The Daily Durvy

I don’t think I’ve ever met someone without an opinion on pornography. Some people like it, some people love it, some people hate it and some people are feminists and their brains bleed when they think about it. They cite violence against women, objectification of sexuality and the division of the body and spirituality (really) at the heart of the issue with porn. The problem with pornography is that everybody who fights about it has a different idea about what it means and what its affect on society is. While many people believe that there is no inherent problem with porn, and I tend to agree, there is a definite affect on the mass, mainstream media and the way women are viewed. There is a violent undertone in media’s messages. While I am nowhere as eloquent or well-read as many feminists who speak on the subject, I do know that porn is marked with sweeping generalizations and over-stated implications of sexual acts.

That being said, there is what Jane Caputi calls “everyday pornography,” the sexual subtexts found in advertisements, TV shows, homophobia, militarism and even, if you look close enough and with a feminist set of glasses, “environmental devastations.” (I thought it was crazy too, but Janey girl makes one a hell of an argument.) There are pornographic elements in everyday life: there are definitely power struggles and objectification, but does “porn” move from one realm to the next? Or is it simply an alarmist term used by brain-bleeding feminists who want the current gender socialization processes halted?

What women are taught is that sex is about power and power relations are set up by popular culture and deep, early-life socialization. Rape is the obvious example; Halloween is the less apparent choice. You see girls dressed as Playboy bunnies because of the power relation and the current definition of “sexy.” Most guys don’t even dress up. So why then do the girls? Who do they impress? Where is the power? Is that pornographic, and what does pornographic even mean? Can we move the term “pornography” from the classic definition and into the realm of mainstream media?

I don’t know. And I don’t think that there is a clear answer. I think that it is such a sensitive subject that people are afraid to even talk about and I’m certainly not doing a great job at the moment. I need some more time to digest and think on the everyday porn in my life. What do you think? Is there a pornographic undertone to our modern media? Or is it simply just a sexual undertone? Just sexy perhaps? Is there a difference?