Running head: FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF PORNOGRAPHY 1

A Feminist Critique and Analysis of Pornography

Grant M. Myers
California State University, Chico
FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF PORNOGRAPHY 2

A Feminist Critique and Analysis of Pornography

As a medium that is able to communicate ideas but ultimately fails to do so in most contexts,

pornography, including hardcore pornography, has been debated on its merit to be protected on

the grounds of it being free speech. Much of this debate is construed with sexual violence against

women in mind, as pornography catered mostly to a male audience ends up depicting the

subordination of women for explicit purposes of arousal (Post, 1988). The question posed for this

circumstance is: could the free expression of pornography lead to harms against women? While

sexual harms are not always explicitly shown, pornography could still set a dangerous precedent

for women in the modern day through its expressions of negative attributions and subjection.

However, with the rise of more feminist-oriented pornography and female porn directors, this

could start to change. Out of my studying on the topic, I hope to understand the ways of how

pornography as a means of free speech communicates and legitimizes harm towards women

alongside how feminist pornography productions could present a change within these views.

Literature Review

As a background component before delving into deeper research, the availability of

pornography should be addressed as a factor towards the topical nature of the subject. In the

modern-day, pornography is consumed on a daily basis and freely for most people thanks to the

internet. Gone are the days of going to sleazy video stores and the purchasing of pornographic

magazines in order to consume pornography, as many adolescents and young adults are able to

have significant exposure to pornography all across the world (Lo & Wei, 2005). As a way to

explain how monumental the internet was for pornography, reporter Katrina Forrester writes,

“Viewing figures are on a scale that golden-age moguls never dreamed of: in 2014, Pornhub

alone had seventy-eight billion page views, and XVideos is the fifty-sixth most popular Web site
FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF PORNOGRAPHY 3

in the world” (2016, para. 2). With pornography being available on such large scale, it is easy to

recognize just how many people could be influenced by the porn they watch and be open to

certain ideas it communicates, with one of these many ideas being sexism.

Obviously, not all pornography highlights sexist traits or even shows examples of it.

However, the films and imagery that do contain these depictions have a lasting impact. A study

conducted by Gert Martin Hald, Neil N. Malamuth, and Theis Lange showed that men with a

large history of pornography consumption were significantly associated with more hostile

attitudes and sexism towards women (2013). Alongside these sexist views and attitudes, there are

legitimate harms pornography brings to women. Pornography already has a hard time separating

itself from real life sexual abuses, as “pornography portraying sexual aggression as pleasurable

for the victim increases the acceptance of aggression in sexual relations” (Cramer, & McFarlane,

1994, p. 269). It isn’t entirely farfetched to then go the extra mile and assume this aggression

leads to full-on abuse and violence. “Among battered women, pornography use increases the

odds of sexual violence” (Shope, 2004, p. 66). These real-life abuses open the gates for forced

submission and silence of female partners in real life sexual relationships. \

To be more exact, the silence made from women in sexual relationships and pornography is

from them not being taken seriously within the social sphere when expressing contradictory

sentiments about women to those contained in pornography (West, 2003). While being ignored

isn’t censorship or the act of having free speech rights revoked, it still sets a negative sentiment

about these woes from women going unheard even in a large collection of social like John Stuart

Mill’s marketplace of ideas. It’s most important when deciding whether pornography is being

degrading towards women, as the point of some erotic material is for women to be branded and

objectified for sexual entertainment regarding males (Tong, 1982). These correlations paint a
FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF PORNOGRAPHY 4

darker picture for pornography and freedom of expression as in reality it poses a lot of negative

ideas and attitudes for consumers to freely accept.

Furthermore, although it isn’t entirely censoring or explicitly infringing on their rights to

speak, certain types of pornography can be found to affect women’s speech and their means to

express pleasure. One such example of this could be found in the bondage genre, where instances

of the female’s mouth is covered, gagged, or filled for literal silencing and the misconstruing of

these sounds of pleasure for pain could occur. Because of certain ways how pornographic speech

is construed, a female can be found “unable to perform the illocutions that women intend to

perform and that women ought to be able to perform” (McGowan, 2003, p. 162). This lack of

verbal components perpetuates an unsafe sexual environment being sold to consumers. Whether

it be the expression of consent in pre-sexual encounters or vocalizing sounds of pleasure being

put into account and included or not in the material, pornography allows acts of the forced

behavior of women to be seen in a positive light in terms of male sexual satisfaction.

Adding to this is one of the leading voices in the criticism of pornography is that of

American scholar Catherine A. MacKinnon, who at many points tried to exclude pornography

from being a form of free speech. In an argument discussing heterosexual interactions in

pornography, Mackinnon writes, “Pornography stimulates and reinforces, it does not cathect or

mirror, the connection between one-sided freely available sexual access to women and masculine

sexual excitement and sexual satisfaction" (1985, p. 307). Despite pornography being rooted in

freedom of expression, Mackinnon’s crusade against the industry has some merit. Aside from

what is shown onscreen, the pornography industry, separated from individual pornographic

films, however, has made no attempt to hide its abuse of women and silences many actresses

willing to speak out about any harming experiences (Gutierrez, 2013).

FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF PORNOGRAPHY 5

While there are certainly examples of pornography legitimizing the abuse of women through

sexual violence, there is also a rising tide of pornography that seeks to combat these abuses

through the use of female empowerment. Feminist pornography opposed to other pornography

stands out by putting an emphasis on consent alongside sexual self-determination and pleasure of

its female participants in direct connection to second wave feminism ideology (Ryberg, 2015).

This is aided, as Rachael Liberman puts it, by prominent use through “Illustrations of sex toys,

sexual positions aimed at female pleasure, communication and consent between partners, and

other feminist pornography devices can promote sexual confidence in various ways” (2015, p.

188). These types of progressive steps not only directly counter the abusive tendencies

established by the pornography industry, but also clearly provide positive ideas and messages

about female empowerment in a place originally devoid of most instances.

Method

It is also important to look at other key facets of the feminist approach while analyzing

pornography from its perspective. One such way is analyzing through the lens of a postmodern

feminist, recognizing the differences present in the way pornography shows women and men,

dissecting any semblance of meaning prescribed in their portrayals outside of a gendered context.

Judging from the importance of body objectification in pornography, this perspective does lend

credence to further examination (Schussler, 2013). Another lens of feminism that can help this

analysis on pornography is that of cultural feminism, a movement that takes steps in redefining

and reexamining the traits of femininity by thoroughly exploring the elements of both regular

and feminist pornography (Echols, 1983).

While admittedly a more role-based perspective to take compared to the more recent

postmodern feminist method, cultural feminism is able to identify certain elements pertaining to
FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF PORNOGRAPHY 6

female distinctions, particularly the treatment of women in the common struggle of dominance in

sexual encounters in pornography (Baron, 1990). Highlighting egalitarian aspects found in

feminist pornography and how they are applied using these perspectives will help in analyzing it

for both the betterment of female standing and gender-neutral expectations in sexual

relationships. By looking at pornography’s traditional appeal in how it shows women as well as

its attempts to appeal to women under a scope that tries to relinquish these commonly held

female values, it can help illustrate the direction pornography should take in the future to

minimize the problematic views on women it propagates. Taking all of this into account, the

question that will be analyzed using these methods is as follows: Can feminist-oriented

pornography, with its developed intentions for spreading positive views of women in sexual

circumstances, provide a better outlook for pornography as a whole in terms of expressing ideas

without the involvement of sexism?

Analysis
Because modern day technology allows easy access to all avenues of pornography due to the

internet, it makes sense to look at how it is being utilized and marketed to onlookers. A cursory

look through any porn site’s home webpage advertising recent, and free, heterosexual-themed

videos is filled to the brim with the use of demeaning language. Words such as “Violated”,

“Gangbang”, “Slut”, and “Cheating” combined with other obscenities in the title of these videos

are able to grab attention of any viewer. This isn’t groundbreaking, as content of this type is well

in accordance with the marketplace of ideas, something the internet wholly embraces as a

concept, but at the same time the circumstances either implied by the video’s title or shown by its

substance really does a disservice to the portrayal of females within.

FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF PORNOGRAPHY 7

What I mean by this disservice is that pornography takes strides providing clear, and sexist,

dominant powers in the sexual encounters shown. The aspects shown through descriptions like

“Violated” and “Gangbang” emphasize a form of powerlessness and submissiveness that the

female has to endure while the male partner(s) exercises a form of vast physical superiority given

the structure of the video. Some acts progress into violence as the intercourse gets rough in

certain phases, giving power to the male’s genitalia as opposed to any aspect of the female. And

in the category of videos themed with words like “Slut” and “Cheating”, while certain elements

can be shared over with the previous example, it primarily harms the view of females in that

these videos makes the feminine character(s) look conniving and unfaithful even if it does have

her be in more power and assertiveness. It almost generates a message of women needing

significant pleasure in their lives to get by and can prompt male viewers in getting false pretenses

in what is needed in a sexual relationship.

Looking at this basic rundown of modern-era pornography through postmodern feminism

does not bode well for either primary gender involved. These instances paint both of those

involved in these sexual activities as objects, with the male being dominant and the female being

dominated. While there are also circumstances which paint the opposite of this, primarily with

dominatrix pornography, it still achieves this look that neither gender really has to conform to.

There’s barely reasoning at all, if any, in these filmed encounters that justify otherwise, as most

possible justification or understanding is skipped or absent in place of sexual content. The

language used largely influences different treatment of genders and how they react and function

accordingly when it shouldn’t. While porn, heterosexual porn in this context, is made to

primarily stimulate and satisfy the viewer sexually in some way, it nonetheless trivializes the

roles each individual contributes. Males don’t have to appeal to the dominance shown on screen
FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF PORNOGRAPHY 8

and the females certainly shouldn’t be committed to being submissive in their respective

relationships.

Even when looking at established feminine traits detailed by cultural feminist lenses, the

examples of porn titles and substance contained within obviously blows the gentleness of

females greatly out of proportion with their submissiveness. Albeit different from the

disregarding of gender roles in the analysis of pornography from postmodern feminism,

analyzing porn through cultural feminism focuses more on the egalitarian aspect for women.

What is shown on screen with the hypothetical videos is not really equal in the slightest due to

the imbalanced power dynamic on display and no circumstance for the female to truly showcase

any facets of that are cores of femininity. The characteristics of females from a cultural feminist

perspective is being intelligent and nurturing within the social sphere of genders while pursuing

equal rights and opportunities as men. In pornography, specifically the aforementioned videos,

these characteristics are replaced with discomfort and sometimes looks of fear to go along with

the almost contradictory pleasurable noises made. While there are some females who could get

pleasure from these kinds of circumstances, it isn’t something to assume after watching these

videos.

The videos I’ve discussed show forms of sexism by delegating roles to the male and female

actors, roles that are typically found in nature settings with other species and in societies built up

over the last two millennia. At its core pornography shows off mating, most of the time without

the express purpose of procreation, but it goes about it in a wrong way. It should be noted,

looking deeper into these kinds of videos that a lot of them are amateur productions alongside

more professionally made industry films. These amateur productions are influenced by the

modern landscape described before, seeing it more as a norm than anything else .By appealing to
FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF PORNOGRAPHY 9

what is seemingly popular to groups of people on the internet, a lot of these amateur videos seem

to miss the point at the problem that’s tackling the porn industry as a whole when it comes to the

treatment of women in its expression. By adding more videos with these types of genres and

themes, they are supplying more of the objection and submission to male and females present to

other viewers. Those going through puberty as well as young adulthood can easily get the wrong

idea or false expectations when it comes to having sex through exposure to more “extreme”

videos detailing violation in some way.

This is why feminist-oriented and female empowering pornography is important to bring into

the limelight. Not only is it production that is going against years of industry standards, but it has

intrinsic value towards the sexual experience. It is an alternative type of pornography built with

sex-positivity in mind for both participants. It’s not just specifically porn where the female is

now dominant and the male being dominated, or strictly LBGTQ, but porn that conscientious

about how to portray more realistic sexual scenarios that would be played out in common

circumstances. While it could be construed as “not as interesting” given how safe the content its

going for is, feminist pornography at the very least has something to say while promoting this

safe atmosphere. Themes of consent, safe sexual practices, alongside realism and authenticity are

all present in feminist pornography. People of all gender identities and sexual preferences are

shown, having the porn they are shooting be geared towards what they mostly want to do

themselves in the scenario.

Looking on this scenario through postmodern feminism, there isn’t as much objectification as

there is with more regular porn. Sure, certain scenarios, while consenting, can still show

dominant roles in a ratio of power between male, female, and other identities when performing

sex, but they are not delegated to objects performing functions as a means to an end like most
FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF PORNOGRAPHY 10

pornography communicates. There isn’t this factor of the performers refusing to do something

and them being forced into it anyway throughout the sexual events, being stripped of autonomy

in what they want to do. Rather than presenting a gendered form of dominance in porn, feminist

pornography coincides many ways with postmodern feminism in that it does away with gender

inequality by treating all genders on the same basis with dominance being relegated to any party

equally if shown.

Most of the same can be said for viewing feminist pornography under cultural feminism as

well. While it’s more focused on femininity with the nurturing, intelligent, and other prominent

female aspects being at the forefront of what should be represented, cultural feminism is

supported in fully feminist pornography. Sexual positions and female-specific sex toys are used

with comfort in mind, keeping the gentle nature of women satisfied as opposed to being

“violated”. Feminist pornography is egalitarian, with everyone getting equal opportunity in their

say with what goes on. This is coming from a perspective that has strived hard to make a

difference when it comes to accurate female portrayals in media and society. Even if cultural

feminism in this context is more geared toward the female aspect of feminist pornography than

postmodern feminism is, it still takes into account the possible changes this kind of pornography

can bring to the porn industry as a whole. If more pornographic films are made with this mindset,

as well as the popularity of these increasing throughout the industry, then a lot of the negative

aspects typical pornography brings can be done away with. In an industry that has questionable

morals and actions even behind the camera, feminist pornography brings to the table content that

is more acceptable in an ever-growing modern audience. It certainly has the capacity to advertise

itself and be more accepted within the marketplace of ideas than other “harmful” pornography

when it comes to portraying the sexual roles equally and realistically for the viewer.
FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF PORNOGRAPHY 11

Discussion

Before doing my research on pornography, I honestly did not take into account the possible

harms that it could produce. It wasn’t until I looked into possible aggression in relationships that

could be tied to pornography when I realized how expressive pornography can be in a negative

way. While activists like Catherine Mackinnon are trying to discredit pornography as not having

a fundamental way of expressing ideas like other media, I believe that it has the capacity to do so

with both negative and empowering messages. The problem is that the porn industry as a whole

is not really trying to change. There has to be something like feminist pornography that’s made

with the express purpose of going against industry norms to try to make a difference. I definitely

wanted to explore this avenue with two prominent feminist approaches, those of course being

postmodern and cultural feminism. Although they combat each other with postmodern feminism

disregarding the roles women have, roles that cultural feminists hold onto as being identifying of

femininity, they are nonetheless different perspectives that groups of feminists share and would

examine feminist pornography in similar ways. By tackling two similar-yet-different

perspectives, it helps gives clarity as to what modern feminists want communicated in media.

And there are other ways to go about researching this topic with freedom of speech in mind

as well. There are cases of revenge porn and how that tie into hate speech, bringing to light the

legal ramifications of hate speech not being a legal precedent yet set in modern-day law (Larkin,

2014). Not only that, there are specific criticisms levied against feminist pornography by other

feminists, showing that certain groups still feel that pornographic content, no matter the context,

is still harmful in certain ways to the female depictions (Strossen, 1993). While the porn industry

has promoted problematic portrayals of women in the past, it has the capacity to change due to

efforts like feminist pornography utilizing sexually positive material to promote equality in sex.
FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF PORNOGRAPHY 12

References
Baron, L. (1990). Pornography and gender equality: An empirical analysis. Journal of Sex

Research, 27(3), 363-380. doi: 10.1080/00224499009551566

Cramer, E., & McFarlane, J. (1994). Pornography and abuse of women. Public Health Nursing,

11(4), 268-272. doi: 10.1111/j.1525-1446.1994.tb00422.x

Echols, A. (1983). Cultural feminism: feminist capitalism and the anti-pornography movement.

Social Text, (7), 34-53.

Gutierrez, E. (2013). Pornography and Violence Against Women. Emory Undergraduate

Research Journal, 12-16.

Hald, G. M., Malamuth, N. N., & Lange, T. (2013). Pornography and sexist attitudes among

heterosexuals. Journal of Communication, 63(4), 638-660. doi: 10.1111/jcom.12037

Larkin Jr, P. J. (2014). Revenge porn, state law, and free speech. Loy. LAL Rev., 48, 57.

doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2385620

Liberman, R. (2015). ‘It's a really great tool’: feminist pornography and the promotion of sexual

subjectivity. Porn Studies, 2(2-3), 174-191. doi: 10.1080/23268743.2015.1051913

Lo, V., & Wei, R. (2005). Exposure to Internet Pornography and Taiwanese Adolescents’ Sexual

Attitudes and Behavior. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 49(2), 221–237.

doi: 10.1207/s15506878jobem4902_5

MacKinnon, C. A. (1985). Pornography, civil rights, and speech. Harv. CR-CLL Rev., 20, 1.

McGowan, M. K. (2003). Conversational exercitives and the force of pornography. Philosophy

& Public Affairs, 31(2), 155-189. doi: 10.1111/j.1088-4963.2003.00155.x

FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF PORNOGRAPHY 13

Post, R. C. (1988). Cultural heterogeneity and law: Pornography, blasphemy, and the First

Amendment. Calif. L. Rev., 76, 297. doi: 10.2307/3480615

Ryberg, I. (2015). The ethics of shared embodiment in queer, feminist and lesbian

pornography. Studies in European Cinema, 12(3), 261–274.

doi: 10.1080/17411548.2015.1094946

Schussler, A. E. (2013). Pornography and postmodernism. Postmodern Openings, 4(3), 7-23.

doi: 10.18662/po/2013.0403.01

Shope, J. H. (2004). When words are not enough: The search for the effect of pornography on

abused women. Violence Against Women, 10(1), 56-72. doi: 10.1177/1077801203256003

Strossen, N. (1993). A Feminist Critique of" The" Feminist Critique of Pornography. Virginia

Law Review, 1099-1190. doi: 10.2307/1073402

Tong, R. (1982). Feminism, pornography and censorship. Social Theory and Practice, 8(1), 1-17.

doi: 10.5840/soctheorpract1982816

West, C. (2003). The free speech argument against pornography. Canadian Journal of

Philosophy, 33(3), 391-422. doi: 10.1080/00455091.2003.10716549