Pornography is often defined as a discourse about male domination and a site of oppression for women, in which some feminists strongly condemn seeing it as disrespect to women's bodies. In this study, this very preconceived idea of pornography as some erotic media that are disrespectful and explore feminist arguments which view erotic media as a way of celebrating both genders' sexual need will be challenged. The study takes a closer look to examine whether pornography could land gender equality. To do this, feminist analysis of Foucault's work is employed into the research to offer an interpretation to the primary study findings and to understand how sexuality as a theme is constructed through power relations.
This study explores feminism and Pornography, looking at how porn links to feminist politics and thus, showing gender equality. The study examines the sociological context of pornography and how various feminist theories interlink. The study analyses pornography as something which is created and interpreted within the need of both gender in such a capitalist society and gender equality-advocated era.
It, therefore, addresses the reason for the popularity of porn amongst men than it is relative to the feminine counterparts, representation of roles of men and women in porn respectively and/or why mainstream porn is seemingly filmed in the male gaze and whether or not different genders share an equal right and choice in the contemporary society.
Being a comparative study within this field of feminism, it considers how issues of social stratification and race intersect when considering representations within porn. It, therefore, critiques the politics of anti-porn feminism, focusing on the lack of intersectionality involved in this movement. Additionally, it links collected data with an existing theory to support or critique it with some academic materials.
Moreover, this is of importance in understanding the diverse views of feminists on the formation of pornography. This kind of research brings together qualitative research interviews and covers theory to explore the views of women on pornography (Ciclitira, 2004). Her analysis uses feminist theory to deconstruct the data collected from her interviews. Her choice of method and research subject is similar to the study. It, therefore, served as a useful example on how to approach research on feminist views. Besides, the study solemnly covers the porn industry.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.
The study took a mixed research approach adopting both qualitative and quantitative methodologies as it sought first hand holistic and in-depth descriptive knowledge as primary research data and secondary data respectively. It provided insights into research problems by describing the variables of interest with a view of defining, estimating, predicting, and examining associated variables (Kothari, 2004) both dependent and independent variables.
Moreover, the study majored in a philosophical worldview assumption of pragmatism. Pornography is a sensitive topic hence online surveys were randomly sent out to respondents this was to ensure their anonymity. Questionnaires and structured interview schedules were used to collect data. The researcher ensured reliability by recording interviews and taking notes at the time of the interview as well as overseeing the data movement.
FINDINGS
The total population of the research study was seventy individuals, thirty of who were men while the rest were women. Questionnaires were prepared and sent to ten producers for a response. Additionally, of the forty out of the sixty who fell within the age bracket between eighteen thirty twenty were male while the other half were female. Of the twenty who fell within the age bracket of thirty to forty-nine ten were male while the rest female.
Of the twenty women interviewed between the age bracket of eighteen to thirty, fifteen held the opinion that the supply of pornographic content was made in male gaze hence they were reluctant to watch the content. They further stated that this lowered their interest in watching the pornographic production. However, two indicated that they had no problem taking part in using pornographic materials in the presence of men while three said the question was not applicable to them as they were against the use of the materials. Asked about their opinion as to why they were unable to come out openly and watch pornography, fifteen ladies stated they were afraid that they would be viewed by their male counterparts as slutty. Three of the ladies said the question was not applicable as they would not take part in using pornographic materials regardless of their underlying situations. Two of the respondents said they were not bothered with what people would say about them and would be comfortable watching pornography anywhere.
Of the ten women aged between thirty-one and fifty who were interviewed, eight stated that the questions were not applicable to them as they were not for the idea of using pornography. Two indicated that they were okay with using the materials even though they were supplied with the male gaze. The two further stated that they were not bothered about what people would think or say about them.
When asked about their opinion on women being consumers of the material, fifteen said they would not approve of women being part of the activities while five said it was okay for women to be participants equally. When further asked about their opinion about women who actively take part in the use of pornographic materials, twelve held that it was slutty for them to be using the materials like men while eight respondents held that it was a matter of choice to either use or not use the contents. For the men between the age of thirty-one and fifty, seven held that it was inappropriate to consume the pornographic contents while three said it was okay for the women to use the materials. Further asked how they would view women who use the materials, six stated that it was lame for them to be using the pornographic contents while four said it was just a matter of choice for an individual.
Most of the producers stated that one of the reasons as to why the targeted men were because of the way in which the brain of a man functions. One of the producers stated that the end gain of most of the males was for masturbation or for the sake of attaining orgasm. According to Ingalhalikart et al. (2016), the brain of a man functions in such a way that whatever he sees is a critical perceptual sense. Additionally, four of the producers held that most of the men could focus on anonymous women for impersonal sex. Most of the males have a secretion of twenty times more testosterone as compared to the production of the same in women (Yilmaz et al., 2017)
Majority of the producers further stated that in their production, they had a policy of making the female play subject to the male. This they said aimed at ensuring that men were enticed by the dominance given to the male in pornographic contents. Moreover, they stated that by giving the characters dominating roles in the contents, they would increase their sales as their primary target is the male consumer.
When asked about their primary target for advertisement, the majority of the producers admitted that they designed it to ensure it captures the attention of men. They further stated that they considered the fact that men are attracted more to what they see and for that reason used female pictures and clips for marketing. Furthermore, they stated that little consideration was made for female consumers with the assumption that women do not feel moved so much with what they see. Moreover, females were not the majority customers hence it was wiser to target men in the advertisement.
CONCLUSION
From the data and findings herein in the study, it is deduced that the societal view is biased when it comes to the equality as pertains to the right and freedom of sexual content inclusive of the visual content. The consumption of pornographic material by women is perceived as a moral indecency whereas to men it is a reasonable act.
Equally, the misconception of porn being a product to be consumed by man due to gender inequality or societal intuitiveness and that the supply of porn is normally in male gaze thus lowering their interest.
RECOMMENDATION
The society should be lenient on the consumers regardless of their gender base; this should allow for the consumption of content and information without bias provided one reaches the rightful age of consumption (18+). This is an idea which can be advanced by conducting gender equality campaigns in institutions of higher learning, places of work as well as other social gatherings. Gender equality is vital in all realms of the society. Moreover, it is an issue that causes problems especially at places of work where the female gender is disadvantaged when it comes to situations like promotions.
There being no standards for moral, both men and women are bound to consume content without being judged whatsoever the case. However, restrictions are to be in place to control the access of these contents by particular persons of age. The involvement of men and women should as well be at par as they are. The producers should look into ensuring that they produce the pornographic content in the glare of both genders to ensure that an impression is not created by the ladies that consuming such content is a mean’s thing. Moreover, the producers may employ strategies of marketing that creates an impression that the products are meant for both female and male.
Additionally, the producers of pornographic materials ought to review their content in ensuring that subjectivity of the female gender is eliminated. The review should minimize the impression that the woman is only meant to play subject to the man. This outrightly shows the users that the materials are meant to be used by the males. Moreover, it creates a feeling in the female gender that their role is to fulfill the needs of their male counterparts.
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