Big Porn Inc: Exposing the Harms of the Global Pornography Industry
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US Attorney General’s commission on pornography (1986),
Waltman, Max (2008) ‘Rethinking Democracy: Pornography and Sex Inequality’ (University of Michigan Law School) Paper presented at the Western Political Science Association (WPSA) San Diego, pp. 1–41.
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Wikipedia, the free Encyclopaedia (2010) List of pornographic sub-genres: Fetish,
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1 A complex neurochemical interplay (incorporating Serotonin, Norepinephrine, Oxytocin and Vasopressin) with Dopamine (the primary neurotransmitter that most addictive drugs release) ultimately terminating in the Nucleus Accumbens (the brain’s pleasure centre).
2 A list of reports and articles highlighting the progression from pornography to delinquent interests can be found in Peters, 2009, pp. 11–13.
3 A comprehensive outline of sexual paraphilia as recognised in forensic psychiatry is reported in Hucker (2010); a parallel outline of pornographic sub-genres is published by Wikipedia.
4 A summary of studies and findings can be found in Bridges et al. (2010).
5 Theories developed and made popular by Ivan Pavlov (1927/1960), Burrhus Skinner (1953) and Alan Bandura (1977).
6 Of course, the signs of approval are required of the women appearing in pornography.
Meagan Tyler
Pornography as Sexual Authority: How Sex Therapy Promotes the Pornification of Sexuality
Pornography is increasingly infiltrating various aspects of our lives. Most often in discussing this ‘pornification’ (Paul, 2005), we raise examples that we can easily see and recognise: fashion, art, advertising, television shows, movies. But pornography is also infiltrating areas which are not so obvious in everyday, public life, from the business practices of global corporations (Davies and Wonke, 2000; Lane, 2000; Rich, 2001) to the sex practices of our intimate relationships (Dines, 2010; Häggström-Nordin et al., 2005; Paul, 2005; Tydén and Rogala, 2003, 2004). These public and private processes of pornification not only involve the increasing exposure and influence of the pornography industry but also its increasing legitimacy. One of the most prominent ways in which pornography is now presented as legitimate is in the area of sex therapy. In sex therapy today, pornography is deemed to be not just an acceptable part of everyday sexual practice, but an ideal model of sexuality for people to imitate. This is pornography being presented as the ultimate sexual authority and it poses serious harms to women’s equality.
The recommendation of pornography can be found in many sex self-help books, even those written by well-known and respected sex therapists (see for example Heiman and LoPiccolo, 1992; Morrissey, 2005; Zillbergeld, 1993). Pornography is most often recommended as an aide for couples. According to therapists Striar and Bartlik, writing on the use of ‘erotica’ in sex therapy, pornography should be seen as a way of “adding diversity to a monogamous relationship” (Striar and Bartlik, 1999, p. 61). In particular, they state that it can be beneficial for “couples with incompatible sexual fantasies” (p. 61). This is one of the most common ways in which pornography is introduced as part of sex therapy. Pornography is used “to introduce a partner to a new mode of sexual experience that he or she might find otherwise distasteful or unacceptable” (p. 61). In cases such as this, pornography, under the guidance of therapists, is promoted as a tool to be used when trying to convince an unwilling partner to perform a sex act that they do not wish to engage in.
The idea that women should ‘experiment’ and perform sex acts that they do not want to has become a popular model for women’s sexual behaviour in heterosexual relationships since the ‘sexual revolution’ of the 1960s. It is an idea frequently reinforced and legitimated through sex therapy (see Jeffreys, 1990). Women are still encouraged by therapists to sexually fulfill their male partners, even if they have no desire to do so, or experience pain or discomfort (Tyler, 2008). For example, in the widely recommended self-help manual for women Becoming Orgasmic, therapists Heiman and LoPiccolo encourage women to try anal sex (an increasingly ubiquitous sex practice in pornography) if a male partner is interested in it. The advice from the therapists is: “If any discomfort does occur, try again some other time” (Heiman and LoPiccolo, 1992, p. 187). The central premise is that pain an
d discomfort for women are not acceptable reasons for discontinuing a sexual practice, but, rather, are reasons for women to undergo further ‘training’, ‘modelling’ and coercion. Instead of understanding that using pornography as a coercive strategy is harmful, sexologists extol pornography’s virtues, stating for example that it is useful for “giving the viewer permission to model the behavior” (Striar and Bartlik, 1999, p. 61).
Exactly what type of behaviour women are expected to model from pornography further exposes the way in which the promotion and legitimation of pornography in sex therapy poses harms to women’s equality. Even at the most respectable end of therapist-recommended pornography, sadomasochistic practices and acts such as double penetration, or DP as it is known in the porn industry, can be easily found. Take for example, the Sinclair Intimacy Institute, run by a “well known and respected sexologist, Dr Mark Schoen” (Black, 2006, p. 117). It consists mainly of an online store that sells therapist-recommended pornography. On the Institute’s Website, customers are assured that the pornography available is reviewed and approved by therapists who choose only “high quality sex positive productions” (Sinclair Intimacy Institute, 2007a, n.p.). Among the list of “sex positive productions” are the mainstream pornography titles The New Devil in Miss Jones, Jenna Loves Pain, and Deepthroat.
The choice of Deepthroat is particularly revealing given the amount of publicity surrounding the circumstances of its production. Linda Marchiano (Linda Lovelace at the time of filming) detailed her extensive abuse at the hands of her husband and pimp in her book Ordeal, explaining how she was forced, sometimes at gun point to perform in pornography (Lovelace, 1980). She once stated that: “every time someone watches that film, they are watching me being raped” (quoted in Dworkin, 1981). That such a film is labelled ‘sex positive’ by therapists should be serious cause for concern. But Deepthoat is not an isolated case.
The New Devil in Miss Jones and Jenna Loves Pain both received rave reviews in the prominent US porn industry magazine Adult Video News. The editors of Adult Video News (AVN) gave Miss Jones a glowing recommendation, stating: “The sex is universally good and downright edgy, with piercing, double penetration and flogging in the closing scene …” (Pike-Johnson, 2005b, n.p.). Keep in mind, these are titles recommended for couples to watch and then model their behaviour on. Jenna Loves Pain, as if the title is not problematic enough, also received a hearty endorsement from AVN. Readers were informed that the title contained not only mild sadomasochism but that “Jenna Loves Pain raises the bar for what is possible in pure BDSM titles” (Ramone, 2005b, n.p.). To be clear, we are talking about fetish titles which contain acts of bondage, discipline and sadomasochism (BDSM), and sadly therapists do actually expect women to model this BDSM behaviour. Striar and Bartlik, for example, inform their fellow therapists that accessories to facilitate domination and submission fantasies such as “whips, restraints and blindfolds” (1999, p. 61) should be recommended to clients and can easily be found in sex stores.
The promotion of domination, submission, and other sadomasochist practices can even be found in therapist-endorsed ‘sex education’ videos. The Sinclair Intimacy Institute produces and distributes some of the most well known titles in the sex education genre. According to Dr Judy Seifer, one of the therapists involved in developing the Institute’s Better Sex series, couples should use the videos “like a textbook. Stop the tape; freeze the frame, like re-reading a chapter” (quoted in Eberwein, 1999, p. 193). This ‘textbook’, however, contains many, if not all, of the stereotypical conventions of mainstream pornography (Eberwein, 1999), including themes of BDSM.
The promotion of sadomasochism in sex education videos is particularly obvious in the Institute’s Better Sex Kits which include videos and also sex toys. One kit is titled ‘Smart Maid’. Potential customers are told via the Website that: “Dressing up and looking sexy for your partner is part of any healthy relationship …” (Sinclair Intimacy Institute, 2007b). The dressing up, however, is only expected of women: the kits offer no outfits for men. In this particular instance, women are supposed to dress up in an “upstairs maid costume”. The sexual excitement that men are expected to experience from a woman’s servitude is highlighted in the accompanying details: “At your service! Playful and sexy fantasies will come alive when she wears this sheer maids [sic] set” (Sinclair Intimacy Institute, 2007b). Themes of dominance and submission are also obvious in the ‘Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down’ kit, which includes “Japanese wrist and ankle cuffs” in addition to a leather blindfold. The accompanying photograph for the kit, rather unsurprisingly, shows a woman modelling the so-called educational BDSM wear (Sinclair Intimacy Institute, 2007c).
The promotion of pornography in sex therapy, however, only explains part of how pornography is increasingly seen as an authority on sexual matters. As a consequence of the legitimacy that sex therapists have afforded pornography over the years – holding it up as an ideal model on which to base heterosexual sex – porn stars are increasingly being positioned as ‘sex experts’. For example, in the 1999 collection Sex Tips: Advice from women experts around the world edited by Australian sex therapist Jo-Anne Baker, porn stars, sadomasochist practitioners and prostituted women appear alongside therapists as the designated ‘experts’ (Baker, 1999). Also in keeping with this trend, a number of men’s magazines in the UK and US have revamped their sex advice sections to feature porn stars instead of sex therapists (Attwood, 2005, p. 85; mediabistro.com, 2007a, 2007b).
Some porn stars and prostituted women have even begun to release their own sex advice literature. Recent titles include: How to Have A XXX Sex Life (Anderson and Berman, 2004), which is based on advice from women who are contracted to the Vivid pornography production company in the United States; Sex Secrets of Escorts: Tips from a Pro (Monet, 2005), written by Veronica Monet, a former prostitute and porn star; and How to Tell a Naked Man What to Do: Sex advice from a woman who knows (Royalle, 2004), by Candida Royalle, a high profile former porn star, turned pornographer. Rather than competing with the advice offered by medically trained therapists, the sex advice given in these works frequently draws on ‘medical’ ideas about sex and, furthermore, often reinforces these ideas with supportive examples from pornography and prostitution. Pornography and prostitution are promoted in these texts as the ultimate authority on sex and, in these texts, the eroticising of women’s submission and degradation are recurring themes.
The sex advice books written by porn stars all assert that being involved in prostitution and pornography makes you an authority on sex, in particular, good sex, sex that should be emulated. Flowing from this premise are sections that offer hints and tips to women on how to improve their own sex lives, based on the experiences of women in prostitution and pornography. As Monet puts it: “You will learn the sexual techniques that are the staple of the paid sexual services” (Monet, 2005, p. viii). This poses a serious problem for women as these are sex tips based on a system which involves inherent power imbalance, a system where for the most part, men are the buyers and women are the bought (Barry, 1995; Jeffreys, 1997). It is a system in which women are paid to sexually service men with no regard for their own pleasure (Barry, 1995). A system in which women are often terribly physically abused, suffer from dissociation, and frequently also post-traumatic stress disorder (Farley, 2003). It is a system in which women’s inequality is fixed (Jeffreys, 1997). And yet it is this model that is held up for women to mimic in their own sexual lives.
There are some, including the authors of these pro-pornography texts, who try to argue instead that prostitution and pornography are liberating and can accommodate and promote women’s pleasure and equality (see for example McElroy, 1995; Monet, 2005; Royalle, 2004; Strossen, 1995). But the advice offered in these texts so often shows just how misleading such arguments are.
Mirroring the sex therapy literature, there are frequent messages in porn star authored texts that reiterate the importance of trying something for a partner or questioning ce
rtain inhibitions. One example of this comes from Royalle’s How To Tell a Naked Man What To Do. She states: “Don’t ever feel like you must do something that you don’t want to do. However, it’s always good to be open and at least give something a try. You might want to ask yourself exactly why you don’t want to watch x-rated movies …” (2004, p. 65). Royalle then explains to women, that once they have agreed to watch pornography, they will most likely be required to watch things they do not want to: “Maybe he wants something nasty and you want something softer … It’s simple: take turns! And don’t do it begrudgingly” (Royalle, 2004, p. 70). Indeed the assumption that women will initially not want to participate in the type of sex acts that are recommended is evident in most of this sort of sex advice literature. For example, Monet advises women to “[g]ive yourself a chance to get past your initial embarrassment or perhaps feelings of distain” (Monet, 2005, p. 130). The authors of How to Have a XXX Sex Life also offer advice on “freeing yourself of guilt and inhibitions” (Anderson and Berman, 2004, p. x). The suggestion is, of course, that these feelings of distain or unease about re-enacting acts of prostitution, or mimicking pornography, are somehow unfounded. Women are not entitled to feel this way, and need to work on overcoming their ‘inhibitions’. Pornography is the predictable tool suggested to help women learn more appropriate ‘sex positive’ reactions.