Sex for Sale Flashcards
Types of Sex Work
- prostitution, escorting, hustling
- dancing
- erotic massage
- live sex shows/peep shows
- phone sex
- dominatrixes/doms
- webcaming
- pornography
Major Debates, Criticisms, and Concerns
1. Socio-cultural
- issues to political ideology/religion
-
Effects on performers/workers
- issues of safety
3.** Effects on consumers**
- what is the effect in their relationship
Three Feminist perspectives
- Expression of patriarchal culture (radical) - women are exploited
- Respect for free speech, and women’s rights to choose what they will do with their bodies (liberal)
- Porn, sex work has benefits for
women; sexual freedom (pro-sex, sex- positive)
Pornography
- anything/ material sexually explicit that is primarily intended to, or used to, induce sexual arousal
- representation of our fantasies
Obscenity
any publication a dominant characteristic of which is the undue exploitation of sex(illegal)
so what is obscenity and what is pornography? (how do we know)
Community standards of tolerance test:
we ask people what would canadians accept other canadians to be exposed to
ex: would u be okay for child pornography be avalible in your community? (probably no) = obscenity
causing harm = obscene
pornography vs erotica
pornography depicts sexually explicit activities that are coupled with violence, are degrading or dehumanizing (usually to women), or include children. In contrast, erotica depicts explicit sex that is not violent and is neither degrading nor dehumanizing.
Prevalence of pornography
Pornhub stats for 2022
* Worldwide
* 42 billion visits
* Top countries by traffic: USA, UK, France, Japan, Mexico, Italy (Canada is 8th)
- Most popular terms: Hentai, Japanese, MILF, Lesbian, Pinay, Asian, Step Mom
- Canada
- 29% of visits by women
- Average duration of visit 9 minutes 28 seconds
Adolescents
- By age 17, 93% of boys and 62% of girls have been exposed to pornography
- 66% of boys and 39% of girls ages 13-17 have seen at least one form of pornography in the past year
- Rates of exposure are uncommon before age 13
Hardy et al. (2019) Ages 13-18 (USA)
* 30% had watched a pornography video online in the past year
Adults
- 87% of men
- 31% of women
- 11% view pornography 1x/week or more
Criticism and Concerns of Pornography
Socio-Cultural
- belief that sex is a private matter, shared between two people in a committed, loving relationship
- subverts common social and moral good
- pornography is obscene/explicit depictions of human sexuality
- pornography is not an expression of healthy sexuality
- profound misogyny; reflects and promotes male dominance
- pornography is exploitative, degrading, and dehumanizing towards women
Types of Pornography
- Written
- Illustration
- Cartoon, Hentai
- Electronic images
- Video (mainstream, fetish, underground, alt, amateur, feminist, pro-sex/sex positive, queer)
- Web camming
- Virtual reality
Reasons for Use:
- Stimuli during masturbation
- Entertainment
- To get sexually aroused for later sexual interaction
- With partner: (1) entertainment; (2) sexual stimuli as part of sex play; (3) to explore sexuality
- As a sexual outlet during periods of not having a partner
- Mismatched sexual desire – as extra outlet
- Satiate desires that can’t be met in relationship
Fraser Commission Report (1983)
conclusion: did not find any support for the idea that pornography leads to violent crime, sexual assault, the moral degradation of society
Criticism and Concerns of Pornography
Effects on People in the Industry
- Historically, marginalized industry, taboo
- Abuse, coercion, drugs, etc.
-
Paradox: to improve pornography and the pornography
industry, perhaps it needs to become less restricted, not more restricted= needs to be more mainstream - more oversight
Damaged goods hypothesis
- original hypothaisis: people who choose to become actors/performers of pornography have something wrong with them
- 177 actresses, community matched controls findings (performers):
performers had :
* more likely to identify as bisexual
* more partners
* more concerned about STIs
* enjoyed sex more/more sexual satisfaction
* greater self-esteem
* more likely to use recreational drugs
* no difference in rates of CSA (child sexual abused)
result: nothing wrong with them, they are more alike to non-performers then different(but some differences)
Criticism and Concerns of Pornography
Effects on Consumers
- consumers will continue to seek more extreme forms of porn(myth)
- can lead to erectile dysfunction(some-true because of masturbation)
- promotes promiscuity(myth)
- porn rewires the brain(myth except for people with very high consuption)
- it’s addictive(most people no)
Pornography Addiction
- behavioural addictions in DSM-5
- sexual sensation seeking which can risk themselves (higher in consuption)
- it comes allong with other negative states (depressed, anxiety)
Criticism and Concerns of Pornography
Effects on Consumers
- increases hostile attitudes towards women
- glorifies aggression and violence against women
- interferes with relationships
- unrealistic expectations
theoretical models
- Sexual script theory that pornography can influence sexual scripts for bad (normalize violence against women)
- differential susceptibility to media effects model, It means that different people show different responses to viewing pornography. Certain people are more susceptible and others are less susceptible to any negative effects of pornography
Attitudes Supporting Violence Against Women
Hald, Malamuth, & Yuen (2010)
- meta-analysis: 9 studies
- attitudes supporting violence against women (ASVAW):
» acceptance of interpersonal violence
» adversarial sexual beliefs
» attitudes towards rape
» sexual harassment
results
- consumption of all pornography associated with ASVAW (r = .18)
small association
- consumption of non-violent pornography associated
with ASVAW (r = .13)
small association - consumption of violent pornography associated with ASVAW (r = .24)
big association
- we dont know if violent people are seeking out violet pornography or if violent pornography is producing violent people