Pornography and Being Human
I was listening to CBC’s The Current this morning, and heard a very interesting story about pornography in society (scroll down to the bottom of the page, and you can hear the whole story). They were interviewing Robert Jenson, the author of Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity. He was talking about the $10 billion pornography industry, which makes more than ABC, CBS and NBC together and its effects on men and women.
Generally I am not against all porn, but I do not like the extreme versions since they are very degrading to women and I worry about my nieces and nephews learning about sex through it. There are also some ugly racial stereotypes shown in porn – the submissive Asian female for example. Some of the men I know have said that since they did not have much guidance from parents or sex education, they thought of porn as a kind of training vehicle for sex… which is scary considering some of the degrading-to-women and racist stuff that is being portrayed. According to Jenson, the fastest growing segment of the porn market is the extreme and violent kind.
There is no doubt that porn affects our sexual imagination. What does this mean for men who are using porn as a ‘training vehicle’? What does this mean to women who see porn? Jenson’s conclusion at the end of the book is to simply "end" being a man, and start focusing on what it means to be human. He says that the whole construct of being a man including the ideas of conquest, control, aggression and violence are too difficult to reform – so instead he wants to start from scratch. Given the gender crisis we are in, he says he wants to do away with the rigid notions of being a man or a women, he wants to focus on being a human being instead. Sounds good to me.
I wholeheartedly agree. Being a martial arts instructor, I notice that many people have preconceptions about what to expect from me as a martial artist. These are usually wrong. People should try their hardest to judge on a case-by-case basis.
Wow that is really scary, the thought of young men thinking sex is supposed to be like it is in porn. Not only are there the racial stereotypes you mention but also violence and som just plain perverted stuff. Yuck.