Free Soil Party Blog

When I think of the international Stop Porn Culture (SPC) conference I attended in Boston last June, the first image that comes to mind is of a giant plastic foot with a slot in it for men to ejaculate into (Dr. Gail Dines discussed this during her presentation). The first phrase that comes to mind is humantoiletbowls dot com, the domain name of a mainstream porn site. And the first sound that comes to mind is that of a young boy gasping for breath as he is suffocated and raped by a trusted adult man addicted to pornography.

If what you’ve just read disturbs you, it should distress you even further to know that children are consuming porn at a younger age than ever before. Indeed, according to one of SPC’s presenters, the fourth most common word searched for by children is “sex,” (and what do you think shows up after such a search?); the fifth is “porn”. Where do you think your children are getting their sex-education, parents? Not from the “abstinence only” school curricula, that’s for sure.

Pornography is increasingly impacting our emotional health as well. Dear Abby had a sixteen-year-old girl write to her about porn addiction! Porn addicts have even been known to sing songs to their porn collections and stay home from vacation to masturbate to images. While we all were aware of the financial collapse, how many of us knew that men working at the Securities and Exchange Commission were jerking off to Internet porn, some as much as eight hours a day? And porn has increasingly come to (negatively) impact intimate relationships; some dub it the new “other woman.”

But, as is obvious to every woman alive, not everyone sees our porn-saturated society as a problem. As one of the founding members of Stop Porn Culture, Dr. Gail Dines, pointed out at the first SPC conference, while porn has become increasingly harsh, a feminist challenge to the porn industry has gone underground. Thus, SPC was founded in the hopes of bringing a radical feminist analysis of pornography back to the forefront of the feminist agenda. In order to combat porn, Dr. Dines suggests raising pornography consumption as a public health issue, much as was done with smoking. While this idea may be the most pragmatic way to challenge the industry, I’m saddened the exploitation of women required to make pornography does not in itself cause outrage. Perhaps male violence could be incorporated into a “public health” approach, but how likely this would be in a male-dominated society, I do not know. Yet, just the act of lessening porn production and consumption would have the effect of decreasing some violence against women, clearly a feminist goal.

Somewhat similarly, the topic of porn and capitalism came up among conference attendees. Several of the conference-goers I talked to seemed to believe if capitalism is dismantled, violent porn would cease to exist. I found this a rather odd assumption, since male supremacy is clearly present in non-capitalist societies. What reason is there to believe the images created by this imaginary society would be kinder and gentler to women? None, as far as I can tell.

These thoughts were echoed by the speakers on the panel regarding legal approaches to challenging the pornography industry. The first scholar, a woman from Durham University, stated that any new laws confronting pornography should be based on a feminist analysis of the industry as opposed to a moral one. The following presenter, Diane Rosenfeld, reminded us that the feminist community has a limited amount of monetary and time resources; we have to decide what the best use of these resources is: legal, education, etc. Rosenfeld also gave us a fairly recent example, the case of Abu Ghraib, where pictures were used to indict individuals for actions. But, when it comes to women, torture is a means to male sexual pleasure.

So, what did I take away from this feminist anti-pornography conference—in addition to overwhelming anger, that is? One of the main messages I got was that there are women fighting back; despite what the pornographers say, women will not be cowered into silence. Even if half the male population gets off to our pain, we will not go down without a fight. We will not give in to your phallic-like missiles, knives, and guns because we have justice on our side.

Dear Cindy Sheehan,

I am writing to offer an endorsement, and some information concerning you. I would not presume Free Soil is the first national party to offer to endorse you. I could understand why you wish to remain independent. As one rebellious woman to another, I know of the pitfalls and treachery of party politics, but I think Free Soil can be different, partly because my circle of friends revived it over thirty years ago. The blogger known as Heart, Cheryl Seelhoff, has volunteered to run for President, endorsed by the Feminist Peace Network as “a candidate for the rest of us.” That was the title of the announcement on the FPN blog last July . Her platform, a work in progress, is organized as a blog here

Regardless of all that, I wanted you to know Free Soil appreciates your efforts, valiantly fighting to stop the Bush agenda and this war that killed your son for no good reason. The opposition party refuses to take that role to heart. Big surprise, hardly. Democrats make an art of playing it safe, making big deals of minor points of difference, while leaving major points unchallenged, so the war goes on while Democrats think they score points by blaming it all on Bush and filibusters. One might think all this going on would make people mad enough to revolt, throw all the bums out, but there appears to be insufficient common ground to rally behind, so it appears people are complacent or resigned, at least to the eyes of pollsters and pundits. Some groups try to bring people together on this issue or that, putting pressure on legislators to pay attention, but on the surface there are so many problems, it seems impossible to make headway enough to pierce the armor of the system. The media creates the aura of invincibility and inevitability around the corporate empire, but the web is part of the media that is out of control, so women can try to show how we do not have to settle for the usual stuck in a rut male ways. The change Obama represents does not impress me. I suspect it means along the lines of working with Republicans to get things done, like the rotten compromises of constitutional principles in this FISA bill. Perhaps the grassroots will get to Democrats to make the bill unacceptable to Bush, removing the immunity provision at least, but I will not hold my breath. I hear rumors the immunity is only civil and would not hold up in criminal court, but that does not make sense to me.

Just a sample of my issues with that misnomer of an opposition party. As you may know, the old Randi Rhodes message board had a special Cindy Sheehan sub-forum, but her entire site, message board and all, was disappeared without explanation when she left Air America. I heard you on her show, kicking off your campaign against Impeachment Is Off The Table Speaker Pelosi. Friday June 20 she was incensed enough with the leadership over the immunity for illegal wiretaps the House approved to give you another plug. The next week someone on her board announced your Mike Malloy interview. I have been an infrequent, though perhaps notorious, poster there. My first post was to protest an infuriating oddity I found, a picture of you meeting with Larry Flynt, the caption announcing an exclusive interview and political alliance. I challenged this bogus image, a discussion about Mr. Flynt and his business ensued, and eventually the link to the image was broken, presumably by whoever contrived it.

In May Flynt phoned Ms. Rhodes privately, and she agreed to doing a story, with some reservations. She mentioned this on the air. This prompted a Randi Loves Porn thread in the Heard on the Show forum. I had to protest again, perhaps got some people to realize Mr. Flynt and the hardcore gang are peddling something other than erotic art. I had somehow missed that side of Randi Rhodes, hearing a different segment of the show after the local station moved her time slot to live. Some poster volunteered information about previous statements about her preferences, not hardcore. I have since learned she interviewed Flynt on air early this year. She has been alluding to starting a third party, when feeling especially sickened by the party bosses, which caught my attention, but I wish to keep at a distance uncritical fans of Obama or Flynt. I suspect both are up to no good, for different reasons.

Ms. Rhodes, though not entirely uncritical of Obama, has not paid any mind to my protests, unless I missed hearing it. This may be due to the infrequency of my posting, or the issues I raise may not interest her. The LA station was running a clip of her saying we can do nothing without one Democratic Party. She is sold on Obama, at least since March when she concluded his lead was insurmountable. Obama touts his plan to remove all combat troops from Iraq in a year or so. That is his best case scenario, though subject to refinement and excepting personnel to train Iraqis and guard that notoriously huge embassy, fronting for a military base? Then there is the private mercenary contingent. No way can I trust Democrats to end the occupation of Iraq, let alone find a way to avoid escalating the war on terror. Obama talks about finishing the war in Afghanistan. If that is not escalation, what is, especially considering his belligerent posturing at Pakistan. I could ask plenty of questions about his good judgment and connections, and do, in my critique. I am working on a detailed dissection for my blog.

I wondered if you had heard of Omar Osama bin Laden, peacenik son of Mr. Blowback From Hell? He and his British wife are trying to start a campaign for a truce. So I wrote him an Open Letter, submitted it to commondreams, CounterPunch, truthout. No response. Nothing new, being ignored, though in my ventures on various internet forums I have gained some notoriety. If you wish to read it, it is at the top of my blog at the moment, or here . It continues the article it links to, Feminist Diplomacy, posted almost a year ago, before I heard of this man or his quest for peace. I have posted commentary on various articles about the wars in the War category of the news section, accessible through the blog sidebar. War is a particular interest of mine. Obama will do his best to recruit and defang the peace movement, as if his plan will get all the troops out as fast as possible. The foreign policy promised by these warmongers makes me shudder. What would Obama do to counteract the idea he is soft on terror? I am not one to suggest these two parties are the same, but on most issues I care about, they differ too little. Conventional wisdom says people must settle for one of them. You, Heart, who knows how many rebels say otherwise, or would if they believed an alternative possible.

Media determines political viability to maintain its stranglehold on political reality. Free Soil is all about real solutions, going to the root of issues and applying a life-affirming value system. Perhaps you will find Free Soil too radical, far out, rebellious, utopian, etc., though I do not consider my positions impractical or extreme, to the contrary, but I have heard it all. People understand only what they are willing to take in. We are women bold enough to put our ideas out there to try to change the ways men run things, killing and mayhem in endless cycles of revenge, fouling our nest to make money, basing interaction on hierarchical models and cutthroat competition. Women all have different ideas and ways, but I see vast untapped commonality beneath the surface, looking for a way to break that stranglehold. Humanity has the brains and technology to solve most of the problems blindly following conventional ways has created, but as conventional wisdom would have it, business and politics must go on as usual. Hell no. That way lies madness and planetary catastrophe.

Any opinions would be welcomed. If you think there is a possibility we could work together on something, do not hesitate to let me know. You are also welcome to comment on our blogs or forums. I wish you good fortune, as one rebellious woman to another.

Aletha

(Note: I sent this via email on July 4. I know Ms. Sheehan must be rather busy, but at this point, it appears she prefers to keep her opinions of this communication to herself.)

I note this because I catch part of her show and have been posting off and on at her forum about feminist revolution. I doubt she paid any attention, while the posters mostly seem to think I am too fringe to worry about. However, she is invited to join Free Soil, as any rebellious woman who wants to make noise, rock the boat, change the way politics, commerce, relationships operate in this world. That is intentionally vague, but I think most women will understand, especially if they know anything about Free Soil. Men can tag along as well, if they are sincere about wanting to help. Heart has put up her platform, as a work in progress, here.

Not to rain on the parade of this budding Randi Rhodes Party in the making, but she should know what it would mean to work outside the system. Once her upstart party gets any attention the Democratic Party will do whatever it takes to smash down the threat. This is a given. Shudder to imagine what they will say about surrendering the war on terror if her party goes too far toward renouncing war. The only reason it has not happened to Free Soil is because Free Soil has gone unnoticed, under the radar as a threat, so far. Ace in the hole? There will be more surprises than just what is new in the platform. Free Soil invites such an attack, which could only help get our message out. Is this new party a way to save the Democratic Party, or will it only destroy it? That may be in the eye of the beholder. The party regulars may take down any such rebellion as the party as they know it collapses. They may try and fail. Will there be anything left to save after the kitchen sink strategy plays out?

Where else would the rank and file of the Democratic Party go once they realize the party people do not represent their best interests? Women might go to a party dedicated to representing the interests of women, once they decide the Democratic Party is hopeless. Many might think there is no hope but to work within the system. I think Randi Rhodes might relent, since the pressure to try to reform the system from within is so strong. That pressure means less to me, being outside the system by intention, than being dismissed as fringe. Why that may be, I would like to know. My ideas are outside the mainstream because I am an innovative feminist philosopher, what else could one expect? I think they are better than anything in the mainstream, knowing so do a million other people, so why should anyone pay attention to me or Heart? Is it that, or are our ideas really so outlandish? Possibly anyone who reads enough could see we did our homework, that women can construct a new, more practical way of relating not burdened by male assumptions or limitations.

I wish this new party luck in saving the Democratic Party. As rare as it is for me to agree with party faithful, I have to expect any such effort could only succeed in destroying the party, inflaming the self-destructive feeding frenzy escalating with last-ditch desperation tactics of the Clintons. A rebellion needs a radical vision to change anything of significance. Nothing significant will be changed by a halfhearted rebellion that only means to split or take back a party so many reluctantly swallow as the lesser of two evils. The rebels are free to try defining a new party however they choose. That field is wide open, most attempts not worth mentioning or ravings of lunatics. Randi Rhodes is not a lunatic, and might create a big problem for the party before she intends to. Though she has gotten plenty mad at the party people in the past, I did not expect her to so emphatically threaten to abandon the party. I have invited her to interview Heart a few times, at her forum, not expecting a response, but I had to try. She has her own ideas, and it would make sense for her to try to orchestrate a new party herself. It is possible she will notice Free Soil someday soon, but she likely will soon fall back in line, to concentrate on getting Obama elected.

Heart posted an article Robin Morgan wrote in support of Hillary Clinton, Goodbye To All That (#2). Heart was thrilled to watch

the giants of our movement rising up to speak out against the horrifying misogyny and sexism in this presidential campaign.

While I agree Hillary Clinton is being subjected to grossly sexist attacks having nothing to do with her stands on issues, I have grave misgivings about many of her stands on issues, enough to make it impossible for me to support her. There was a reason Elizabeth Edwards could claim her husband was better on women’s issues than Ms. Clinton without sounding ridiculous. Remember the Clinton welfare reform. Ms. Clinton says she is proud of the record of the Clinton presidency. This does not lead me to believe she will be a better President than Bill Clinton, though I would not argue she would be worse than the current President. A stone would be an improvement; at least a stone could do no harm of its own accord. This was my response, comment 41 there.

Sigh. This is why I predicted Hillary Clinton would be a disaster for feminism. She is simply not representing anything new, besides the fact she is not male and on occasion speaks about women’s issues. Male Democrats have done that too, though she is more convincing. She is DLC through and through. She supports nuclear power, genetic engineering, and ethanol. If nothing is done to stop those first two, we can kiss the integrity of DNA and biodiversity goodbye. Ethanol from corn, which is what will be the source for this country for a good while, does absolutely nothing to solve global warming. Some environmentalists say it is worse than gasoline, but it will reduce our dependency on foreign oil!

Hillary Clinton is a typical politician, again, except that she is not male. Her equivocation on the Iraq war is disgusting to me. In the last debate, in Hollywood, she blatantly lied about the days of bombing of Iraq Bill Clinton carried out in the height of the impeachment fiasco. She said

We bombed them for days in 1998 because Saddam Hussein threw out inspectors.

Sorry, Ms. Clinton. It did not happen that way, and she of all people should know that. See What a Difference Four Years Makes–Why U.N. inspectors left Iraq–then and now from FAIR

Another bad sign was her taking Barack Obama to task for saying he did not think nuclear weapons would be necessary in his planned attack on Pakistan. This is the voice of experience? Yeah, the voice of empire making sure nobody assumes USA is not crazy enough to drop some more nukes!

I do not think Barack Obama is any better. My beef is not with either of these candidates, rather mainstream politics in general. I see the Democratic Party trying to capitalize on the worst Presidency in history, and they do not deserve to benefit from that. They have done virtually nothing to stop Bush, and since the 2006 election, they have no excuse. Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House. Liberal feminists are liberals first. There is not a radical bone in the body of Ms. Pelosi or Ms. Clinton. I want more than a cosmetic change, but that is all I see offered from any of these mainstream candidates. Must I settle for crumbs, yet again? I would rather throw away my vote.

Robin Morgan wrote a great piece. Too bad it had to be in support of Hillary Clinton. She is the visible one getting all this crap thrown at her, but is it really any worse than what any of us get? Thanks to Hillary Clinton, it is now in the spotlight for all to see. Why did it have to be a woman so hard for anyone with radical principles to support? Because the big corporations love her. They think they can work with her, just like they did with her husband. They are giving Obama plenty of money as well, because they think they can work with him as well. Either way, women and this Earth are screwed.

The first paragraph of the blog About page ends with these observations, included here to introduce my point of view regarding sex for sale.

Men generally have attached some sense of property to relationship partners. Marriage ceremonies traditionally have included the bride vowing to obey the groom. Some women still believe this is proper, duty of a wife. Some women, including myself, view women selling their sexuality to survive as sex slaves. Others may call them sex workers, but few would keep on renting their bodies for such degradation if they believed they had a reasonable alternative, a way out of that life. There are ways to portray women artistically. The boundaries of artistic expression may be difficult to define, but sexual slavery is not remotely about free expression or informed consent. When a woman wants sex, it is not a commodity, so she will not want money or abuse for her pleasure. Beauty contests are emblematic of how this culture makes beauty a commodity, a standard of value to waste the time, energy, and health of women. I object to women displayed like meat for the devouring gaze of men. Female sexuality is not property to be possessed by men, or rented out for male pleasure.

One problem with pornography is how the word gets distorted. Pornography has certain distinguishing characteristics opposing erotic art or nudity. There is the wider cultural aspect to consider as well as particularly vicious forms and what can be a viable strategy to confront all this. The wide aspect I could define as the conception of women as sex objects, useful to rationalize anything doing violence to women in spirit, since this reduces women to biological functions, defaulting mental realms to men. In many ways, culture is held back by hostility to women competing with men. Men have grudgingly refined this conception from taking it literally to allowing women to compete; vote; own property, a business, her body, her life; speak to the public; run for office; prosecute harassment, battering, rape, stalking, discrimination; conceding women all these rights over time in theory, but in practice is another story. Women can do all these things, and are, having gained those rights through long struggles, since the Constitution recognized none of that, as women were not recognized as people back then. Men react by waging a war of backlash, endless retribution, rationalized without reason besides resentment of women violating cherished unfounded theories about inborn male superiority and implied entitlement. These have been refined, superficially, so men can view women as sex objects but exercise a modicum of patronizing chivalrous restraint, but no refinement, or sweeping inescapable implications under the rug, of what is rotten at the core will touch the rot inside, merely tweak outward manifestations.

I could define pornography as commercial degraded sexuality, which has nothing to do with art or taste. By commercial I mean the sexuality of a woman is reduced to a commodity, regardless of black or open market, or who gets in on the money, or whether the transaction is part of a big operation or just a woman desperate to survive on the streets. The issue of consent is a can of worms ignored or evaded with specious arguments that women freely choose this line of work. Would these women have sex with these guys, or pose for degrading pictures, or strip tease, by informed free choice? No, these are desperate measures to survive. Women do not put up with harassment on the job, or battering at home, by free choice, rather by dreading likely consequences of trying to do anything about it. These kinds of choices are not free or informed, more like slavery. Many prostitutes are literally slaves, as contrasted to economic slavery, which term I consider to demean the concept, since so few people avoid having to work for a living. Despite all the problems ensuing when big business buys politics and union leaders think they better go on defense, this is nowhere near comparable to the forms of slavery practiced as routine in USA despite the Bill of Rights, solely concerned with the rights of white men. White women were property of cruel masters, not just captive Africans. For most descendants of slaves by color, freedom has meant free to be poor, stuck in dead end jobs or prison, or for the exceptional few, to break free enough of the vicious poverty cycle to develop their talents, if only to be a token minority that made good somewhere. Women are in a bind that is similar in some respects, though many women have to deal with more than one kind of bind.

This article is about problems I have with the business of women pleasing men sexually. I say all these women are trapped, even those few who might think they enjoy it, at least into serving male notions that women are sex objects men can buy. These women could benefit from vocational and other rehabilitation. They like anyone else deserve a chance for a life with some dignity. All women would benefit if men would get it through their thick skulls, women are not sex objects men can buy! Popular forms of commercialized sexuality are blatantly vicious hate imagery, sexualizing women getting roughed up in various ways. Men can hate women openly or deny it, but why else would that genre be such the hot seller in the porn world.

Male violence against women is endemic. James Brown, rebel musician lionized by many brothers and leftists, abused his wife, to keep her in line? That seems to have been his attitude, women should be kept in line. This is a great example to set? It is all too easy for men to shrug all that off as no big deal that should detract from his reputation. The point is this attitude is so commonplace, men get away with winking at it, as if boys will be boys, so what do women expect, miracles? How about respect, decency, meeting halfway, reciprocity? Is partnership a myth or miracle? Is my own current experience so anomalous, the exception proving the rule? I know men have dormant capacity to appreciate women for more than sex, but how few decent men are there who would not wink at what James Brown did to his wife, thinking that is no issue, or too minor an issue, to stain his greatness? I am not saying this means he was less significant as a musician, but as a rebel role model, his dealings with women are an example of why I choose no heroes among men. Though some men are of interest to me, not even lovers are heroes to me. It is so telling men think this behavior should have little significance if any. Who needs this idea of idolizing people anyway? Nobody is perfect, without flaws, so what is hero worship, if not groupie fantasy or empty idolatry? It may be a fine point, since having a hero does not necessarily imply idolizing, but deep respect or love do not mix with hero worship, two words loaded with baggage from long histories of false heroes and worship. James Brown may make the grade as a hero for the left, for standing up to the Man, but he was no hero or saint or great man whose principled stand I must salute.

One huge problem with pornography is that it is potent fuel for this epidemic of men terrorizing women. Whether it directly causes men to rape, batter, or want cruel or bizarre forms of sex is not at point. Sexualizing violence is a responsible contributing factor making such behavior seem acceptable, even desirable, to be expected. That directly escalates the culturally indoctrinated contempt for women, endangering all women. This is one reason why it is not possible for women to give informed consent to participate, unlike posing for an artist. I would argue along those lines, informed consent to any form of commercial degraded sexuality is meaningless, because women who think their consent is informed almost never have a clue what they are getting into. Any exceptions are the kind that prove the rule, women feeling sexuality has no significance, so why not take money for the trouble, just another job? Women have to make compromises to survive in this world still run by power mad men, but it demonstrates how severely women are devalued that some desperate women feel forced to sell their sexuality, along with others snared by traffickers or sold by family. Men take all this for granted, so this rarely is an issue men take seriously, unless to defend it as a choice women have a right to make, a matter of free speech to sell the pictures.

In desperate poverty or captivity, choices are never free, and unthinkable choices are made to survive. Is this what sex-positive feminism means to support? It is strange to me, a woman who has had long-term relationships with several men and still enjoys sex, even intercourse, hard to credit this as a branch of feminism. Women are not sex objects, reducible to a set of orifices for male penetration. Portraying women as such is worse than an insult to the intelligence of every woman, or distorting sexuality into something cheap, dirty, cruel, unemotional; it is all that, and intimidation. Women rightly feel threatened by men because of the preeminence of the concept of might makes right, rule by violence, striking women as rape, battering, harassment, demands, threats, fits of rage, intimidation, domineering, stalking, murder, mutilation, financial or emotional manipulation, all manner of disrespect. It does not help matters to keep pouring explosive fuel on a raging inferno already causing so much pain, injury, death to women. That fuel did not cause the fire originally or directly, but that fire might go out if starved of fuel, and if women could get some cooperation from decent men to denounce, or at least renounce, violence against women in any form! That fire is the big picture, what causes men to hate women enough to do these kinds of things to feel manly. In my view, answers lie in what men learn to believe about women and men. News flash boys, if you think porn teaches you anything about sex, you have a whole lot to learn. This is a deliberate distortion, misrepresenting sexuality as all about male gratification. The crueler the imagery, the better it sells.

Violence seems normal to men because cultures deliberately confuse self-defense with aggression. I have no problem with children learning self-defense, especially girls. This does not mean girls should strive to be aggressive, looking for fights or competing to dominate others. Ideally competition would be fair, disassociated from violence or other forms of subordination. In practice, virtually everything is ruined through such associations, from relationships to the planet. Women are hardly immune to the pressures of cultural corruption, but women are far more skeptical of the wisdom of male violent ways and the principle of men running things, though men often have issues with the men running things at whenever moment.

The triviality of violence in male eyes makes it seem normal to express frustration violently, but fighting between male peers is not comparable to men beating up on women, for several reasons. The elements of fair fighting and honor are missing. Respect for the opponent is missing. Extreme provocation is missing. Challenge and its acceptance are missing. There is no way to justify male violence against women, though men may claim she asked for it, wanted it, deserved it, needed discipline, made him mad or jealous, whatever shabby excuse tickles their fancy. This is not a normal or natural element of conflict in a relationship. It is debatable whether fighting has any value, but when the elements I cite above are present, at least there is reason for the dispute and both parties agree to fight, expecting to have a fighting chance. Diplomacy is more likely to resolve the dispute, but if men insist on fighting, presumably they have that right. When men in relationships with women get out of control with anger or intoxication, women get hurt, emotionally or physically. Battering is criminal behavior, yet rarely prosecuted, for all kinds of reasons related to men winking at behavior that keeps women in line, along with the syndrome keeping her torn between fearing what else he might do and hoping he really is sorry, things will get better. When a battered woman leaves, the man is angry about losing what he craved, mastery over her, so he may try to get revenge by terrorizing, stalking, or killing her.

Bribery does not constitute informed consent. Tricking women into selling their sexuality could be described as bribery to accept rape. Many prostitutes see little of the money, grabbed by pimp or madam. Some have drug habits. Most would jump at a chance to leave that life behind. The career of a female porn star is often a flash in the pan; that industry goes through women fast. This is no glorious life choice or promising career, more like quick cash for donating her body as fresh meat for male gratification. Bribery for uninformed unfree consent to rape as a job is nothing to defend as a feminist choice. Women are not having wild fun getting cruelly used to feed male thirst for subordinating, torturing, terrorizing women, in the name of sexual liberation and freedom of speech. This is what sells, what men wink at, men on the left, right, middle thinking it is no big deal, compared to all those other issues affecting the world in a big way. Male violence against women is a really big deal for women around the world, but in this nation at least women are supposed to have some rights, some recognition of personhood and that women are not sex objects for men to buy or rape.

Heart blogged about a man hanging his wife for hours so he could make a porn video. Go read that, if you think pornography is no big deal. Anyone who thinks she freely gave informed consent, tell me on this blog how you reason that was possible. I dare you, though if I think your answer is too nonsensical, it may never see the light of day. That woman is lucky to be alive, no thanks to the man who did that to her. If she trusted him, he must really have her under his thumb. One form of desperation is when a woman will do anything to please a man, as per the cultural imperative, to give her all in futile attempts to satisfy his power tripping fragile ego.

Pornography calls itself art, but any fool can call their creations art, does not make it true any more than unfounded faith makes the words of a preacher or cult leader true. Pornography by my definition is not art, not meant to be art, rather to gratify male lust by degrading imagery, generally of women, though gay male porn may have some similar power dynamics. Neither is pornography educational, rather the reverse, supporting male beliefs about women. It misrepresents sexuality as grossly as a religious doctrine asserting women owe husbands as wifely duty intercourse, in the missionary position, on demand. Women enjoying sex is irrelevant from that standpoint, though those who do and seek it out often still get called slut. That all facilitates men ducking responsibility for being dull, unimaginative, domineering, superficial, turning sexuality into a chore for women to perform at his whim. Some men have learned other ways. I consider myself lucky to have had such men in my life, so my personal experience in that regard has been much different. This makes it seem possible for women to reclaim heterosexuality, if the man will cooperate in working out a fair partnership. From my stance, this is an important political issue, though I am aware that stance is affected by my own experiences, good, bad, crazy making, but never indifferent. I would expect some women to think this a hopeless project or worse, but I believe human imagination must have the innate capacity for decent relationships between the sexes, as rarely as it might work out that way, otherwise doomed by gender role expectations of social conditioning. I would expect sex dominated by and centered on the man means the woman is less likely to enjoy herself. Neither is necessary, rather both are foolish, unnatural, wasting energy, making intercourse an tedious or painful duty for her to endure instead of one piece in the wonderfully diverse puzzle of human sexuality. This is a metaphor for the state of relationships and life in general. Men expect a man to command the primary focus of attention. How convenient the culture makes that seem natural. There is no need for this hierarchical order. It is possible to have limited forms of orderly structure without hierarchy, hard as that might be to imagine. Authority may be required to deal with criminal behavior, but not relationships or business. The models and priorities of men running things are too warped for redemption. If they continue to run the world, life will become much harder as the new world war escalates beyond recall, and this planet continues losing its capacity to support life.

The charge of censorship is often leveled at opponents of pornography. I fight it because of all the problems I have laid out here, with implications and correlations I could only touch on here. I consider male terrorizing of women an issue of great importance, not inevitable collateral damage of the battle of the sexes. Anything that unmistakably feeds that plague ought to be liable for damages. Where it is not so obvious, comprises a gray area that reasonable people can agree could be subject to dispute. I have drawn some lines, but not the boundaries of what I define as commercial degraded sexuality. I am especially distressed by sexualizing violence and children, which are indisputably injurious to women, or should be recognized as such by anyone with half a brain. While I find all kinds of degrading images of women disgusting and violating personally, the worst forms warp violence into sexuality. There I think the free speech argument has to collapse even from the legal perspective, because there can be no truly informed consent. There can be no argument about child porn because children clearly cannot give informed consent. Free speech is meant to protect unpopular opinions or beliefs, or journalists and whistleblowers revealing unpleasant truths, not depraved hate speech inciting violence. Cruelty to animals is a crime; what about cruelty to women? All these images are symptomatic and reinforcing of the prevalent belief system I challenge wholeheartedly, which gives respectability to the common nonsense notions of male superiority and entitlement to privileges assumed by men with no basis but to preserve their control over women.

So if anyone is wondering what is the trouble with pornography, this article is meant to lay it out. From my perspective, there is plenty more trouble where all that is coming from, that I could only touch on here. Maybe those wondering will find something to think about.