure and world on their own terms. Gender equality would be a victory for both sexes.
Griswold, Rufus Wilmot. "The Scarlet Letter." The Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors. Ed. Charles Wells Moulton. Gloucester, Massachusetts: Peter Smith Publishing, 1989. 341-371.
Over time, the image of men has changed. This is due mostly to the relaxation of rigid stereotypical roles of the two genders. In different pieces of literature, however, men have been presented as the traditional dominate figure, the provider and rule maker or non-traditional figure that is almost useless and unimportant unless needed for sexual intercourse. This dramatic difference can either perpetuate the already existing stereotype or challenge it. Regardless of the differences, both seem to put men into a negative connotation.
Previous research has reported several gender differences between men and women regarding the desire for sex. According to Randy J. Larson and David M. Buss's book Personality Psychology: Domains of Knowledge About Human Nature, men view pornography more often than women (d=.63). Men also desire more sexual partners, have more frequent sexual partners, and are more willing to accept offers of sex from a stranger (Hald & Hogh-Olesen, 2010). Evolutionarily, sex differences have relied on parental investment and sexual selection theory. The sex that invests less in offspring is less discriminatory in their selection of a mate. Because women have more of an obligatory role in parental investment, they place greater importance on mate selection whereas men place a greater value on a woman’s physical appearance. Although men score higher in ratings pertaining to the desire for sex, women score higher in emotional investment. Women tend to score higher on items such as passionate, cuddlesome, affectionate, and romantic (Larson & Buss 2014).