Not according to many of the Religious Right. Just like many political factions, it's interesting to see who is in bed with whom (lol) when it regards shared perspectives on social issues like pornography, strip clubs, and prostitution (at least when they're lumped together like this). There are plenty of feminists who see the subjugation of women in the sex industry the same way that the Religious Right see the subjugation of women in the sex industry.
And with both of them, I tend to disagree with the whole of their arguments for either stigmatizing or criminalizing these certain factions in the sex industry.
Oh, if only you were the fly on the wall when me and my feminist writer friend would get into long, loooonnnnggggg, debates at the local cafe concerning the issue. She is in favor of banning porn. I'm in stark disagreement. Our debates have been going on for at least a dozen years when we'd get together. It's all in good fun, though, especially when it's over a bottle of Merlot or a good turtle dove mocha.
I think as feminism continues to include the rights of GLBTQs, and recognizes that there are different orientations, that like many males who grow up with the notion that they should always be the one who desires, and not to be the one desired, women have been very sensitive to the idea of being desired. There is the sense that to be desired automatically equates to being an object of desire, when it does not necessarily follow. I can desire somebody without objectifying them. And the same can be said of heterosexual males, bisexual females, and lesbian women, who may desire a woman don't necessarily objectify her. Sexual objectification has been a big subject in feminism considerably after the Second Wave when women were more concerned about the identity and worth of women more focused on non-physical traits than physical.
I also think as pornography expands more through digital media, the industry has changed from largely DVD sales to internet streaming, and another change is the bigger involvement of women producers who have been marketing female erotica. These changes, I think, over time will show a shift in mainstream porn to be more erotic than the - what I have called - ejaculatory bias seen in much of mainstream porn. We've already been seeing more of a shift away from always focusing on what the penis is doing or how the penis is reacting to girl-only scenes.
This is where Jenna Jameson has been such an influence in the business. Her works are still on this side of mainstream with the aggressiveness and the occasional money shot. But she has also ensured much of the works to focus entirely on a woman's pleasure.
After 1972's Deep Throat and the following works in the 70's and 80's, porn had been for so long ejaculatory fetishized. Things are changing, though, to include and/or focus entirely on female orgasm or dominance. And in so doing, we are seeing more variety in pornographic works.
Not saying that we're there. Porn has a long way to go given that right now multiple penetration and ejaculatory fetishism is still quite prevalent. But more erotica continually bringing in more women who view porn (there are many more who admit to watching internet porn), I view "feminist" porn as introducing the female gaze and the different biological cycle and processes of orgasm and pleasure.
I think these are starts to reassure the populace that the sex industry need not require objectifying women, girls, or boys. And that the sex industry is not what will doom civilization as long as women have equal rights, bodily security and autonomy, and equal representation.....in the sex industry, too.
Those are my thoughts. Thanks for asking. Sexuality and the arts are rather like life missions for me.
