The LGBT community uses pornography for their erotic needs just like the heterosexual community. Similarly, they are present in pornography just as straight people are present. The lines between heterosexual and LGBT are blurred by the industry though, as Martin Amis from The Guardian writes about what porn-star Chloe tells him her prices are, “girl-girl: $700, plus $100 for an anal toy. Boy-girl: $900. Anal: $1,100. Solo [a rarity]: $500. [Double Penetration]: $1,500” (Chloe quoted in Amis). If a performer can get paid for all kinds of sexual acts, why would they limit themselves to just one? Therefore, people, no matter their identifying sexuality, can be in any kind of pornography. Interestingly enough however, homosexual, bisexual, …show more content…
Kangasvuo (2007) writes, “While bisexual women are presented as sexually uninhibited, experienced and open, bisexual men are presented as married and closeted gays who need a gay man to give them some cock” (p. 147). Even in this small quote, we see how not only does male bisexuality have a specific place, but a specific place in the heterosexual world; a man must first be married, legitimized in a heterosexual relationship, before he can be considered truly bisexual. Otherwise, men are at risk of being labeled as gay. Kangasvuo (2007) recounts a story in another one of the pornography magazines in her study where two men have sex often and have to valiantly prove they are not gay but, in fact, bisexual. They are told they both have to participate in a pornographic photo-shoot with a woman or no one will believe them. They do, and all seems well until, when going back over the pictures, it is discovered that one of the men never had his penis inside of the girl's vagina. Therefore, the editor concludes that he is gay. Kangasvuo (2007) goes on to write, “The story restores the binary sexual division, assuring reader that a man desiring other men is ultimately gay, independent of his self-identification or any other sexual acts that he may perform. Male bisexuality is ridiculously impossible since attraction …show more content…
. . The setting also has connotations of the remote, the separate, as in lesbian separatism or lesbian love life outside of hetero cities and hetero city limits, in an untouched zone where lesbians can express themselves freely and, although the scenes are shot out in the open, privately. (p. 175)
It was a good step towards normalizing lesbianism as an identity and not a quirk. Lesbians then went to be portrayed as suburb living middle ages women who had monogamous partners and jobs (Butler (2004) p. 179). They could be your neighbors; they are familiar. Homosexual lesbian pornography as opposed to heterosexual lesbian pornography gives lesbians this visible freedom of
Mulvey, Laura."Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." The Sexual Subject: A Screen Reader in Sexuality/Screen. London: Routledge, 1992.
Not a Love Story: A Film About Pornography. Dir. Bonnie Sherr Klein. Perf. Lindalee Tracey,
Kidd, Dustin. 2014. “Not that There’s Anything Wrong with That: Sexuality Perspectives.” Pp. 129-163 in Pop Culture Freaks: Identity, Mass Media, and Society. Boulder: Westview Press.
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.
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.
Rubin, Gayle. “Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality.” in Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality. ed. Vance, Carole. Pandora: London, 1992.
Kristol’s article writes that pornography and the pornographic industry has always been dominated by men (491). Throughout the history of the United States, men have taken precedence over women in many aspects. Men were considered the workers of the family while women stayed home and acted as housewives or catered to the men. The idea of feminism and women’s equality, however, is growing throughout the nation. With feminism and women’s equality at large, society must progress toward eliminating male domination and allowing the extension for women's opportunities; therefore, pornography and the male-dominated industry should be limited by the government. Aside from men and the power statuses they hold in pornography, Gail Dines in her article “Facts and Figures” discloses information about the male tendencies after watching pornography. Men have been reported to support female rape, have aggressive behavior toward women, have a decreased sex drive toward wives or girlfriends, and desire forced sexual acts after viewing pornography (1). Despite America’s best effort to protect all citizens, in reality, females are typically victims of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, and pornography is a cause of such violence. Although it is a key factor that plays a role in causing violence and aggressive behavior toward women, Americans are able to easily access videos or films instantly because of modern technology and the lack of pornography censoring. Because of the tendency to cause abuse in the real world, pornography must be censored in order to ensure that women are granted equal amounts of safety and
To sufficiently take a side in the ever-growing debate of pornography, one must first define the concept around which this discourse surrounds itself. A working definition for pornography is a piece of material that has the object purpose of arousing erotic feelings. Radical feminists, however, strictly define it as “the act of sexual subordination of women” (Dworkin 1986).
In this paper, I will attempt to review the debate on pornography in Chapter 4 - State and Society - of Philosophy and Contemporary Issues, Seventh Edition by John R. Burr and Milton Goldinger.
Williams, Linda. "Film Bodies: Genre, Gender and Excess." Braudy and Cohen (1991 / 2004): 727-41. Print.
In Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Mulvey states that, “Traditionally, the woman displayed has functioned on two levels: as erotic object for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium, with a shifting tension between the looks on either side of the screen.” (Mulvey 40). A woman’s role in the narrative is bound to her sexuality or the way she
For the purpose of this study, I will critically examine the representation of homosexuality in Hollywood cinema. I will specifically analyse films from the early 90’s to mid 2000’s from ‘Philadelphia’ to ‘Brokeback Mountain’. This dissertation will argue that over the space of 12 years homosexuality has become an acceptable part of cinema. I will look at early Hollywood’s representation of homosexuality depicting how aesthetically so much has changed. The current paper will predominantly focus on the two films ‘Philadelphia’ and ‘Brokeback Mountain’, by critically analysing the aesthetic differences between each film as well as their overall importance to gay culture.
The issue of pornography has been debated and argued among many about its effects on morality and society. The questions most raised are is pornography moral or immoral and what defines it as such. Also, what makes something be seen as pornographic and therefore immoral. Often when someone brings up the subject of pornography they often envision something dark and seedy which in no way could ever be justified as virtuous. However, there are others who see it’s as being a healthy outlet and without harm to others. When applying the sociological theories of utilitarianism and deontology we can understand the different ideas of pornography. We can also use the perspectives of Emotivism and ethical egoism to make a rational argument about
In Laura Mulvey’s article “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” she uses the concept of scopophilia, or pleasure obtained through looking at things, to discuss the portrayal of women in film as passive sexual objects, while inferring that it is the active male “gaze” that objectifies them. Mulvey’s ideas are extremely relevant to Stanley Kubrick’s final film Eyes Wide Shut, in which the themes of sexuality and voyeurism are abundant. The gender roles are very clearly defined in Eyes Wide Shut. The men control the “gaze” and obtain scopophilic pleasure by looking at women. The women, on the other hand, are all presented as highly sexualized objects, or things that exist simply to be looked at. Furthermore, when they do have
To some, pornography is nothing more than a few pictures of scantily clad Women in seductive poses. But pornography has become much more than just Photographs of nude women. Computer technology is providing child molesters and child pornographers with powerful new tools for victimizing children. Pornography as "the sexually explicit depiction of persons, in words or images, Sexual arousal on the part of the consumer of such materials. No one can prove those films with graphic sex or violence has a harmful effect on viewers. But there seems to be little doubt that films do have some effect on society and that all of us live with such effects.