First of all, make sure all your replies are SERIOUS and MATURE. This is a serious discussion, this is an important issue.
This topic has been approved by Wymsy.
Ok, lets get to it. Does Pornography exploit Women's bodies?
I know I'm just talking about women, not men, that is because the majority of people working in the industry, are in fact women.
I believe that IT DOES NOT, Women as well as men have a choice weather or not to expose their bodies. Women who want to sign up for the industry, knowing full well that they are going to have to expose their bodies. Women KNOW that people are going to watch them.
It depends.
I've heard somewhere that the people from Girls Gone Wild get their girls drunk.
But I'm pretty sure that Playboy playmates are sober.
I'm guessing though that it doesn't, becase as you said, the women choose to do that. And even if they are drunk, or not, they still have some form of common sense left in them.
I think it depends on your perspective. I think its not exploiting the woman's bodies actually participating in the pornographic material, however I can see how a woman who is not in it may see how it might effect them (not that it does), and the way people view them.
Well, first off, the "exploitation" is the fault of the viewer. And if women don't want to be "exploited" they shouldn't be involved in the pornography anyway, because they're in it by their own choice unless it was forced. The ones that are forced are the ones being exploited in all reality.
I don't think it's so much of an exploitation... I think it's more of a negative imagery for people in a society. Then everyone wants to look the way that women are "supposed to look." In some cases that means women in pornographic materials.
Then again there's also the positive of pornography. The woman can feel like she accomplished something for a male/female who cannot find that image of a woman for their very own. The pornography is something they can have at all times, a real human woman may not be something they can have.
Why just women? The type of pornography I normally look at involves a naked man.
I don't think it exploits a persons body. If they're okay with being naked on camera, then I'm sure they're okay with their bodies being edited to look sexier.
As long as they're okay with it, then it's all good :]
Well, everyone makes choices, and if you chose to take your clothes off in front of a camera then you chose to do it. So my answer's no.
it all depends on how you look at pornography. besides the fact that it is one of the BIGGEST money makers in the world, it gives millions of women and men jobs. some forms of pornography could be considered art, some is just considered straight on nasty smut. but in one way or another, it is still an art form. i don't think it exploits women at all-in fact, quite the opposite. not that i care.
i prefer strip clubs. A REAL MANS way of exploiting women.
Oops, I just saw the word dumbass and I jumped to defensive mode, sorry for overreacting. As for my explanation, true, it may give women and men jobs from around the world jobs, but then if it is really good, then why do porn stars have such a high suicide rate. They can't be happy. I mean I wouldn't be knowing that some girl is masturbating to a picture of me naked, not that I do that, but still, I'm just walking in their shoes.
Also, I just find it to be immoral. I follow by the catechism, and I believe that porn is wrong and yes, I also believe that same-sex marriage is wrong, also. Yes, I saw what you crossed out.
Cool retort, bro.
Hard to exploit someone when they're the ones lining up to do it. Can you rape the willing?
As for whether pornography is wrong; why do we still see nakedness as a sin? A body is a body is a body.
I'm not a big fan of the bible or anything but doesn't it say God was angry with Adam and Eve for becoming aware and self-conscious and hiding their privates at some point? Probably got that wrong or out of context.
I think it's more the sex and masturbatory potential than the nudity.
I agree with you tyran people know better when they go into that type of work, it only becomes a problem when women who do that are as skinny as a toothpick so everyone pressures other women to look like a tooth pick or they're not beautiful.
Is there even a QUESTION? Of course it does. No one really seems to care, though, because they're consenting adults and they can do what they want. If you want to make yourself look like a complete tramp on the internet, more power to you.
I do not think pornography exploits the female body.
Though, it all depends on your perspective.
Sex is a natural and normal experience. These people choose to showcase it. Pornography isn't meant to target the female body specifically and purposefully make ALL women feel bad or something. These women are choosing to display their bodies. True, many pornography films focus on the woman's body, but in my opinion there are two reasons for that:
1) The female body is beautiful. Even as a female myself, I can admit that. It's just better to look at than a hairy man. (No offense, boys.)
2) Though pornography is something both genders can enjoy, the target audience is MALES. This is a business, and that business is going to stimulate who ever is going to make them the most money. And most males want to see women.
This is their career of choice. They want to be seen, which is why they do it. It's not your body, so don't feel offended.
And if you don't like it, then well... Don't watch it. Duh.
Hey, I'm just going off the Catholic church's teaching on this topic. I believe that it is a disgusting thing that violates the sixth commandment.
The worst part about porn is the level people take it to. I mean, look at all the amount of this stuff on the net. Plus, people take it to the aspect of child porn, and that is completely DISGUSTING AND WRONG!
Child porn is definitely wrong, but we're not all Catholics here.
It's not really exploting if you were the one signing up for it. :/
If you want to show you naked body in a sexy fashion, that's your profession.
Viewing porn doesn't exactly make you an idiot,
But if you take it as:
"I'M UGLY. LOOK AT THIS WOMAN GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY FOR MONEY. SHE'S BEAUTIFUL!!!1" *Cuts self*
or
"LOL PORN. OH NOES- VIRIS! OH NOES MY HARD DRIVE! OH NOES!!!1"
Or even,
"THIS WOMAN NEEDS HER RIGHTS! DOWN TO WANTED NUDITY!"
Then you're obviously looking at porn rather than it should be looked as,
as a way to please sexual urges.
Or, as for the second one, you're being screwed while you watch people screwing. So, you're screwed.
As for child porn,
let me ready my finger so I may vomit, thanks.
Child porn is basically, ripping the innocence of children for some, sick, perverted thrill to a pedophile.
Gross.
I'm going to repeat what most people are saying. If the women choose it, that's their choice. It's a career path, and if anyone has any common sense at all, they'll know what they're getting into before they get into it.
Just because it's technically voluntary doesn't mean it's not exploitation and objectification. Things like pornography, beauty pageants, and the general way the female body is portrayed in the media causes us to automatically objectify the bodies of all women. I'm no exception, but I'm not really proud of it. I've seen so many beautiful bodies on the internet, movies and TV that the ones I'm lucky enough to see in real life just can't stand up, and I (along with a good portion of other men) inadvertently start to judge women before we even meet them based on what they look like.
I still watch it though, 'cause that's how I roll. In hypocrisy.
all the ignorance in this thread is shocking. i keep seeing the word 'choice' as the defining factor as to whether porn in exploitation- when you see a homeless person, do you tell yourselves "it's this man's choice to be homeless" to feel better about yourselves? especially when they're just starting out in pornography, or stripping, or any other such degrading sport, these women are not doing so because they CHOOSE to. they are doing so because THEY HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE. they need money for school, for rent, for drugs, to just actually live. they usually have no education, they are not qualified for a job of skill, so they do what they have to. and while it's true that some become successful at it and start making more money than the average person and claim to enjoy it (not to say that, at least in some way, they don't actually enjoy exploiting themselves when the money's right), the vast majority hate it. the entire industry is so messed up and ladden with illegal and inhumane stuff.
i work next to a strip club. i've worked with strippers before (not stripping >:O). i've read memoirs of their that have made me cry. it is a terrible, godawful thing, for anyone to think that these girls would CHOOSE this life, had they other options, is so terribly wrong.
Never really thought about that; thanks for the enlightenment.
I wouldn't say all porn exploits then, but if they enjoy it then I wouldn't classify it as exploiting I guess.
I guess the majority of woman who do porn are poor, but I fail to see how they don't have a choice but to turn to it. Anyone has the ability to get up in the morning and decide to make something of himself. They can choose to do something like sweep up trash or they can do pornography. I will accept that some people may be forced into it, but I don't believe that the majority of actors have absolutely no other alternative for work.
That said, I have seen a few documentaries in my Psych of Women course this semester that have focused on pornography actresses, and though the women interviewed have had some drug issues, the majority of them love what they do and enjoy it. Interestingly, they did have complaints about some types of jobs that they had which they described as sort of exploitative, in the fact that they were totally objectified and there was no real way for them to enjoy the act. Those were blow job and cum shot videos.
I don't particularly think of pornography as exploiting women. I do think that they tend to drive home social stereotypes of the assumed substandard role of a woman to a man (the woman is there to please and to do what the man wants to make him happy). I really think it depends on the porn. It's fairly clear early on how deeply a film is going to stereotype the women involved.
I do watch porn and even enjoy some of the ones that stereotype women and seem to 'exploit' them, but I'm aware of these facts in the back of my mind as I do so.
No. It's their choice.
Also, men do it too; when people say it exploit's women and not men as well, although I disagree with their stance anyway, I just see them as sexist. Not only sexist towards men, but women, who they must think of as the weaker sex to be the only one being exploited despite both sexes doing the same exact thing. Women can use men for sex, men can use women for sex, believe it or not my wonderful misandrists/misogynists.
Not to mention those idiotic people who think men must enjoy and choose to do porn, and women can never enjoy or choose to do porn.
And women also watch porn, you know. Just a head's up.
Simple answer for me: It does not exploit men or women who have chosen to take part. And even though most people seem to think because they would never do it, no one else would, they do - and they enjoy it. That's life; some people enjoy their job, some people don't. But it's up to the individual whether they decide to exploit anyone, man or woman.
If anything, you can blame those in the sex industry being depressed on society's tendency to discriminate against them and view sex as a sin, not exploitation of sex, which is pretty much the opposite. If it wasn't so "wrong" to do something as natural as have sex, it wouldn't be considered a "lowly" job by most people and they would have no reason to feel inferior for doing it.
Porn isnt really exploiting anyone. Women who sign up for it, know they're going to show their bodies off, and possibly even get fucked on camera. It's mostly voluntary.
The only time it's exploiting is when the woman doesnt give permission to be filmed. then it's wrong.
I don't believe Porn exploits women's bodies as we've already covered that they do it by choice. They sign contracts, they get paid and they perform in these types of movies. They weren't forced to strip down and have sex in a variety of provocative and sometimes disgusting manners; they chose to do so.
However, if we were to discuss the impact that porn has on women in the real world then that would be a different matter. It has been proven in a study in the UK that men and teenage boys both have very inaccurate ideas of how sex and the female body really is due to the influences of porn in their lifes. Similarly a lot of 'real' women (aka those not in porn) feel under heavy pressure to fit in with the plastic/porn ideal women due to the comments and naivity of men/teenage boys as they grow up.
That is a different topic entirely though and I won't digress in the middle of this discussion.
Overall - porn doesn't exploit a woman's body it can just impact on the view of what a natural woman looks like.
It depends what type of porn to be honest the dvd ones ive seen tend to have more of the women than parts of the men.
Online though i have seen everything and think both male and female parts are out there as much as each other.
The women do want to be known for there bits like the size of boobs and everything and its there choice to show them off. We know not all women are like that so it doesnt bother me one bit.
It's just silly to assume that porn starts are depressed or feel exploited. In fact most of the interviews I've seen of porn stars (Howard Stern show, hells yes), most of them are outgoing, easily likable and very intelligent.
They're pornstars instead of teachers for a few reasons: One, they have the body for it, Two, many of them are exhibitionists, Three, they love having sex, Four, the money is pretty good, and Five, some of them enjoy the fame/infamy.
So wait - it's JUST A JOB?! It is. Just a job. By fapping to a pornstar you're not exploiting her any more than buying stamps from the post office worker.
She's there (willingly, and knowingly) to create a sexy situation for someone to be aroused by. There's nothing more to it than that.
Now I'm not talking about sex-trade and prostitution ( or certain types of amateur porn where the girl may not know she's being filmed). Those are matters that easily slide into exploitation because the woman has no choice in what she's doing. But in legit porn, what the pornstar wants, she gets, and if she ever gets uncomfortable, she can put her foot down easily - most directors are very willing to make situations comfortable.
It's exploitation only when the participant doesn't understand in what she's participating, or doesn't receive any of the profits. So I'd say Playboy, Maxim, and other such establishments are fine because the women are sober when they make the agreement and are in this as a career, but Girls Gone Wild is exploitation.
I personally don't think that pornography, or nudity in general is blatant exploitation of the female body. We have the same rights and choices men can make, and if we want to spread our legs for photography or film, then we choose to do so.
I personally have no problem with seeing it. Tasteful nudity can be found in porn, and it's considered an artform to many.
when you say exploit you are in one way saying "showing off" in which i say yes it is.
Simply put, no. They knew what they were doing. :\
It depends on the situation that lead to said pornography being produced.
If you mean professional porn such as Hustler, Playboy or Movies.. then no, absolutely not.
If anything it's empowering. Women get paid to do what they want with their bodies, as it should be. Their bodies, their choice.
However, if it's something like drunken college girls being taken advantage of.. then yeah, it's exploitation lol.
Honestly, it all depends on perspective.
Actual porn stars who get paid for what they do? No, it doesn't exploit them. For them, it's a job. Much like any job, if they feel uncomfortable with it, they can leave. No one's stopping them.
Barely legal teenagers who are so drunk they don't even know what's going on? Yes, because they didn't choose to do it, and will probably be embarrassed to an unimaginable degree when they find out what happened.
not as much as modern day commercials
Of Course Pornography Exploits Women
Even If You Choose To Be A Part Of It You are Still Exploiting Yourself
It Did Say In The Bible (Currently Looking Up Verse[If You Are Not Christian Please Ignore/Excuse Me]) As To Keep The Body Sacred, Do Not Show Your Naked Self To Anyone But Your Spouse (A.K.A Husband or Wife)
Imo Pornography Is Wrong, Horrid, Exploiting, For People Without A Significant Other,For People Without A Life, And Much More
I don't think that the pornography exploit women's body. After all, they sign a contract and are payed (sometimes very well) for it.
Sex has always been a commercial things, they just have found a better way for making money than prostitution. They are not worth than other actors. But porno actress or actors shouldn't be judge for what they do in their film but for what they are in the real life.
P.S I'm french and don't speak english very well so if I made mistake, correct me please ^^.
it depends on the reason. when many people are in need of money, they might turn to selling off their bodies for a little extra cash. in most cases, this is degrading and humiliating for the people who are forced to do it. others are forced into it by blackmail, but these cases are few. yet, some people will gladly show off their bodies, striking poses and allowing any viewer to become intimate with their person. many people think the human body is beautiful, a work of art, and they wish to share this thought with the world. while pornography does exploit some women, others use it as a way to express themselves, to give themselves a voice in a world where they would otherwise be ignored. whether it truly is or isn't exploitation is not for me or any one else to decide, but rather for the person who is posing for the camera or waiting to be painted in the studio.
Since you are using the term "exploit", then no. The woman choose to reveal their bodies to the world, and therefore there is nothing about them being exploited.
It totally up to the person themselves. If they wanna get naked and pose infront of a camera . So be it . But no one should be forced .
If its by choice let them do it.I believe if its by choice and harms noone then its ok.
It's a choice like every other. I think people have to be responsible for their own action. This applies to men in the business as well :P
I do believe I just witnessed a double post...
pornography is simply a ways to make money, if a man or woman so wishes to participate in it, that's there business. We have no right to judge them. Yes, I did say man or woman. Saying that only women participate in pornography is a lie, and an extremely sexist remark.
ex⋅ploit [ik-sploit]
–verb (used with object)
1. to utilize, esp. for profit; turn to practical account:to exploit a business opportunity.
Let's break this down using the definition, shall we?
Now, as you can see exploit is a verb that is used with an object (in this case a woman's body). To utilize, that means to use, esp. for a profit, that means specifacally for a gain of wealth.
Ok, so does pornography use a woman's body to gain wealth?
Let's see, you buy a subscription for a porn website which has a multitude of woman's bodies which the porn sites use to make a profit.
So, you buying a subscription makes them a profit, and the porn sites are using the woman's bodies to do so. My conclusion would have to be yes, it does exploit a woman's body, and that is a fact.
(You know what's funny?
Porn stars have more realistic bodies than super models. Me, I personally find porn completely fine, especially with my boyfriend. That's why I always find it so peculiar when girls says "oh, porn is bad only if you're in a relationship." It's kinda a dumb argument.)
Err, I digress.
I find pornography fine, and not exploiting at all! I actually find it quite liberating that women now have rights to be able to show our body now. In the Fifties, women could only be in bikinis, breasts shown were discouraged, and if you were caught with anything that was showing "down there", I believed you were fined, which I saw in a Bettie Page biography (who, by the way, liked modeling, but it conflicted with her beliefs.) However, I find this train of thought applies only if the person enjoys it, and WANTS to do it.
And you know what? Some of the people who are in porn are intelligent, and creative.
I don't know, that's just my opinion. Yeah, it's your choice, and more power to you if you like doing it. I would hate being stuck in a crummy job I hated, so people in porn shouldn't be criticized for being in a controversial job they love. I hope I didn't sound rude or inappropriate or anything. If I used inappropriate words, if so a mod can edit them out as they please.
Now, what the MEDIA portrays women as, I could get in a huge debate about that. XD
There is the factor that some women are forced into doing it.
There are some areas where people are kidnapped and then forced to star in pornographic movies or prostitute themselves.
However, if it is voluntary, it still exploits the woman's body but it means that they want to be exploited.
But that's definitely not pornography's fault; just the people who forced them or kidnapped them.
People might think I'm wrong, but my first thought when I read this topic title was 'does science exploit women's minds?'
The fact is that proper, mainstream, pornography (not, of course, amateur stuff that wouldn't exist in such quantiies if we all just got over ourselves and admitted that sex isn't a bad thing... digressing, digressing...) is, as people have said, a job that many people love doing. They aren't forced to do it - the idea is slightly silly, really. They made a choice, and that choice was that they were unashamed of their bodies and they liked sex, so they may as well make a living out of it.
I'm not pretending that I know much about the subject, but women with attractive bodies have the right to use those bodies however they will. If we're talking about taking an object - the body of a woman - and using it to make profit, well... isn't that what a job is? Don't we take an object - the mind of a scientist - and use it for profit?
I don't know. This all made so much more sense in my head.
Yes, it exploits the image of the human form to achieve its end, and the fact shouldn't be ignored that it also exploits male bodies as well, more often than not.
I don't know any porn actresses, but I know a few strippers online and IRL (I don't really know how I keep meeting them - it's not at strip clubs :P), and all of them really like their job. I just can't see getting into the sex industry if you aren't fully aware of the repercussions.
It's not just pornography, it's everything in general. TV, books, commercials - it all dubs women as articles. Sure, many enjoy and take advantage of that, but it's really just changed the way people look at each other. The amount of sexism around is just ridiculous.
But back on topic, before I drift off too far. From my perspective, no, it doesn't, but the world's is probably different. In my opinion, though, since people are different, a girl doing whatever she's doing in a video is just what she's into, and I don't relate that to every girl ever. While I'm not really attracted to that kind of stuff, I don't have anything against girls doing it, and if someone really takes it too far and ends up with an entirely wrong view of girls, then they probably weren't a loss anyway.
I think the amount of men who enter the system are about equal to women but anyone can make a porno, let's be frank.
Work (all of it) is nothing but selling your body. No, it is not exploiting women's bodies. There are a lot of married couples in the line of work and they enjoy it. Sure, sex now means something totally different to them and it may not happen as often but they are perfectly happy with each other. If anything people blow things way out of proportion.
I actually find it empowering to some degree. I'm no porn star (way to antisocial for that shit) but if you're sober, and okay with it, why not?
I know many people find it artsy, like nude models.
Yes.
Plain and simple.
It is wrong.
I am a guy, I do not watch porn, because I do not think it is right, most of the people who do it don't have any alternatives and do it for Money that is much needed.
some are recorded and put up without even realising that the other person involved was doing it.
personally no but the way people are integrated into society (ie religion, experiences and media) have a large effect on the way these people think.
exploit? no, most of the time these women going into the business willingly, .
but i don't like porn. in my opinion it's pretty degrading to women and some one said most porn stars have more realistic bodies than super models. well that's true, but most women still don't look like that. and men who watch porn from a fairly young age get this idea in their head that that's what a woman is supposed to look like and that's what sex is supposed to be like. well it's not. porn is just movies focusing on sex, as long as a guy can watch it and realize reality is nothing like that then fine but a lot of men watch it and then try to make it a reality and then in turn, women start feeling like they have to look like that, act like that, in order to be accepted. it's a subtle but very real cycle. I don't have a problem with porn, though i personally don't like it, i just don't have a problem with men who think that women should really be like that.
though i do think that if a man is married and his wife has a problem with him watching porn, he shouldn't do it.
Unless you're forced to act in such materials, it's your choice.
(as to being drunk in a GGW video, kinda your choice to get drunk)
I'm sorry. I'm not sympathetic, especially to those who put themselves in the stew
As I'm sure many have said before me, pornography doesn't exploit women's bodies at all.
More and more women nowadays are aspiring to enter into the porn industry; less people are entering that line of work because they "have to" or because there's "no alternative". I'll hold my hands up and agree that it's common for girls to work in strip clubs to pay for education fees and stuff like that, but strangely enough there is actually a huge difference between stripping and having sex with someone for money.
I can see why some people see it as being very empowering for women, but I personally don't see that appeal. I believe women are far more empowered when they are tastefully clothed - I'm not adverse to showing a little skin, but baring all is terribly dull and boring. I may be a grumpy young woman when I say this, but I believe it paints an unrealistic image of what a 'normal' woman's body looks like - most of the girls in the porn industry have been airbrushed and had other digital effects to iron out all their flaws and make them seem perfect.
Although I know they don't really look like that, some guys will naively expect their girlfriends to look and act like that, and that both sickens and irritates me. But such is the ugly girl's vendetta against the media's portrayal of women.. and I'm getting off-track, so I'll stop typing now.
Unless they're forced to do things that they feel threaten them, then it is no way in hell explotable, and legally that would fall under extortion anyway. I have no problem with people in Pornography, because quite frankly it's a viable method of making a lot of money. Besides, money makes the world go round, right?
First and foremost, it is almost always a girls choice whether to do this kind of thing or not (girls gone wild or not also). The fact is, if you know what's happening around you and you do it anyway, then its your own fault. So I think mostly no on this. Because its not like they don't get paid, not that I claim to know wages or anything for this thing, but even if professionals weren't producing these, amatuers would anyhow. So all in all, you can't stop it. If they choose to be exploited, so be it. But its all in the eye of the beholder.
It's rather naive stance to assume that all or even most women involved in the porn industry are responsible for being there. That aside, the conditions of this field are ghastly, and if somehow you manage to cast all that away, it still amounts to harmful sexualization. You should look around more before forming such impotent and inappropriately mild opinions about a subject of which you do not comprehend.
Seeing multiple comments along the lines of "No it does not as women do it voluntarily) reminds me of something I recently discussed with a fellow friend of mine. I reside in Canada and the Canadian people had committed some racist crimes towards first nations people. Now, many Canadians (and immigrants) sit around and complain about how the native people sit around not paying their taxes and being alcoholics. However, nobody asks why they may be doing that (even though the majority isn't). If people are living naturally, and people whom are not living naturally come along and enslave, rape and murder the natural people, the remaining people will behave differently than they would have growing up in their natural state.
Society in itself causes people to behave in certain ways. Society is the exact reason for why more people are depressed, poor, sexist, racist, ignorant, unintelligent and etcetera. Although I cannot speak for these women (or men) in the pornographic industry, but I can certainly say that the pornographic industry's main focus is on women and women alone. "Sex sells" only because of women. Women, in our society, naturally are expected to either be the loving wives that stay home and take care of the children, or be the whores of society. There isn't an in-between if you really observe society's behavior.
Respectfully, I must say that the starter of this topic does make a very good point that the women are the ones consenting to this exposure. But then again, think about this: what gender do you associate with porn? Most people will probably answer that by saying, "Women." In all honesty, the selected porn video could very well star two gay men for all we know. This prompts me to ask the question of why is porn so associated with women? Well, women are more commonly seen in porn than men. Attractive women who aren't shy about their bodies are looked to for parts in these videos. History itself lends itself to this as well. Even back in the ancient times, women were sexualized in the form of female fertility gods. The resounding over-sexualization of females has lasted long into every period of time before our current society, albeit changing forms over the centuries to adapt to current technologies. Unfortunately for us women, it will likely last long into the future. So, in conclusion, I say that pornography does exploit women's bodies, and that the industry is just a smaller piece of a larger picture of female sexualization all over the world, spanning the course of humanity's cultural time.
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