Well, outside of the Ron Jeremy's of the world, most male porn actors are also beautiful people with above-normal endowment. So, it's not like it's only women being physically objectified.
Also, it's not like porn is the only place where women are objectified. Our entire mainstream media still objectifies women. The Bechdel Test exists for a reason. In the vast majority of our media, women are a prize to be rescued/saved/won. Traditional, unfair gender stereotypes are still being pushed. Unrealistic examples of female beauty and femininity permeate our culture, most specifically (and insidiously) with media and products aimed specifically to them. There's still the idea that women are merely trophies - to be seen, not heard... whose #1 priority is to be pretty and popular rather than smart. Better to be a Disney Princess than a scientist.
On the flipside, in America, at least, we're suffering from a hyper-masculinity movement. We've been bombarded by messages that threaten our ideas of manhood if we're without a woman in our lives to provide us with sex, or if we dare show thoughtfulness or sensitivity at all. Words like 'beta', 'cuck', 'snowflake', etc. are becoming common parlance. The guy in Toronto who murdered a bunch of people on the sidewalk with his van? He did it because he was an 'incel' - involuntarily celibate. It's a term the hyper-masculine use to define themselves/others who have purportedly had celibacy thrust upon them because, in their eyes, all women are stupid, selfish bitches who are only good for fucking, and they're too selfish to do it with these obviously fine, upstanding gentlemen.
Porn itself has often been very progressive. At a time when interracial relationships were considered taboo, the porn industry had performers of various races having sex with each other. At a time when gay, bi, and other couplings along the gender line are considered taboo, porn has a fair amount of that, too. Plenty of porn exists where the woman is dominant. And an increasing amount, if not the majority of, modern porn is created by women. Technologically, porn is the reason why VHS beat Betamax, and one of the reasons why the internet exploded in the 90s.
Now, there are several terrible things associated with porn. Physical abuse, substance abuse, disease, exploitation and abuse of minors, sex trafficking, etc. But most of these issues aren't specific to porn. A lot of these issues plague creative industries on the whole.
I really don't think that porn is somehow worse than the less obvious forms of objectification, or that the skeletons in its closet are substantially worse than, say, what happens in Hollywood.
Also, it's not like porn is the only place where women are objectified. Our entire mainstream media still objectifies women. The Bechdel Test exists for a reason. In the vast majority of our media, women are a prize to be rescued/saved/won. Traditional, unfair gender stereotypes are still being pushed. Unrealistic examples of female beauty and femininity permeate our culture, most specifically (and insidiously) with media and products aimed specifically to them. There's still the idea that women are merely trophies - to be seen, not heard... whose #1 priority is to be pretty and popular rather than smart. Better to be a Disney Princess than a scientist.
On the flipside, in America, at least, we're suffering from a hyper-masculinity movement. We've been bombarded by messages that threaten our ideas of manhood if we're without a woman in our lives to provide us with sex, or if we dare show thoughtfulness or sensitivity at all. Words like 'beta', 'cuck', 'snowflake', etc. are becoming common parlance. The guy in Toronto who murdered a bunch of people on the sidewalk with his van? He did it because he was an 'incel' - involuntarily celibate. It's a term the hyper-masculine use to define themselves/others who have purportedly had celibacy thrust upon them because, in their eyes, all women are stupid, selfish bitches who are only good for fucking, and they're too selfish to do it with these obviously fine, upstanding gentlemen.
Porn itself has often been very progressive. At a time when interracial relationships were considered taboo, the porn industry had performers of various races having sex with each other. At a time when gay, bi, and other couplings along the gender line are considered taboo, porn has a fair amount of that, too. Plenty of porn exists where the woman is dominant. And an increasing amount, if not the majority of, modern porn is created by women. Technologically, porn is the reason why VHS beat Betamax, and one of the reasons why the internet exploded in the 90s.
Now, there are several terrible things associated with porn. Physical abuse, substance abuse, disease, exploitation and abuse of minors, sex trafficking, etc. But most of these issues aren't specific to porn. A lot of these issues plague creative industries on the whole.
I really don't think that porn is somehow worse than the less obvious forms of objectification, or that the skeletons in its closet are substantially worse than, say, what happens in Hollywood.
