Does anyone else agree with feminism?

Post Reply New Topic

False dichtonomy. You can be for equal rights yet be a skeptic of feminism. I'm not against feminism but I'm skeptical of some of the reasons people become feminist.

What's wrong with BDSM porn?

I see hardly any sexuality at all in the American media. Because here showing an autopsy is considered more wholesome than a woman's nipple.

Not all feminists are against porn. Look up sex-positive feminism:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex-positive_feminism

What I meant was there are a lot of 'standard' things in porn that you don't do in regular sex, just because it's not pleasurable (I don't want to go into detail). Some boys grow up watching free Internet porn as regularly as they can get away with and have a weird idea of how women's bodies and minds work. I just find that sad. I've nothing against BDSM porn or sex/nudity on tv...just that.

People say the answer to that is to make 'better porn' and I fully support sex-positive feminists trying to do that. However, the unrealistic, objectifying porn will always be there because that's what gets people off more quickly. That's really what porn is about and how it makes money. An orgasm is a powerful behavioural training tool (now I sound like a dominatrix).

What exactly is "regular" sex?

I guess I don't follow what you're saying(puddingmouse) because I hardly expect a teenage boy to have a clue how women's minds and bodies work until he(if he is even attracted to women) grows up a little and gains some experience in romantic relationships, and even then it's an uphill struggle. Teenagers who don't watch porn probably don't understand these things. They probably have "weird" ideas about what sex is no matter what.

I dated nothing but females from the time I started dating until I was 22 or so. Every woman I've dated or been with intimately was vastly different than any woman I'd been with before. And their minds, well, every person I know has a mind that appears to be pretty unique in so many perspectives, people are complex and for me I tend to try to understand each person in my life on an individual basis. But with romantic relationships with women, I think from watching a lot of porn in my later teen years I also had false expectations but I never tried to force anyone to bend and mold to what I had expected prior to actually finding out what they were like.

I think when we're in our teen years we're being messed with by hormones and we're likely to have a pretty wild idea of how sex works. How is that a problem?

I think kids should be educated about safe sex and what is and what isn't OK(such as proper boundaries) and if they know the basics of how to be safe, when they get to the age that they become sexually active, it's going to be really weird no matter what.

I get your point with this, but some of the more extreme BDSM porn is very nasty indeed. I still think it should be legal (the actresses definitely know what they're getting themselves into), but it scares the hell out of me. I feel that way about some of the Facial Abuse-type stuff as well.

Should rape porn be legal? After all, it's a subset of BDSM.

I think I am going to stay out of the rape porn stuff - I don't find rape porn or BDSM appealing, but don't want to make any hasty judgements. From what I have read there are some women who fantasize about this sort of thing. I do not really understand where they are coming from so don't have much to comment about it.

I do look at porn myself but perhaps I am supporting an evil that I should not. I try not to think about it much. People can look at porn if they choose, but I do feel for porn actresses who are taken advantage of or who were victimized as children. Perhaps this is something I will have to think about. There are a lot of shady people out there, and maybe I am one of them. This requires some further thought on my part.

I do applaud feminists on a whole. Sexism is still large in this world and needs to be attacked. It is a necessity.

I don't see why not as long as we know the actresses are consenting and it's all pretend and not real.

I'm not really much into live action pornographic movies but I have some pornographic anime dvds and I like dirty fanfics that have rape and all kinds of twisted stuff.

Yeah I mean how is rape fantasy any worse than playing Call of Duty or any other game that's essentially simulated murder fantasy?

I can't really talk about it too much outside the Adult forum. Some men expect women to fit the ideas they get from porn, and lots of girls try to meet those expectations in an effort to become popular with men and to 'satisfy' them. Teenage girls are that desperate to be liked (I know because I was one). Women not really going for what they want is enough of a problem already, without the pressures of porn culture to conform to.

I don't know about the legality of rape porn in the US, I mean I've heard of it and read about the term rape fetish(because honestly I felt sick years ago when I came to know such a thing existed) and I guess I understand that there is a difference between wanting to act out a scenario or watch it depicted in pornographic film etc. and actually wanting to be raped.

I can't fathom the latter but I'm definitely uncomfortable about the former. Some time ago I was watching a movie at a theater with my friend and there was a brief scene depicting rape and I couldn't watch the rest of the movie, after hurling my guts up in the bathroom I had to call a cab because I couldn't go back in even though... it was such a brief scene and it didn't even really depict rape but at the end of the scene it was implied that it was about to happen to this woman. I mean I expected this to be a sub-par movie, Nicolas Cage as a protagonist, I didn't expect anything that disturbing. And really I didn't realize something like that would upset me so much.

That said, I don't believe it SHOULD be illegal because it's not got anything to do with the actual crime of rape, as long as it's just a fictional depiction then I don't see it as harmful. Offensive, creepy, yeah, probably a lot of things, but I don't think it's wrong. Human sexuality is weird and complex and different for everyone. I can't justify asserting that because it makes my stomach turn I should be entitled to tell people what they can and can't watch.

Well, you can't actually be murdered and survive, for one thing. If you're dead, you're dead. There isn't potentially a lifelong death to look forward to because in real life, it's final.

I agree that certain content should not be made available to minors, but I mainly see this as the responsibility of parents. It is not the fault of porn site providers (or the providers of violent browser games, for that matter) that many kids have unrestricted and unmonitored internet access.

I am willing to make certain compromises regarding age verification, but I think we all know that these measures don't work. They only inconvenience adults while computer-savvy minors can easily circumvent them. So in the end, it all comes down to parental control. That's the way it has always been. With children comes responsibility.

Not that I'm a porn addict or anything, but I don't want to see my access to any kind of media content restricted or prohibited because parents can't keep up with their kids in IT technology. There is way too much censorship in Germany as it is. I have to order my computer games in the UK because everything remotely violent is censored around here, and it hurts the economy if adults are forced to buy their media content in other countries.

^

I'm not arguing for censorship. I'm arguing for more comprehensive sex education that counteracts the misinformation in porn.

I think that censorship and feminism are a bit antithetical. The feminist movement is also a sexual liberation movement with the aim to give women complete control over their bodies. That's why I find it a bit troubling that some feminists are now seeking to limit the ways in which women are allowed to express their sexuality. I wonder how people like Beate Uhse-Rotermund, who has done a great deal for the sexual self-determination of women, would feel about feminists advocating censorship of pornography.

Beate Uhse-Rotermund was Germany's first female test pilot, race pilot and stunt pilot in the 1930s. She also started a mail order company that sold contraceptives and books on "marital hygiene" in the 1940s, and later founded the world's first sex shop in 1962. Her self-published brochures aimed at teaching women about their bodies and educate them about matters of sexual health, rhythm method contraception and other contraceptive means.

This was a huge taboo back then, and she frequently had trouble with the law. The police occasionally raided her store and confiscated books and brochures on the grounds that they were "contrary to decency and morality" and "served to inflame and satisfy lustful desires". She nevertheless managed to build up one of largest international chains of sex stores, which of course also sells pornography of all sorts. This shows that the sexual liberation of women and the freedom to publish sexual material, including pornography, went hand in hand. I think it's counter-productive to try and reverse this process.

I'm all for that. There can't be enough sex education as far as I'm concerned. Back when I was a kid, schools did precious little in this regard. It was all very technical and ultimately not very helpful.