There has always been a confusing connection between feminism and porn. In some spheres, particularly taking it back to the deep second wave in the 1970s, texts like The Hite Report on Female Sexuality stated in no uncertain terms that pornography was a form of misogyny. It was oppressive to women. Pornography was the ultimate expression of the male gaze in film.
To others, though, pornography was the opposite. If you start with the notion that women’s bodies have always been controlled by men, clothes by men, and that their sexual freedom has been proscribed by men, then a woman being able to fuck whom she likes when she likes on film is actually an act of defiant liberation.
Of course, that was back in the golden age of porn when films still had plots, and women were often on journeys of personal discovery. The straight-to-video era, followed by the online era, has been marked by porn that is way more about humiliating women. It has been marked by films that sincerely do make women little more than interchangeable holes to fuck.
Feminist porn is a hard category to describe, but it basically boils down to porn that women might like to watch. What any given woman might be into, though, differs from gal to gal. Some may appreciate aesthetics, and some might want to see a plot. Some might want to see men who are more realistically sexy to women (not steroid bros with cocks that are clearly full of Viagra and remain hard through the entire film like Braveheart’s bouncing sword, sticking up out of the Scottish turf).
As a guy, it’s hard to jive with all this in the sense that it implies that men don’t want these things. I mean, maybe they don’t since it seems like all porn is made for male tastes now, and most of it is complete garbage. But does anybody really like this kind of porn, or do they just consume what is available?
I mean, I try to watch TV sometimes, but then I give up because it’s just reality shows. Does anybody really like reality shows, or do they just watch it because that’s all there is? People used to watch long interview shows and complex dramas back in the day, and they enjoyed them. Men enjoyed them, and women enjoyed them. They talked about them after.
If there were smarter, more thoughtful porn choices out there, would people gravitate to them? Probably not. I despair for humanity. People only made thoughtful, plot-driven porn, filled with intimacy and gorgeous cinematography in the 1970s because they hadn’t realized that they could get away with making complete garbage yet.
Feminist porn isn’t just for feminists. It is actually an appeal to humanity to try a bit harder to be civilized when we all collectively sit at home and beat ourselves off. How wonderful life could be.
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