Despite increasing acceptance of feminism and female sexual liberation, many taboo subjects persist, prompting the need for reflection on pornography consumption in the modern age. The increase in unethical pornographic content such as incest, rape, minors, and the fetishization of certain racial groups and the LGBTQ community raises concerns about the societal impact of pornography. There needs to be a discussion about the normalization of porn, focusing on its contribution to the sexualization, degradation, and exploitation of women and young girls.
The core contention lies in the adverse effects of normalized pornography on perceptions of real-life intimacy, incite desires for harmful sexual acts, and creating dependencies that lead to lower sexual satisfaction and unrealistic expectations of sex. Most importantly, the porn industry perpetuates gender discrimination by taking advantage of women and commodifying their bodies.
Moving beyond conventional porn, subscription platforms such as OnlyFans introduces a nuanced perspective. While acknowledging the potential benefits of OnlyFans for sex workers, such as greater control over their content and improved monetization opportunities that allow creators to earn revenue directly from their content, the uncomfortable, prevailing reality is that OnlyFans is yet just another business created by another man to profit off the sale of women. The consumption of pornography evolves, but the foundation of sex work remains clear since the early days of sex work: men are predominantly the demand and women are the supply.
The emergence of platforms like OnlyFans is perceived as providing women with greater autonomy and improved compensation within the sex industry. However, the drawback is that these platforms attract more women, especially young girls, into an industry that, from a feminist perspective, hinders rather than facilitates the overall progression of women.
There is a popular saying that emerged amidst the trend of young women participating in sex work: “It’s not what you can do for the patriarchy but what the patriarchy can do for you.” This phrase encapsulates the paradoxical reality wherein women seek success within a system that inherently views them as tools for male pleasure and the fulfillment of sexual fantasies. The average man does not experience such immense societal pressure to sexualize their bodies for money and please women, while young women are often incentivized to participate in sex work as a career, a stark contrast to the encouragement for young men to pursue safer, stable, and socially respected fields.
The intersectionality of race and gender is also to be further explored, as poor women of color are even more likely to enter sex work due to limited options for education and financial survival as a result of discrimination. The disparities emphasize the broader unethical practices within the pornography industry.
In closing, the feminist critique of pornography urges to challenge the normalization and consumption of explicit content, with emphasis on the gender disparities and ethical concerns that are deeply embedded in the porn industry. As pornography evolves and the user base grows, the negative consequences of porn manifests in the altered perception of actual intimacy, the perpetuation of extreme and unrealistic sexual desires, and the exploitation of women continues. Despite the seeming benefits of newly emerging platforms like OnlyFans, the downside becomes apparent as they attract increasingly more women into sex work, perpetuating a cycle that, from a feminist perspective, impedes rather than advances the progression of women. The illusion of empowering oneself by becoming successful on these platforms reflects the paradoxical reality where women seek success within a system that inherently objectifies them. The critique calls for raised societal awareness and action to retaliate against the gender inequalities in the porn industry.
