Reply #189: Freedom of Choice and Harmfulness (in porn and the sex industries)

[Anti-Porn Activist]

The good people at NoPornNorthampton http://nopornnorthampton.org/ wrote this excellent post below on choice and consent in pornography, which quotes liberally from the extremely informative chapter by Rebecca Whisnant http://www.myspace.com/rebeccawhisnant in NOT FOR SALE, http://www.notforsale-book.org/ called "Confronting Pornography: Some Conceptual Basics". Many important points are made that deserve serious consideration if one is addressing porn and sex trade issues.

Freedom of Choice and Harmfulness

The argument that women freely choose to perform in porn films is often presumed to end all debate, but not every free choice is a good choice for one's self or society.

The problem with porn is not that it's offensive, but that it's harmful. Offense is subjective, and can be avoided by refusing to look at the offending material. Harm is objective: to be made less safe, to have one's interests set back. Women can be harmed by porn even if they are not aware of it. Mass consumption of porn creates a climate where women are more likely to be harassed, discriminated against, and treated as sex objects rather than real people. Porn performers also suffer long-term physical and emotional damage. (p.22)

What about women who choose to participate in porn? Whisnant acknowledges that feminists have overemphasized the coercion argument. It's not helpful to blur the difference between actual compulsion and choices that are distorted by a woman's lack of opportunities or sexual abuse history, serious as these problems are. Free choice is certainly better than being forced into the industry, but it is not the only relevant consideration. (p.23) She observes:

Rather than always putting 'choice' and 'consent' in scare-quotes, we need to clarify what does and does not follow from the observation that something is a choice, or is consensual. That something is chosen or consensual is perfectly consistent with its being seriously oppressive, abusive, and harmful--to oneself and or to a broader group of which one is a member (e.g. women). (p.23)

In other words, a free choice can still be a bad choice. Individual choices also don't exist in a vacuum. A woman's decision to be a porn star may feel empowering to her, but if it helps normalize and perpetuate an industry that disempowers many other women, it's not just a private matter. (p.24)

Moreover, our emphasis on the woman's choice conveniently keeps the focus away from porn producers and consumers, and whether they are making harmful choices. The option of becoming a porn performer wouldn't even exist if consumers didn't create the demand for "a sub-class of women (and children, and men, and transgender people--but mostly women) who are available for their unconditional sexual service." (p.25)
http://nopornnorthampton.org/2006/10/10/a-review-of-rebecca-whisnant-confronting-pornography-some-conceptual-basics.aspx