Radical Feminism vs. the Sex Industry Pt. 1: The Realities

photo found here

As most of you know, radical feminists who stand against exploitation often get a lot of grief from anti-feminist groups like MRAs and others as well as so-called ‘sex-positive feminists.’ Radical feminists are often attacked and called “anti-sex” or “prudes” or “feminazis” because we take a stance that examines the roots of women's oppression. These roots lie inside institutions of oppression like religion, capitalism, white supremacy and patriarchy. Many liberal folks consider the sex industry and other such corrupt and exploitative industries to be “engines of free speech” and endlessly protect the rights of exploiters.

I shall address common misconceptions and questions regarding the sex industry as I have received a lot of grief from various anti-radical feminists and pro-exploitation groups. This desire for clarification came after I received comments (ones that I did not publish) about how “awesome” and “empowering” pornography is for both men and women. Other comments were using “choice” as a way to defend the mega-exploiters in the sex industry.

The points that I will be looking at are from my own thoughts as well as inspiration from prominent anti-exploitative radical feminist activists and writers like Robert Jensen, Andrea Dworkin and Sheila Jeffreys. I also have gained inspiration from many other radical feminist bloggers who have taken on the task of rebutting common pro-sex industry/pro-exploitation arguments like One Angry girl, A Radical Pro Feminist and Twisty.

I will make several posts, all part of an on-going series that I would like to work on. This first post will examine the realities of the pornography industry, including important statistics.

The purpose of this is series is to raise awareness and educate others on the harms of the business of sexual exploitation and slavery. I want to look at the porn industry and the resulting pornification of society.

Many people wonder why I am so concerned with the sex industry; the industry that markets off the bodies and sexualities of mostly women. I acknowledge that the sex industry affects men too, but the numbers of women affected are dramatically higher.

These groups and individuals claim that the sex industry should not be an area of concern for feminists and that there are far more important things to focus on.

My answer as to why I care is simple: I believe in equality. Equality in every aspect of our lives is something I fight for every day. The sex industry treats men and women as non-equals; men are seen as dominant, in the public and the private. The sex industry markets off masculinity. As a radical feminist, I care about the private just as much as the public. The sex industry and sexuality in general are considered private matters by many non-feminist groups and anti-feminist groups. These people believe that since these topics are considered “private” they should not be available for feminist critique.

The private, radical feminists argue, is directly related to the public. Women are traditionally expected to remain in the home or the private sphere while men take on roles outside of the home, in the public sphere. Radical feminists want the private to be made public. We offer critiques for both spheres in order to liberate women as a class.

So, what are we trying to liberate women from? Women and men are equal, aren’t they? They argue that the so-called ‘sexual revolution’ of the 1960s gave women ‘sexual agency’ and thus women have been liberated. I'll get to the 'sexual revolution' aka 'the time when dudes accessed women's bodies as much as they wanted via pornography magazines'

We are trying to liberate women from patriarchy, the system of male supremacy that continues to stand in the way of women’s emancipation. Patriarchy is male supremacy. Male supremacy creates and sustains institutions of oppression such as the sex industry. The sex industry is based on the principles of woman-hating, the construct of masculinity and capitalism. This industry needs to be critiqued, it needs to be challenged. The status quo maintains this industry based around myths of “free speech” and men defend the industry based on the same principles. The term free speech in America seems to translate into “white dudes saying what they want and writing their ‘speech’ using the bodies of women and children”. Women are unable to exercise such ‘freedoms’ in society, simply because they are women. This free speech is defended by liberal white males and anti-feminist groups because it allows them to exploit and use women as sexual accessories, mere décor to aid them in their masturbation.

Free speech has traditionally been used to uphold white male supremacy in America, defending such lunatics as Larry Flynt, creator of Hustler Magazine. Flynt has been protected over and over again by so-called “freedom” fighters in the USA while radical activists such as Nikki Craft are censored to the point of absurdity (I shall cover this in another post).

So, who has the freedom? It sure as hell isn’t the women of the world, who are disproportionately affected by rape, battering, HIV/AIDS, poverty and war atrocities. Freedom lies in the hands of white men and freedom of women is a lie. Women are not free when they are forced to live in poverty. Women are not free when they are being penetrated by two men, bleeding and crying in pain on video tape for other men to watch. Women are not free when they are raped in war, assaulted on the street and killed for staining family ‘honour’

But, what if a woman uses the pornography and/or bodies of women for masturbation, what if a woman gets off on women being harmed?

I can nearly hear someone shouting that in my ear.

All I can say is this: women hurt women, too. The majority of pornography users, however, are men. Why? Pornography is an affirmation of masculinity, dominance and control for male viewers. Pornography embraces power struggles and inequality. Yes, this is still relevant within critiques of non-mainstream and non-heterosexual pornography. I'll get there, too.

Pornography allows capitalism and patriarchy to market, package and sell a sexuality to men. This sexuality is immersed in gender roles, power struggles, sadomaschism and lies about women. They sell a sexuality that is anti-egalitarian and pro-male supremacy, this marketed sexuality leaks into mainstream media and marketing and affects society as a whole.

So, let us take a look into the statistics regarding pornography as a global capital business:

Every second - $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography.

Every 39 minutes: a new pornographic video is being created in the United States.

The internet is the preferred route for pornography users, according to statistics. Video sales and rentals made up $3.62 billion dollars in 2006. Internet pornography, usually where you can find “hardcore” or “gonzo” pornography took in $2.84 billion dollars in the US. Magazine popularity has decreased substantially.

In 2006

13,982,729 searches were conducted using the search term “teen sex”

13,484,769 searches were conducted using the search term “free sex”

12% of total websites are pornography websites

In 2006, statistics show that 420 million pornography pages were online. 100,000 pages contained child pornography.

The first age of exposure to pornography is 11 years old.

The largest age group to access pornography is between 35 - 49

40 million US adults regularly visit online pornography sites

2006 male and female statistics of logging onto pornography websites: 72% male - 28% female

In the United States 405 million videos were sold or rented in 1992. That number rose to 957 million in 2006.

statistics found here

Now we know the size of this industry, an important factor in any critique or analysis. What sustains an industry this size? Capitalism sustains an industry that blatantly exploits human beings for the sexual gratification of other human beings.

Many will tell me that “all work is exploitative, so why is the sex industry any different?”

The answer to this question is multi-faceted, but I will attempt to make it simple. All work is essentially exploitative because the work is usually underpaid and undervalued, especially if you are a woman. Also, many workers experience a lot of on-the-job problems regarding wages, harassment, poor working conditions and so on. The list can go on forever.

The sex industry is a different kind of exploitative work and to be honest; calling it work does not sit well with me. So, how is it different? I will list the aspects of this industry that separates it from other work.

1) This is one of the only 'jobs' where women can start with higher wages than their male counterparts.

*keep in mind that this is not always the case; some women earn little in pornography

2) Since the job allows women to earn more than they usually would illustrates just how intertwined this job is within patriarchy. The idea that ‘we’ll only pay women well if they are sexually servicing men and performing their gendered role as a submissive woman’ is what separates this ‘work’ from others.

3) This is a job where you can contract HIV/AIDS and various other STIs on any given day because of being told to have unprotected sex with various different people. The condom usage rate in pornography is incredibly low, a mere 17% actually. Condoms are not “sexy” according to dude viewers, so they are usually kept out of mainstream pornography leading to illness and death.

4) Women are used and disposed of in this industry much faster than others. If a woman hits a certain age the porn industry deems her “too old”. Before this, the bodies of women in pornography usually go through alterations such as breast implants, labiaplasty and other forms of misogynistic mutilation.

There are a million other reasons that I could list that separate the sex industry from other industry jobs, but I can’t take that kind of time and space on my blog. Feel free to leave any more reasons on my comment section.

I hope my next post will be a bit more organized in terms of what I talk about. I hope to speak about the specific issues within pornography such as racism, sexism and the effects on society at large.

If you would like to add anything, please let me know!!