Capitalism reflects the culture. And the culture and norms involve naked idealized bodies, not really people’s bodies but those that are handpicked as the normative “look.”
The damage is far less the concept of porn than the way that porn is framed by the pornographer and shaped by the patriarchal cultural landscape.
Unfortunately capitalism requires catering to the masses, and the masses are shaped by capitalism. It’s a viscious cycle. The only thing that’ll break it is critical thinking about culture and our obsession with consuming “content.”
Terrence McKenna comes to mind with his discussions about how culture “is not your friend.”
Edit: Since people really don’t like reality, here’s my train of logic with additional sources.
To be fair I don’t think a lot of people really realize how much culture is shaped by capitalism because we live in it.
The value of a person is largely determined by what they earn nowadays. People regularly ask each other what they do for work and how much they earn. Entire food trends are manipulated through research promoted by monsanto and other food companies doing studies to prove certain foods have beneficial traits.
The way that massive corporations own entire circuits of media in order to guide people towards consuming more or buying certain things influences culture immensely.
If you want a hard example of capitalism affecting social trends look at social influencers and how they sell products to people, which changes what things people are willing to utilize for social status. (source for below quote)
>Despite its exceptional qualities, TikTok represents the common and growing epitome of prosumer culture – where the consumer of a product plays an active role in the growth and development of the product of itself. Not only does the app highlight the growing active participation from otherwise passive consumers, it also positions the consumers themselves being the product as a result of their attention and use being commodified. It also represents a dual process whereby the increased demand by users to have highly personalised and often overstimulating social media content has led to a greater encouragement by TikTok through their use of ad targeting from their algorithm. At a time where social media was highly monopolised, TikTok’s spectacular rise stems from the social context of COVID-19 lockdowns, as well as its ability to intensify the common practices that shape platform and surveillance capitalism.
> In 2004, the esteemed fashion photographer Terry Richardson released a coffee-table book that predominantly featured pictures of his own erect penis, and the models he’d cajoled into posing with it.
Tangent but. The creepy male photographer stereotype is unfortunately so real. Anyone can be a “photographer”.
You’ll get downvoted to hell on /r/japanpics or /r/photography for even suggesting that taking photos of children, people at work, or isolating a person as the subject of your photo without their consent is creepy and voyeuristic.
The knee jerk reaction in these communities is “if I can’t take photos of strangers, it’s not Street photography anymore!” “As long as I’m not using a zoom lens I’m fine”. “Well, that’s a good way to kill Street.” well. If it’s made of creeps like you, maybe it should die then.
It’s not about capturing the moment anymore, it’s about the power of being a voyeur and an echo chamber that reinforces creepy behavior.
Be careful of men offering TFP (time for prints.) It means each party offers their service for free for portfolio experience. It can look like “free headshots” or “portfolio projects.” Make sure there’s a contract before, where no nudity will be requested (some guys guilt you and say they’re doing “free work” and ask if you can do boudoir as well, oh they don’t know any boudoir models). Anything less than enthusiasm for chaperones is a red flag.
Also be careful of men who gaslight you into thinking this isn’t common. Anyone can buy a camera and make a website. Be careful! Not every male photog is a creep but every creep has a camera nowadays.
This kind of sexualization was “empowering,” everyone kept insisting. But the form of power we were being allotted wasn’t the sort you accrue over a lifetime, in the manner of education or money or professional experience. It was all about youth, attention, and a willingness to be in on the joke, even when we were the punch line.
Loved this article. It really articulates the struggle between sex positivity and recognising how that idea has been co-opted for the same objectification.
I had wondered why so many men I had sex with slapped my face, slapped my butt, and/or strangled me without warning. Why they pushed my head onto their dicks until I vomited and why they stuck their fingers in my mouth and pulled at my lower jaw. Especially the not-BDSM types did that and were confused when I got angry because of this. BDSM types have a general idea that they should ask first, but they’re still men and often cannot be bothered.
I never really watched porn. Then an ex wanted to watch together to get in the mood and maybe get ideas. And only then did I realize WHY so many men treated me that way in bed: Porn tells them it’s normal and okay to abuse women. To not ask for consent or how funny/great it is to trample over boundaries.
But this eye-opening article really lays out how it goes way further.
It taught women that men are dangerous and unable to connect with women in person and think that what they see in porn is real. The first time they get an opportunity to be with a woman, they expect her to please him the way porn stars do to the men.
I ain’t getting paid, loser, and you bring nothing to the bedroom. Women are learning that getting a 5-minute weinering from a selfish, incompetent lover is not worth their time.
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Capitalism reflects the culture. And the culture and norms involve naked idealized bodies, not really people’s bodies but those that are handpicked as the normative “look.”
The damage is far less the concept of porn than the way that porn is framed by the pornographer and shaped by the patriarchal cultural landscape.
Unfortunately capitalism requires catering to the masses, and the masses are shaped by capitalism. It’s a viscious cycle. The only thing that’ll break it is critical thinking about culture and our obsession with consuming “content.”
Terrence McKenna comes to mind with his discussions about how culture “is not your friend.”
Edit: Since people really don’t like reality, here’s my train of logic with additional sources.
To be fair I don’t think a lot of people really realize how much culture is shaped by capitalism because we live in it.
The value of a person is largely determined by what they earn nowadays. People regularly ask each other what they do for work and how much they earn. Entire food trends are manipulated through research promoted by monsanto and other food companies doing studies to prove certain foods have beneficial traits.
The way that massive corporations own entire circuits of media in order to guide people towards consuming more or buying certain things influences culture immensely.
We also know that social class greatly influences culture through social norms and expectations as well as how people view and interact with each other. Which is manufactured by capitalism, since social class is something which would not exist without capital being owned by the few and not the many.
If you want a hard example of capitalism affecting social trends look at social influencers and how they sell products to people, which changes what things people are willing to utilize for social status. (source for below quote)
>Despite its exceptional qualities, TikTok represents the common and growing epitome of prosumer culture – where the consumer of a product plays an active role in the growth and development of the product of itself. Not only does the app highlight the growing active participation from otherwise passive consumers, it also positions the consumers themselves being the product as a result of their attention and use being commodified. It also represents a dual process whereby the increased demand by users to have highly personalised and often overstimulating social media content has led to a greater encouragement by TikTok through their use of ad targeting from their algorithm. At a time where social media was highly monopolised, TikTok’s spectacular rise stems from the social context of COVID-19 lockdowns, as well as its ability to intensify the common practices that shape platform and surveillance capitalism.
> In 2004, the esteemed fashion photographer Terry Richardson released a coffee-table book that predominantly featured pictures of his own erect penis, and the models he’d cajoled into posing with it.
Tangent but. The creepy male photographer stereotype is unfortunately so real. Anyone can be a “photographer”.
You’ll get downvoted to hell on /r/japanpics or /r/photography for even suggesting that taking photos of children, people at work, or isolating a person as the subject of your photo without their consent is creepy and voyeuristic.
The knee jerk reaction in these communities is “if I can’t take photos of strangers, it’s not Street photography anymore!” “As long as I’m not using a zoom lens I’m fine”. “Well, that’s a good way to kill Street.” well. If it’s made of creeps like you, maybe it should die then.
It’s not about capturing the moment anymore, it’s about the power of being a voyeur and an echo chamber that reinforces creepy behavior.
Be careful of men offering TFP (time for prints.) It means each party offers their service for free for portfolio experience. It can look like “free headshots” or “portfolio projects.” Make sure there’s a contract before, where no nudity will be requested (some guys guilt you and say they’re doing “free work” and ask if you can do boudoir as well, oh they don’t know any boudoir models). Anything less than enthusiasm for chaperones is a red flag.
Also be careful of men who gaslight you into thinking this isn’t common. Anyone can buy a camera and make a website. Be careful! Not every male photog is a creep but every creep has a camera nowadays.
Good article
This kind of sexualization was “empowering,” everyone kept insisting. But the form of power we were being allotted wasn’t the sort you accrue over a lifetime, in the manner of education or money or professional experience. It was all about youth, attention, and a willingness to be in on the joke, even when we were the punch line.
Loved this article. It really articulates the struggle between sex positivity and recognising how that idea has been co-opted for the same objectification.
I had wondered why so many men I had sex with slapped my face, slapped my butt, and/or strangled me without warning. Why they pushed my head onto their dicks until I vomited and why they stuck their fingers in my mouth and pulled at my lower jaw. Especially the not-BDSM types did that and were confused when I got angry because of this. BDSM types have a general idea that they should ask first, but they’re still men and often cannot be bothered.
I never really watched porn. Then an ex wanted to watch together to get in the mood and maybe get ideas. And only then did I realize WHY so many men treated me that way in bed: Porn tells them it’s normal and okay to abuse women. To not ask for consent or how funny/great it is to trample over boundaries.
But this eye-opening article really lays out how it goes way further.
It taught women that men are dangerous and unable to connect with women in person and think that what they see in porn is real. The first time they get an opportunity to be with a woman, they expect her to please him the way porn stars do to the men.
I ain’t getting paid, loser, and you bring nothing to the bedroom. Women are learning that getting a 5-minute weinering from a selfish, incompetent lover is not worth their time.
I listened to this article earlier today! It was so eye opening!
The author wrote a book and I want to read it now!
Wow these comments are all over the place and I don’t think many people got the point. What a mess.
Great article, thank you for sharing