Feminists disagree on whether pornography is harmful or liberating

This year, Australian news outlets reported on several highly concerning cases in which AI-generated deepfake porn was used to specifically target women and girls.

In May, a Discord list created by Year 11 boys at Yarra Valley Grammar made headlines for its ranking of students, which used terms such as “object,” “means,” and “unrapable.”

In the same month, a male student at Salesian College was expelled for sharing deepfake porn images of a female teacher. Recently, deepfake nude images of around 50 female students at Bacchus Marsh Grammar were shared online.

These incidents have caused outrage among parents, teachers, students and the general public, as we are aware that any girl or woman can now become a target of abuse.

This kind of gender-based abuse does not happen in a vacuum. So is pornography itself partly to blame for men exploiting women through pornography? Feminists have been debating this for decades.

Despite the sexual revolution that swept the Western world in the 1960s, Western feminists have failed to reach a consensus on whether pornography is a predominantly liberating or oppressive force.

How harmful is pornography? The jury is divided

Contemporary feminists’ relationship with pornography is complicated. Some argue that it can be ethical, educational and empowering, while others say that its many psychological, physical and social harms far outweigh its benefits.

The research is also far from conclusive. While some studies show a link between porn consumption and harmful attitudes in the real world, there is little evidence If or How Viewing pornography itself could influence these attitudes.

In Australia, the average age of first exposure to porn is 13.2 years for men and 14.1 years for women. Yet despite a recent focus on young people, there is still a major blind spot in research when it comes to the type of porn young people consume.

We know from research that people learn sexual norms when watching explicit content. We also know that exposure to pornography influences young people’s expectations about sexual encounters. Therefore, we should be open to the possibility of a link between young people’s porn consumption and sexual violence.

And while there are many forms of pornography, from romantic to highly exploitative, these genres are generally hosted on the same domain, which can make it difficult to avoid certain types. In Pornhub’s 2023 Year in Review, many of the most popular categories reflected the objectification, domination, and degradation of women.

The beginning of the sex wars

In the 1980s, the “sex wars” were fought between two factions of women: “anti-porn” and “pro-sex” feminists. The former focused on the dangers of porn, while the latter emphasized women’s sexual liberation from social and gender norms.

Anti-porn feminists, led by US activists Andrea Dworkin and Catherine Mackinnon, argued that the sexual culture that emerged after the sexual revolution actually undermined women’s sexual autonomy and power. They warned that porn made this condition worse by romanticising sexual violence and the domination and dehumanisation of women.

They proposed addressing the problem by introducing civil rights ordinances based on the premise that pornography “constitutes sex discrimination” because it naturalizes the subordination of women to men. These laws would allow women who have been sexually discriminated against or harmed as a result of pornography to bring civil lawsuits against the pornographers.

The opposing group of pro-sex feminists (or “sex-positive”) came to the fore at a conference on sexuality at Barnard College in New York in 1982. When the regulations were proposed, they recoiled at the claim that feminists could rely on the patriarchal political system to solve the problem – but offered no alternative.

While the pro-sex group acknowledged that pornography could be misogynistic, they rejected the anti-porn stance as diverting attention from its real focus: a woman’s “own sexual desires.”

Eventually, the pro-sex position focused on the idea of ​​women’s sexual liberation and self-determination, while the anti-porn position became increasingly associated with prudishness and even alleged misogyny (“man-hatred”).

When pro-sex feminists emerged victorious, legitimate concerns about the oppressive relationship between sex, violence and power were suppressed – and sexual domination in pornography was portrayed as liberating. “Sex-positive” feminism continues to thrive today.

The ongoing division among feminists ultimately enabled the expansion of the porn industry. Collectively, feminists could not accept the normalization of female subjugation in sex and society.

Is there a solution?

There are two lessons we can learn from the sex war. First, that political solutions to cultural problems do not work unless they address the root causes. Second, that sociosexual problems require a solution that involves the whole community.

We need to talk openly about how to address sexism more broadly to ultimately find answers that help women deal with the social and interpersonal impacts of pornography. For example, we could start by taking the burden off individuals and holding the porn and social media industries accountable for contributing to the spread of exploitative content.

As many experts have pointed out, the government’s proposed age verification law – which aims to restrict children’s access to pornography – is unlikely to solve existing societal problems of abuse and misogyny. Rather, the solution will require an integration of pro-sexual and anti-porn positions and concerns. Both groups must agree together on a common vision of liberal female sexuality in the digital age.

In 2024, women’s sexual liberation has not stopped them from being abused, exploited and objectified through harmful forms of pornography. Until we can all agree on the parameters of the root problems – misogyny, patriarchy and power – this exploitation is unlikely to stop.

Otherwise, new generations will have to deal with even more technologically extreme versions of these problems.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Top image: Feminist demonstration for the legalization of abortion, 1976. Photo: Universal Images Group North America LLC/alamy.com