Re: Pornography

[fox@panix.com (Lou Fox)]

I joined this board hoping to read about my godess KT, but i fell, as a 
women's studies major and a card-carrying member of NOW, that I must jump 
into the fray. 
You can argue all you want about whether or not Penthouse and Playboy are 
pornography. More to the point, and I believe this was the point of the 
original comment, is the effect they have on society and what messages 
they are sending out. A poll published in Elle, not a feminist 
publication to cut all you "statistics say whatever you want them to" 
people off at the pass, showed that 50% of men who were regular readers 
of Playboy and the ilk had trouble relating to women in their lives. 
These magazines send the message that women are sexually available; that 
their main use is for men's pleasure, for men to look at. Do I think its 
wrong for men to want to look at naked women or vice-versa? No, but I 
would like it to be in context, with real non-plastic, non-airbrushed 
women and with the full range of sexualities and preferences given. I 
would also like to live in a society where we are not constantly barraged 
with sexual images through ads and the like that portray women soley as 
the objects of men's desires, rather than as "in control of their own 
sexuality." I am a feminist who believes women should be in control, but 
when I walk down the street and am whistled at, or when I hear a sexist 
joke with no one questioning it or especially when I watch TV, I wonder 
if a woman in the US can truly accomplish this.
To let you know, feminism is 
defined as believing in equality for 
all people, borne out by the variety of other issues most feminists are 
involved in, i.e. racism, gay rights. You cannot use feminist as a dirty 
word, despite what conservatives keep saying, and I seriuosly doubt that KT, 
who fills her songs with the 
emotions of being a woman would appreciate having among her fans people 
who do.


Jennifer @ the feminist boyfriend's house
With typing assistance from Addelaide the kitten