I’m reading Caitlin Moran’s new book, ‘How To Be A Woman’. It’s a funny, wise and perceptive account of what it means to be a female today, narrated through her life story. I love her writing. But there are some areas where we part company. Pornography for example.
Moran brilliantly parodies 21st century porn as a one script, hackneyed kind of MTV, full of crotches, Brazilians and acrylic nails. Moran’s issue with porn however, is not its existence, but its nature;
‘Its not pornography per se that’s the problem here…the act of having sex isn’t sexist so there’s no way pornography can be, in itself, inherently misogynist…It’s the porn industry that’s the problem. ‘
She goes on to argue that what we need is a ‘100 per cent increase in the variety of pornography’ available – specifically, in porn that depict’s women’s desires. This she argues, would be liberating, educational and joyful. It would, she claims, be ‘warm, human, funny, dangerous, psychedelic, with wholly different parameters to male porn’.
It’s an interesting argument. Undoubtably there’s a market out there for female porn. It probably would look very different to the male-orientated stuff that’s there too. But the issue isn’t just sexism – it’s humanism. It’s what we make sex into when we turn it into a commodity. Whether it’s men or women who are scripting it, selling sex degrades something beautiful into just another product. For a great post on why, check out Glen’s article (link).