Reverse Cowgirl is nattering on about American Apparel ads. Those ridiculous pictures of girls who may or may not be coerced into revealing layouts.One thing I don't understand about RC is that she watched a woman get hysterical while filming a circus gang bang act or complains about violent gonzo porn yet she doesn't connect these incidents to the larger issues of feminism. Which indicates her lack of knowledge about feminist issues. I suppose she bases most of her views on women who are outliers. The women who had a chance to choose. I have no doubts that there are women who make their livelihood from sex work and are not abused. However I do not have the fantasy that they are anywhere near the average.
In the prostitution trade, many of these women are coerced or kidnapped. The slavery trade is big business and one of the bread and butter trades of organized crime. Decriminalizing prostitution can go a long way towards ensuring the safety of women in the sex trades and lessening the allure of enforced slavery. But that will not stop the crime. As Amsterdam has already discovered. Countries with decriminalized prostitution become mere waypoints/safe havens on the slavery route. But this leads to another darker issue, some men like the idea that these women are forced. Part of the joy is knowing that they are committing rape. Because have no doubt there are men who truly hate women. If by some miracle all countries battle the prudes and this leads to a more liberal view of the sex trades, there will always be another form of perversion looking to be hatched. We have seen it already in the pornography trade. When straight sex doesn't hold the no-no allure we move into the areas of coercion and violence.
But despite the obvious exploitation of these women by men, it is the feminists according to RC and her ilk that are to blame. NO. Feminists do not complain about these issues in order to ban them. We simply seek to change the system in order to neutralize the wish that society has to exploit a weaker class. It is exploitation that we despise not the women who are free to make their choices. It is the possible exploitation that gives the AA ads their punch because they seek to capitalize on coercion. The recent ads with pornography stars are quite different from past ads. These women do not look like teenagers nor do they give the air of being played as fools. But there is nothing male society loves more than watching women be made fools and degraded. One of my own essays about a trial case was used by a web site with that purposeful aim.
As far as the body image question, yes, there is a movement within our messed up society that seeks to make women feel inadequate. Simply because they seek to sell us more crap to fix these defects. They have also convinced many men and women that women must look like grand prize winners of the DNA lottery. No, women are not all lucky enough to be genetically gorgeous. But the average women is healthy and attractive. That should be enough for anyone. Instead many women feel they must be thinner or cut themselves into shapes that reflect the latest body fad. I myself was never attractive enough to play this game, I tried but soon realized the futility of it all. My features will never reflect the latest beauty trend no matter how I try. So I opted out and that has led to a certain freedom. But, I am also able to see that there are areas barred to me because of the beauty game. And that is wrong. Feminists seek a world in which a woman's worth and the ability to earn a living is not based on her features. We are not foolish enough to believe that we will be able to extend this to the professions that trade on beauty. Those will always be a race for the fittest. But we do want to stop the notion that every woman must look as fantastically ethereal as Jessica Alba.
What this crazy chattering on about "ebil feminists" comes down to is barking to the tune of patriarchy. Lets face it, RC and others like her must make their bread and that bread depends on their catering to the status quo. RC could be a feminist force working within the sex trade without screeching about feminists. Many of her articles are feminist but there always seems to be a half-assed apology to the patriarchy somewhere within them to lessen the impact. I doubt that without those little smacks to the straw man, her articles could be sold as easily. A world with successful aims of feminism would ensure that sex work is not some kind of freak show that trades on violence. RC is a freak in the same league as that woman who performed in that gang bang film. She is a trick pony that will be thrown to the side as soon she loses youthful appeal and the ability to reflect the current sexist trends. And that is what evil, evil feminists such as myself seek to stop.
So, yes, by all means, I am the Satanic enemy.
Merry Christmas ;P
.Labels: feminism, pornography, sex, sexism