Some say it is a man’s world. Through the efforts of the various stages of feminism, many have challenged this notion. Tirelessly, men and women have explored and analyzed sexual relationships, as well as sexual nature.
While not only celebrated in our culture, sex is a subject open to scrutiny and exploitation and used as the subject of entertainment – enter le porn. But is porn the seemingly male-generated industry we presume it to be? Since its dramatic shift to the Internet, porn has become a powerful business area, but not for those whom we would expect to profit.
A single definition of pornography has become difficult to pin down due to dialogues and disputes between the anti-porn – usually assumed to be the feminist argument – and the pro-industry groups. Pornography has shaped ideas of sexuality and gender roles, by perpetuating certain rigid stereotypes. Many question if these roles have been male-prescribed in our society or if women perpetuate the hypersexual image of pornography through the persona of the porn star. In any case, men have heavily dominated the porn industry through controlling the business enterprise in the 21st century.
The porn industry is among the most successful media practices in the United States and worldwide. In 2002, the L.A. Times Magazine estimated that the porn industry releases over 11,000 adult videos per year – more than 20 times the number of mainstream movies each year. Even so, the Internet has proven the best avenue of success for the porn industry. The amount of pornography online is overwhelming. One can’t ascertain the number of websites that have come into existence since the invention of personal webcams, even as more sites are established daily.
Through the ‘70s and ‘80s, the pornography industry dependened on sales of magazines as well as videos. The tangible, marketable nature of these products enabled wealthy businesspersons to gain complete advantage over the industry. In other words, men left women out of the business part of the equation, leaving women with little say in how their bodies were represented in porn. However, since porn’s inception in the cyber world, women have had greater control, not only over their bodies, but also over the business.
In her article on female entrepreneurship on the Internet, Kimberlianne Podlas discusses what she considers the gender-ambiguous nature of the Internet, because it provides a gateway for non-discriminatory business in the porn industry. “Cyberspace reduces barriers of entry into business,” Podlas writes. “First, its anonymity removes many gender markers and visual triggers of stereotypes thus reducing implicit or explicit gender bias.” Podlas also discusses the prevalence of computer technology in this century and its effect on equal opportunities in business.
The situation’s controversy is apparent, yet at the same time, does this not present an oddly framed feminist argument for pro-pornography opinions? We assume that the feminist will always take the side of the woman empowered and completely free of sexual stereotype and discrimination through sex. However, the women of porn entrepreneurship present an odd paradox to this common belief. The gradual ownership of the pornography industry by women could in fact present a huge paradigm shift in what we consider porn. In other words, these women have the potential to reshape the sexual image of women not only in pornography, but also in popular culture and media.
Overall, these aspects of society ultimately frame how we consider women’s roles in the porn industry. This shift could frame the tranition of pornography to erotica, an art form and celebration of sexuality as opposed to an objectification like porn. Such a future offers possibilities of pleasure and happiness. Perhaps then, we may want to rethink our ideas of porn on the Internet and trust the hands of the pornographer.
Visual director Nina Muehleck ‘10 (muehleck@stolaf.edu) is from Yakima, Wash. She majors in art history.
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