Pornland: How Porn has Hijacked our Sexuality was written by Gail Dines in 2010. As a sociologist, Dine’s perspective on pornography is that it has hampered the growth of sexuality and distorted the views of both young men and women, not only on sexuality as a whole, but on their own sexuality. Dines describes pornography as a “parallel universe” where there is no longer human complexity, life pleasures or deep connections, instead humans become “orifices and body parts” . Gonzo porn is the focus of her book. This is porn that is hard core with sex that punishes the body and women are humiliated and degraded. The porn does not tell a story but presents consecutive sex scenes. It is less expensive to produce and it is very popular on the internet.
Dine’s Argument
In eight chapters, Dines presents the history of the porn industry, discusses her perception of porn as a mere profit seeking industry that degrades sexuality, and proposes that porn produces violence and not sexual fantasy.
Dine claims that money is what porn is all about. The producers of porn have only one objective and that is profit. By having this focus, the producers fail to take into account the image being presented about sexuality. Specifically, the images and messages being sent to audiences of gonzo porn. These images, once considered hard core porn, are now mainstream today. These images include violence and degradation toward women that have lasting effects on both men and women participants and viewers.
Dines argues that the porn culture has affected the lives of young women through pop culture. Young women are now hypersexualized, and that power for women comes from being hot, desired and envied. This has resulted in the loss of the female image in any other way except “fuckable”. The portrait of a women is that they are excited to provide men whether whatever they want and they are always ready.
Dines claims that debasing the white woman in porn is actually what makes the porn more popular. As a result of the influence of gonzo porn on young men, the young women are pressured into anal sex, ejaculation on the face, group sex with multiple penetrations, physical and verbal abuse, gagging, spanking and open hand slapping. The women are called a variety of degrading names including slut, bitch, whore, cunts, stupid hoes, fucktubes, and many other demeaning names.
The influence of gonzo porn on young men is also substantial. The men appearing in porn are emotionless and soulless. They represent no sympathy or respect for the woman counterpart. There is no intimacy simply hate represented through fear, contempt, disgust and anger. Power over the woman is the goal. The sex portrayed in gonzo porn is closer to sexual assault than it is to making love. Although the sex portrayed in gonzo porn is painful and degrading to the women, the men who use the porn for sexual arousal likely are not even aware of the suffering the woman endures. Ultimately, Dine concludes that It is our culture that has created the desire of gonzo porn.
Strengths of Dine’s Argument
The book presents valuable and accurate information about the history of pornography in the United States. It is clear that Dines did her homework in this area. She discusses the beginning of pornography in the three popular magazines of Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler. A presentation of the rise and fall of each magazine is given as well as the story of how the magazines currently compete in today’s marketplace.
Another strong aspect of Dine’s argument is that she is only focusing on one genre of porn: gonzo porn. This enhances her argument because she is not claiming that all porn has bad effects on sexuality, rather she is arguing that hard core porn where women are degraded, has bad effects on both the women and men actor. This is another strength to her argument: Dine analyzes the impact of gonzo porn on both men and women sexuality. As a feminist, she could have chosen only to focus on women and made the argument one-sided. Yet, she does not and analyzes the effects on both genders.
Weaknesses of Dine’s Argument
Although Dine presents a good argument against pornography and its effects on sexuality, it is only from the perspective of a feminist woman. She does analyze the effects of gonzo porn on both men and women but it is only from her perspective. The book could have made a stronger argument had she of join authorship with a male counterpart or is she had presented the male perspective in the same manner she presented hers.
Another weakness in Dine’s argument is that there is no passage in the book that takes a true and valid view from the perspective of adult men. Instead, she focuses on young men and the effects on them as well as their opinion about gonzo pornography. Porn is entertainment for all ages. By not focusing on young men and women as well as their opinions, she misses a whole group of people that are likely engaged in the viewing of porn: adult men.
Conclusion
Overall, Dines presents a well formatted and well documented account of porn in America today. Her arguments are valid and clearly not far from the truth. However, as a feminist, Dine’s argument is one sided. She also only focuses on the perspective of young men and women rather than all ages of adult men and women. Additionally, Dines does not consider any positive effect of porn, if any. Clearly, Dines is a liberal feminist. Although there is validity to the demeaning nature of women in the gonzo porn industry, it could be possible that the young women engaging in the business are also seeking profit. She fails to consider too that people have different ideas and perspectives about sex in the nature porn. Sex in porn and sex with an intimate partner are very different aspects of sex. It seems that Dines forgets this fact and associates one with the other or the other with the one.
Works Cited
Dines, Gail. Pornland: How Porn has Hijacked our Sexuality. Boston: Beacon Press, 2010. E Book.
