Porn Objectifies. Doesn't just about every film released also Objectify? Is it really a problem?

Question

I can go to the cinema and watch Batman without believing a caped crusader is prowling around waiting to defend me from evil doers.

I can watch porn without believing that it is setting a model for human relationships.

In both instances the actors and actresses are being well paid for their services to entertain me, in the full knowledge that I will objectify them and enjoy it.

So - is that fact that porn objectifies really the problem, or is it just used as an EXCUSE by people who don't want anyone to watch porn?

trust object to know about objects!

• verb (objectifies, objectified) 1 express (something abstract) in a concrete form. 2 degrade to the status of an object.

I am using the former context not the latter.

Of course object, the Oxford English Dictionary is wrong, you are right....(sarcasm)

http://www.askoxford.com/results/?view=dev_dict&field-12668446=objectification&branch=13842570&textsearchtype=exact&sortorder=score%2Cname

the reality is that more than one good definition exists, i chose one context, you choose the other context and blame me for not picking yours. That isn't a flaw in my use of language, it is a failure on your part to appreciate which meaning I intend, which considering I have actually stated it...seems somewhat bizarre.

The batman example does not meet your chosen definition, it does however meet one of the two literal definitions given by the OED, and hence is an appropriate use of language.

I am not saying your definition is wrong it is merely inapplicable in this instance.

Object, your definition comes from the following source - i.e. one random probably academic 24 years ago in a journal, cited on a webpage which whilst hosted by a university is nothing more than a blogsite for students and staff, by its OWN admission

http://web.cortland.edu/

so really, why are you asking me to accept the definition of a random blogger citing a 24 year old journal reference above the definitive and up to date authority on the English Language?

Your second reference simply has no bearing on the question.
Judith Posner in Atkinson Review of Canadian Studies 1, Spring 1984 gives the following definition of objectification:

Answer 1

I think it's more troublesome than you are allowing. I don't believe in censoring porn, and I think that the chief problem in porn (at least in the US) is that it's commercially produced and bereft of any kind of creativity. It's demeaning towards women because that is a tried and true formula that will always sell.

But I think it's a chicken and egg question here...I don't think men in the US turn misogynistic because they watch porn that is demeaning to women. I think that they watch porn that is demeaning to women because we are a misogynistic society. That's what sells and that's why they make it. Porn doesn't make rapists, Tera. Rapists like porn.

I should hasten to add that there are worlds of pornography out there. They are not all the same and they DO NOT all objectify women. There are loads of people out there that are essentially voyeurs--they like to watch other people bonking on camera--and that's all there is to say about it.

Answer 2

2

Answer 3

Adults are able to filter a lot better than cbildren, and realize what is real and expected and what is not. Your analogy to Batman only holds true for adults, sadly -- I would REALLY expect that more than a few 8-10 year olds, seeing Batman for the first time, may have considered him to be a real person. As far as objectification goes, adults (hopefully) "know better", but children learning young may not have any clue, and are not emotionally mature enough (no matter how intelligent) to know what to do with porn. Thus laws intended in the majority to restrict any possible avenue of juvenile access, even to the point of making it relatively (but not really) difficult for adults to get it (i.e., it's not on the front shelf, but behind the counter).

Would you want to "educate" an 8-year-old by watching it with them, to teach them? Yeah, neither would I (lol).

Answer 4

I watch porn now and then, I enjoy it.

Does it objectify women, perhaps. But I like to think I have a broad exposure to women of all types- in my personal life there's friends, coworkers, family members, and in the media I watch there's newsanchors, politicians, and of course actresses portraying women in any variety of ways. Every day I see women police officers, lawyers, doctors- my primary care physician is a woman.

I think that's the key here- have some balance to your life, and if your main exposure to women is through porn, you're going to have problems.

I've been exposed to women of all types- "Porn star" is just one of many.

Answer 5

twilight- you answered your own question with your last sentence.
I concur with you.
Is it not more a question of Freewill?
I have not long returned from Amsterdam.
20 years ago their Porn industry was thriving, now this is no longer the case. The only people who keep their industry ticking over are the punters who visit for long weekends- These are mainly groups of people who are are celebrating their forthcoming nuptials in The UK.
Sad, but a fact.

Answer 6

I am a female and I have to agree with the first reply. Porn does not objectify. Only people who are uncomfortable with sex and their own sexuality would feel like this.
I, personally, don't care for porn. But I wouldn't try to get it banned.
What consenting adults choose to do is fine with me, in front of a camera or not.

Answer 7

I have little idea of what's going on here and don't want to know, but either way, I think highly of you guys. :-)

On to your post...
If people willingly choose to have sex in front of a camera, are well-paid for it, as you mentioned, so that we can enjoy the fruits of their labour *chuckle*, then no, it isn't a problem. Everyone is getting what they want in the deal, the actors/actresses, as well as, the viewers.
I think that if people don't like pornography, then they don't have to watch it, and let others be, simple right?

Answer 8

If you want to DEBATE the ethics of porn, that's fine. I just object when the same standard isn't applied across the board, whether it's men or women being depicted or consuming the material.

EDIT

I also, though I don't view it and consider it ethically suspect, do not support censorship of pornography. What others do in the privacy of their own homes, alone or with other consenting adults, is their business.

What they discuss in a public forum with a specific topic assigned to it is something i have every right to consider and criticize.

Answer 9

Ted Bundy, the night before his execution stated that his long "career" of the rapes and murders of over 40 women began with his exposure (at a young age) to porn involving at first only the objectification of women, but later evolved into viewing porn that depicted violence against women. He claimed that viewing porn eventually de-sensitized him to "normal sex." He is not the only serial rapist or serial killer to link the burgeoning of his sexual obsessions to pornography.

Now granted, we're not all future Ted Bundys. His case is extreme. And no doubt pornography was not the ONLY factor that led to his crimes. I'm sure being a psychopath had a lot to do with it. I think our society (especially in America) fears there is a link between the sexual objectification of women and sexual and violent crimes against women. This fear seems to have an origin that comes from something real and substantial. To what extent it is (or is not) harmful to portray women as sex objects is controversial and highly debatable. But the link is there. Many studies have been done on the effects of media on children, showing that children are influenced by what they see. Perhaps adults are less impressionable, but that again is debatable. We do know that the emotionally or psychologically unstable are more likely at risk. Studies are still being done to try to figure out the extent of the link between crimes against women and the media's exploitation of women. Until all the facts are in, I guess in America most would like to err on the side of safety and caution.

Answer 10

If someone blames porn for their mistakes because they can't distinguish between fantasy and reality, then they are the problem, not porn.

That's like saying watching slasher flicks turns you into a serial killer (most people have watched slasher flicks, yet most people are not serial killers).

Didn't our parents tell us not to believe everything we see on tv?