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Moral panic? No. We are resisting the pornification of women

Elmo

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For all the men on this forum...

Moral panic? No. We are resisting the pornification of women


http://m.guardian.co.uk/commentisfr...ation-of-women?cat=commentisfree&type=article

Don't mix up feminists fighting the the corporate media with rightwing attempts to police sex

The Guardian, Thu 1 Dec 2011 19.29 GMT
Comment

"Sexualisation" has become a much-debated issue in recent years, and a noticeable feature is the assumption that feminists who oppose sexual objectification are generating a "moral panic". Ever since sociologist Stanley Cohen introduced the term in 1972 it has been used as a shorthand way of critiquing conservatives for inventing another "problem" in order to demonise a group that challenges traditional moral standards.

So apparently feminists are now the conservatives fomenting unnecessary panic about the proliferation of "sexualised" images while the corporate-controlled media industry that mass produces these images is the progressive force for change being unfairly demonised. What a strange turn of events.


To suggest feminists who oppose the pornification of society are stirring up a moral panic is to confuse a politically progressive movement with rightwing attempts to police sexual behaviour. We can, of course, identify just such a conservative strand in current debates in Britain: interventions of the coalition government include calls for girls to be given lessons in how to practise abstinence and attacks on abortion rights. But feminists who organise against pornification are not arguing that sexualised images of women cause moral decay; rather that they perpetuate myths of women's unconditional sexual availability and object status, and thus undermine women's rights to sexual autonomy, physical safety and economic and social equality. The harm done to women is not a moral harm but a political one, and any analysis must be grounded in a critique of the corporate control of our visual landscape.


The left has a long history of fighting capitalist ownership of the media. From Karl Marx to Antonio Gramsci to Noam Chomsky, leftist thinkers have understood the corporate media to be the propaganda machine for capitalist ideas and values. By mainstreaming the ideologies of the elite, corporate-controlled media shapes our identities as workers and consumers, selling an image of success and happiness tied to the consumption of products that generate enormous wealth for the elite class. Alternative views are at best marginalised and at worst ridiculed.

No one in progressive circles would suggest for a moment that criticism of the corporate media is a moral panic. Chomsky has never, as far as we know, been called a "moral entrepreneur", yet those of us who organise against the corporations that churn out sexist imagery are regularly dismissed as stirring moral panic.


The industry-engineered image of femininity has now become the dominant one in western society, crowding out alternative ways of being female. The clothes, cosmetics, diets, gym membership, trips to the hair salon, the waxing salon and the nail salon add up to a lot of money. Even in these dark economic times, when women are experiencing the most severe financial hardship, the UK beauty business is booming.


Women's self-loathing is big business, and supports a global capitalist system that, ironically, depends heavily on the exploitation of women's labour in developing countries. Adding insult to injury, many of these underpaid women are spending a significant proportion of their wages on skin-whitening products that promise social mobility out of the sweatshops.

In the west, cosmetic surgery is increasingly normalised. Last year in the UK, almost 9,500 women underwent breast augmentation surgery, and the number of labiaplasties has almost tripled in five years. One plastic surgeon helpfully explains on his website that labiaplasty "can sculpture the elongated or unequal labial [sic] minora (small inner lips) according to one's specification … With laser reduction labiaplasty, we can accomplish the desires of the woman". If this is not evidence of living in a sexualised culture, what is?


The emotional cost of conforming to hypersexualisation is enormous for girls and young women who are in the process of forming their gender and sexual identities. We construct our identities through complex processes of interaction with the culture around us, but today images of hypersexualisation dominate. Where is a girl to go if she decides Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Rihanna or Britney Spears aren't for her?



An American Psychological Association study on girls' sexualisation found that it "has negative effects in a variety of domains, including cognitive functioning, physical and mental health, sexuality, and attitudes and beliefs". Some of these effects include risky sexual behaviour, higher rates of eating disorders, depression and low self-esteem, and reduced academic performance. Of course, there are girls who resist, but there are real social penalties to be paid by those who do not conform to acceptable feminine appearance.


This weekend feminist campaigners are hosting a conference on the pornification of culture. In the buildup, mass protests were held outside the London Playboy Club and Miss World beauty contest to highlight the relationship between corporate interests and the objectification of women. The fight against the increasingly narrow and limiting image of femininity is inextricably connected to the progressive fight for democratic ownership and control of the media. This is a political struggle. Feminists are rightly concerned, but we're not panicking. We're organising.
 
First thing is that i have long standing beef with Feminists..had many heated arguments with them in real life and on the Internet..

Their position against sexification and objectifying women is confused and two faced.
One one hand they promote female nudity and women dressing up like slutz.....and on the other hand they ask men not to feel the jizz when they see a scarcely dressed or 70% undressed woman.which is biologically impossible..men are natural voyeurs and our hormones work on the basis of what we see in a woman,although this saintly self control is not impossible..but then again ...This is putting total responsibility on men and none on women.
 
Men have always felt intimidated by female sexuality - women who are confident in their sexuality - are always vilified as ******.
 
For all the men on this forum...

Moral panic? No. We are resisting the pornification of women


m.guardian.co.uk

Don't mix up feminists fighting the the corporate media with rightwing attempts to police sex

For people in their right minds, there is NO 'mix up' -as you put it. But then, one has to accept the fact that 'S-E-X' sells. Now whether that constitutes 'pornification' of women is up for debate. But then again, if one is talking about a woman's self obsession about the 'physical' image, then sure, the fashion industry and use of such stereotypical images by corporate media has to be blamed - along with thin silhouette, large breasted, small waist, long legged, artificially colored hair and eyes being stereotyped as "beautiful".

However, if recent reports are anything to go by, then all this is turning around for good.

---------- Post added at 08:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:11 AM ----------

Men have always felt intimidated by female sexuality - women who are confident in their sexuality - are always vilified as ******.
True. But men who lack confidence.
 
Men have always felt intimidated by female sexuality - women who are confident in their sexuality - are always vilified as ******.

Its not just that....many women and currently most women insist on showing off their sexual beauty..specially in the west..
There is no drive from the FEMS to ask women not to do so...instead they encourage women to be as naked as possible and behave as irresponsible as possible..
Gradually this nudity has caused women to be extra conscious about their physique and resultant psychological disorders such as anorexia.

If the fems were out on a balanced agenda...Asking men not to look at women only as an object of sexual pleasure and asking women to cover up a bit and behave responsibly..i would have supported them..
but they want men to be castrated and behave as eunuchs....while women can let lose all their assets as and when they want.
 
well feminist wanted more rights, they got it, they wantedmore freedom for women they got, their women roam nude in the streets, nobody tells them that its morally degrading well, they gotit, now, [MOD EDIT FOR INAPPROPRIATE LANGUAGE] why should anything really matter now?? they gotall they wanted now

its only natural the men react in a more sexual way when they see the women and its also a fact they a naked women body is more reactive to men as men is to women,if you unserstand what im saying they, sorry but feminist shouldlearn that its the human world notalien world, they cant get all what they wanted

and when we muslims talk about women dressing modestly, these feminsit idiots scream, now deal with it!!
 
The article misses the point that aside from criticizing the sexist objectification of women, one also needs to criticize the lax morals that are becoming prevalent in general, as this lack of morals is destroying society. It's too bad the only people complaining about the declining morals are right-wing loonies.
 
Would a common guy give a hoot about feminism? The last male feminist was history ever since I transformed from a child feminist to an adolescent man!

you will be surprised how many guys give a lot of hoot about feminism.
 
The article misses the point that aside from criticizing the sexist objectification of women, one also needs to criticize the lax morals that are becoming prevalent in general, as this lack of morals is destroying society. It's too bad the only people complaining about the declining morals are right-wing loonies.

I dont think it misses the point - it addresses it by saying that the feminists are not advocating moral policing - eg. what Maya Khan did on her show.

It's asking that society should stop objectifying women: is a woman's role only to dress up?

Does a woman who doesn't dress up or look pretty, does she truly fail to be feminine?

I think a large part of it is also how we define femininity (and not feminism)
 
Regardless of it's initial aspirations, modern feminism has, in my view, made women more conformist than not. They all like to dress the same and walk the same. And they burn with jealousy if there's another prettier and more made up. Men suffer from the same maladies no doubt, albeit arguably to a lesser extent. The modern woman as the idea sold in the (post?-)feminist world is just so much more a slave to her perceived worthlessness and the fashion industry that claims to take it away, and so much less a person. I think they have the right to not suffer thus.

This model of femininity might be counter-nature too. I've noticed several of my female friends who had chosen to wear a dress as short as it could be made, unconsciously keep tugging it down. They were clearly a choice society made for them, they wouldn't be acceptable in one longer, and some part of their mind parted ways with that choice of apparel.

I don't know what makes you girls believe your nose is too high or your vagina isn't the perfect imaginary shape, you never came asking us men. Nothing beats the natural woman. Adorned yes, but orange and anorexic no.
 
I dont think it misses the point - it addresses it by saying that the feminists are not advocating moral policing - eg. what Maya Khan did on her show.

It's asking that society should stop objectifying women: is a woman's role only to dress up?

Does a woman who doesn't dress up or look pretty, does she truly fail to be feminine?

I think a large part of it is also how we define femininity (and not feminism)

This is the point. Some feminists might complain about objectification but at the same time most of them support loose morals. That's not right.
 
This is the point. Some feminists might complain about objectification but at the same time most of them support loose morals. That's not right.
What is loose morals? Can you elaborate.
As far as I know feminist want equal right for men and women. That has achieved partially in western world only.

About objectifying women, I am really not with feminists on this. Men are objectified too.
 

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