This mourning while doing the house work I have been watching Louis Theroux's documentary 'Twilight of Porn Stars.' There is so so much so very very wrong with this 'documentary' but I'll leave the critique about whether the industry is 'dying' to the excellent Gail Dines. (See here)
Just to briefly make the point that no one would argue that because seamstress in Bangladesh where getting less pay and finding it harder to find work that the clothing industry was in crisis.
I just want to explore whether porn is like doing the washing up? Several people during the documentary made that point that we all have to do things we don't want to do.
Today I have a day of admin and house work before me, I don't particularly want to do any of these things. So far I have done half the washing up, half sorted the laundry and half cleaned the bedroom. I have not particularly enjoyed any of them, but neither have they exposed me to huge levels of risk and abuse.
Not really wanting to do anal, but doing it anyway because we all have to do things we don't really want to do, is so very very different from not really wanting to do the washing up but doing it anyway, because we all have things we don't really want to do.
Firstly I am not doing the washing up for financial reasons, I'm doing it because its part of life. Capitalism has so warped how we understand work that we see money as the end product of work. Work should be about changing the world, stewarding and governing, it moving it towards Shalom. Money should be the way we codify stewardship. An unwanted sexual act produces nothing towards this end.
Secondly doing the washing up does not compromise my bodily integrity. The body is not a product, the body is not an apology, the body cannot be sold or bought. A sexual act that is unwanted, where a person does not feel able or cannot say no is a sexual offence. This was brushed over in the documentary, left unchallenged. Could someone say no? was not asked.
Thirdly there is not a huge weight of documented evidence to show the damaging effects of the washing up, nothing to expose the coercive nature of the washing up industry, it will not increase my risk of infection, anal hemorrhage and I will not only be able to sustain involvement in the washing up for an average of three years, no one is making billions out of my doing the washing up.
The documentary ended by saying 'Porn is a refuge for people fleeing lives of chaos a place where they can blend in and feel valued' these words made my stomach turn. What a misunderstanding of the word refuge and what irony at a time where services seeking to provide refuge from gender based violence are being slashed.
Just to briefly make the point that no one would argue that because seamstress in Bangladesh where getting less pay and finding it harder to find work that the clothing industry was in crisis.
I just want to explore whether porn is like doing the washing up? Several people during the documentary made that point that we all have to do things we don't want to do.
Today I have a day of admin and house work before me, I don't particularly want to do any of these things. So far I have done half the washing up, half sorted the laundry and half cleaned the bedroom. I have not particularly enjoyed any of them, but neither have they exposed me to huge levels of risk and abuse.
Not really wanting to do anal, but doing it anyway because we all have to do things we don't really want to do, is so very very different from not really wanting to do the washing up but doing it anyway, because we all have things we don't really want to do.
Firstly I am not doing the washing up for financial reasons, I'm doing it because its part of life. Capitalism has so warped how we understand work that we see money as the end product of work. Work should be about changing the world, stewarding and governing, it moving it towards Shalom. Money should be the way we codify stewardship. An unwanted sexual act produces nothing towards this end.
Secondly doing the washing up does not compromise my bodily integrity. The body is not a product, the body is not an apology, the body cannot be sold or bought. A sexual act that is unwanted, where a person does not feel able or cannot say no is a sexual offence. This was brushed over in the documentary, left unchallenged. Could someone say no? was not asked.
Thirdly there is not a huge weight of documented evidence to show the damaging effects of the washing up, nothing to expose the coercive nature of the washing up industry, it will not increase my risk of infection, anal hemorrhage and I will not only be able to sustain involvement in the washing up for an average of three years, no one is making billions out of my doing the washing up.
The documentary ended by saying 'Porn is a refuge for people fleeing lives of chaos a place where they can blend in and feel valued' these words made my stomach turn. What a misunderstanding of the word refuge and what irony at a time where services seeking to provide refuge from gender based violence are being slashed.
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