(Being a straight, white male writing from a straight, white male perspective, this post inevitably drifts towards the not-totally-accurate stereotype that men are the viewers of pornography and women the subjects. Thanks in advance for your willingness to hear what I have to say rather than getting hung up on the limitations of my perspective (though feel free to point them out). I know they're there, but it's impossible to try to appropriately address all of the perspectives in this conversation in a couple of posts.)
Ewwkay, at the end of the last post I said that I think an interesting place to begin the pornography discussion
"is with a suggestion that was made by one of the girls at my church in our annual youth group 'sex talk': that is, that pornography is actually something that can be empowering to women, and can be a celebration of the beauty of the human body".
To give you a bit of my reasoning, I'm starting here not because I'm fully comfortable with the statement, but because I'm inclined to think that there are good cultural and theological reasons to turn the Christian porno conversation on it's head, and to start with an approach that is open to affirming positives as well as negatives when it comes to this topic. For one thing, I think that if we view sexuality through the lens of sacramentality, wherein sex is viewed as something fundamentally holy and good, we're required to not be quickly dismissive of a type of sexual expression that is reportedly (though dubitably?) being practiced by 28,258 Internet users a second, and which can arguably be practiced without physical or material harm to others. We have to at least leave open the possibility that the bulk of those tens of thousands of pornography creators and viewers/second aren't morally bankrupt agents of a massive satanic conspiracy. I mean, maybe they are, maybe they aren't. Along those lines, I also think that it's necessary to hold this discussion in the sphere of reality, where pornography is recognized as a cultural norm--in the US and elsewhere--that most don't have major problems with and that probably isn't going to go away anytime soon, no matter how much we Bible-beaters rail against it. Jesus' relevant suggestion,
"But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed ADULTERY with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into HELL."
might be a good place for us to start, but it isn't a complex enough statement to address the depth of the issue.
As with almost all issues, I'm not ready to make any strong affirmations on this, but I will give you my inclinations in a loosely particular order:
1. If I had to make a blanket and summary statement on my views on pornography, it would be that there is nothing prima facie wrong with sexual imagery, and that sexual imagery can in fact be viewed in positive--even 'holy'--terms, but that the pornography industry as it exists in reality raises major problems of personal morality and social justice that have to be addressed and acted upon from a Christian perspective.
2. With a sacramental view of sexuality in mind, I think we have to--at the very least--affirm that the human factors that make the porno industry possible are positive aspects of our nature: that is, the male's desire to look at naked women (or men, or vice versa, depending on your sex and the way your door swings), and the female's (or male's) willingness to be admired and desired. Without these things, we'd all die out in a generation and frankly live much less interesting lives. Men who like nudie mags aren't perverts, and women who pose in them aren't sluts--they're just people doing what all of us do in some form or another.
With that in mind, the suggestion that some forms of pornography can be empowering to women, and that sexual imagery can represent a celebration of both beauty and sexuality is not really that far fetched. (Even if the suggestion that those things are true at a general level is questionable.) Sexuality is a part of who we are--part of God's image in us--and sexual imagery represents one form of sexual expression. The sexual acts and fantasies that accompany the production and viewing of that imagery do not have to be rejected as 'wrong' in blanket fashion, but can in some instances be seen as a healthy aspect of what it means to be human.
3. Porno does not have to equal a male's exploitation of a female in every case, because there is undoubtedly a sort of economy in all of this that can in theory represent an equal exchange: Hugh Heffner says to the beautiful young woman, I'll make you famous and give you an opportunity for advancement if you'll let me sell pictures of you in my magazine, and the beautiful young woman says to Hugh Heffner, I'll let you take pictures of me (and airbrush them) if you give me lots of money and the prospects to eventually end up acting in crappy movies and marry a rock star. (I'm not saying this is necessarily a good trade off, but it is a trade off that you can't paint as one party exploiting the other, at least in every case.)
On this track, questions of justice are the most difficult questions in relation to pornography: Does the woman get a fair trade-off in the experience? Does she dehumanize herself in the transaction? Does she really have a full say in what is done with her image and personality? What's the cultural and social cost? The biggest problem with pornography, I think, is that women do indeed get the short end of the stick in these sorts of transactions, and are generally exploited, at least to some degree.
4. Pornography is a subjective term, and our moral approach must be situational. The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue is different from Playboy, which is different from 'erotic art', which is different from the porno movie and pay internet site industry, which is different from amateur internet porn, which is different from voyeuristic photos circulating without consent, which is different from child pornography. In each case, there are different issues which must be addressed, and it's unrealistic to pretend that these should be treated as one phenomenon.
5. Social relationships should play a role in pornography usage: there are different questions for the secretive male pornography viewer whose wife objects than for the female pornography viewer whose boyfriend finds that quality endearing. In both cases, these particular social questions have less to do with whether the imagery should be seen as offensive than with whether or not they are.
6. Pornography--and the porno industry--plays a major negative role in US culture. That is, it does play a role in the objectification and dehumanization of women from a male perspective, and it does play a role in the development of a sense of inadequacy among many girls and young women (though on this one I honestly think Teen Cosmo is a bigger problem than Playboy...). It's not the sole source of the problem, but it's a part of our social fabric that is generally in an unhealthy place.
7. Pornography would probably be less widespread (and damaging) if we could talk about sexuality in an open, non-guilt ridden, manner, and if Christian leaders would stop trying to suppress it.
8. A full discussion of this issue is impossible without female input, but most females don't want to talk to men about it. Vice versa is also true.
