Throughout history, women in the society have been viewed as the weaker gender who constantly dominated by the male gender. The current society, for instance, is not exempted in the act, have carried on with the viewing of women as being weaker (Banyard, 2016). In the below review the main focus on the portrayal of women as the weaker gender on grounds of the discourse on pornography as portrayed in the popular culture (Klaassen, & Peter, 2015). Pornography houses numerous definitions from debates that surround it but pornography from a layman's language is basically a sexually clearly-expressed writing and pictorial representation that is aimed at majorly to generate sexual agitation in the reader (Palmer, 2018). The two major issues to be addressed in the review include; the reason as to why pornography is widespread among men as compared to women as well as whether pornography legitimately depicts gender equality. The latter will major focus on male gaze on sex, gender and socialization as a film of mainstream pornography specifically narrowing down on the John Berger's ‘The Ways of Seeing' and Laura Mulvey's ‘Male Gaze Theory'. They are discussed at length in the following review as depicted below;
First and foremost, we delve into the reason why pornography is widespread among men as compared to their counterpart women. Arguably, the most steady result of pornography research currently is that there is a sizeable gap that prevails between the male gender and the female gender regarding their private use and embracement of pornographic literature. A couple of research proves that male gender is at a higher chance of than their counterpart female gender to view pornography and in most cases, it is regular on a daily or weekly basis (Louis, 2017). Conducted research reveals that when determining pornographic use, there is a great contrast between the male gender and female gender across different relationship dedication heights (Wright, Steffen, & Tokunaga, 2015). In comparison to the male gender on the cardinal criterion of pornography use, women are almost double presumably to account that they never use pornography as men of matching height of dedication in a relationship (Atkins, & Attwood, 2015). Pornography gap increases extensively, however, when the random use of pornography is accessed, casually dating are forty-two times more likely to acknowledge us of pornography at least weekly or higher as compared to casually dating men (Anderson, 2016). The major reasons why there is a differential gap in the use of pornography are; the biological structure of male and female are different, the existing gender inequality leads to female seeing porn-viewing as a man thing, cultural expectations of gender and sexuality and lastly the supply of porn are mostly in male gaze lowering the interest of the female gender (Bridges, Sun, Ezzell, & Johnson, 2016). Detailed discussions of the outlined reasons are as follows;
The difference in Biological Structure of Male and Females
First, there is a big difference in visual processing of male and females in general. This, therefore, means that men tend to be more visually stimulated as compared to women (Regnerus, Gordon, & Price, 2016). A scientist has suggested that both the visual and emotional capability are present together in the right part of the hemisphere of the brain of the male gender, therefore, the vital perceptual sense in the male is exclusively vision. Dr. Judith Reisman realized that the sole dependence of male on the right hemisphere leads to a quick response to visual stimuli amongst men as compared to their female counterparts (Boyle, 2018). This is one of the fundamental reasons why the primary market for pornographic literature has been male. Females on contrary use most of their brain space for certain activities, while men use a far less (Florian, V. O. R. O. S. 2014). Women use a wider scope of the brain, while men tend to rely intensively on specific areas of either of the right hemisphere or the left hemisphere (Clatterbaugh, 2018). This, therefore, results in men primarily focusing intensively on an aspect, while their female counterparts primarily visualize the bigger picture on the aspect in question. Men are able to focus on an issue like pornographic literature reading and be less easily distracted by any activity going around them while ladies are easily distracted. Secondly, the hormonal difference between the male and females in the body of human beings. A hormone-like testosterone though found in both males and females, it majorly a male hormone. Studies confirm that when males watch erotic videos and therefore experience sexual stimulation, their testosterone level shoots while decreasing the cortisol hormone level that very moment (Bagley, 2017). An increase in the level of testosterone hormone proves good performance and therefore most men tend to watch the pornographic literature to ensure a substantial increase in their testosterone hormone hence a guarantee of good performance.
Gender Inequality
Societal cultures have generally been based on the female gender on matters to do with the use of pornographic literature. Most societies view the watching of pornography by the women as an uttermost obscene conduct and applaud the men gender for the very act and see zero obscenity in it. This has generally created a perception in the modern women that the pornographic literature is just available only for men and they have avoided it. The negative painting of women who watch the pornographic literature has left their fellow ones to be in fear of watching the literature for the fear of self-victimization from the society. This is gender inequality of the highest order that needs to be addressed as the rights of the female gender are infringed and therefore their freedom of being in access to information is generally curtailed. From the societal point of view and discernment, more men tend to watch pornography since they are entitled to while most when shy away to prevent receiving wrath from the society.
Supply of Porn Mostly in Male Gaze
The male gaze is the portraying of the world and female gender in visual arts and literature from a masculine and straight aspect, showcasing female as entities of male hedonism (Thögerse & Holgersson, 2017). Most of the manner in which female gender is portrayed in the pornographic literature is so uncalled for. They are visualized as erotic objects not only for the characters in the pornographic literature but also for the viewers who are watching the literature (McCormack, & Wignall, 2017). This is so demeaning to the female gender and most of them feel pissed off even to set their eyes on such literature. Men always are depicted to be dominant over the female gender and the latter are always bound by duty to be submissive to them which is annoying to some of the females (Kohut, Baed & Watts,2016). There is also the ranking dogma that keeps the muscularity in bipartite opposition to womanhood, therefore, leading to heights of inferior status. These aspects of male gaze that are depicted in the pornographic literature lower the interest of most of the women (Toates, 2017). The women therefore involved in watching the pornographic literature are small in number as compared to men for the valid reasons stated above.
The second vital aspect that is delved on is whether pornography legitimately depicts the gender equality. Gender equality is basically the gender balance in the society across all aspects that involve both the male and female. This is explained in detail on the main topic of Male Gaze as illustrated by John Berger's ‘The Ways of Seeing' and Laura Mulvey's ‘Male Gaze'. Male Gaze brings out the objectification of women gender, dominance of men as a site of oppression for the women and sexual violence on the women (Horton, 2017). The mainstream pornography film in the Male Gaze to bring out the above mentioned in a clear view. They are discussed widely as in the below context;
Objectification of Female Gender
According to Laura Mulvey's ‘Male Gaze Theory' objectification is the manner in which men gaze at the female gender thereby reducing them into an object. Mulvey states that the main objectives of a female character in a narrative are; acts as an erotic object for the characters in the narrative and further as an erotic object for the onlookers within the cinema view. It is therefore evident from Mulvey that the characters that look at others are viewed as the active one (male) and the characters that are to be looked at are generally passive (female). The females are therefore under the control of the male's gaze and are only present for visual satisfaction. Mulvey says that females are often narrative slowers and categorically inspire the men to act while the males on the hand keep the narrative moving and are viewed as being active. The main of objectification according to Mulvey is to be enjoyed and devalued and therefore humanity is eliminated (Foubert & Bridges, 2017). John Berger's analysis of the difference between nakedness and nude enables the understanding of how women's sexuality is objectified. Berger argues that to be naked is to be oneself and to be nude is to be seen naked by other people and yet not known by oneself (Mikorski & Szymanski, 2017). Therefore a naked body has to be seen initially as an object in order to become nude.
Male Dominance
Male Dominance is a social belief that the male is superior to the female and therefore calls for the submission of the female at every aspect (Attwood, 2017). Mulvey argues that in any mainstream cinema, the male gaze is highly considered over the female gaze, therefore, showing that the male is more powerful as compared to the female (Cornell, 2016). The inequality aforementioned is majorly accredited to patriarchy which is a cultural ideology in the midst of the people. The male, therefore, has the final say in every aspect of their environment. These beliefs stick in the mind of the people and after a short while seem natural and normal contributing to the inequality (Littleton, 2018). Berger uses examples of Adam and Eve and how the woman progressively became submissive and the male, therefore, became dominant from the art (Kimmel, 2017). It was therefore judged by the public court that men are to be dominant as the women are submissive to them which is critically very unfair to the female gender (Fritz & Paul, 2017).
Sexual Violence
Male Gaze as it stands currently is on the verge of creating sexual violence. When the male view the female as an object of sex then chances are it might culminate in an act of rape (Atkins, & Attwood, 2015). The society's obsession with the male gaze is breeding ground for the exploitation of rape culture (Atkins, & Attwood, 2015). This comes about when women are viewed as objects for men to receive pleasure from. This opens leeway for sexual rape to be treated as no matter.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is evident from the review that porn is very popular amongst the men as compared to the female for the obvious reasons explained in the context. The societal beliefs and cultures do not give a level ground for gender equality in the pornographic films to be legitimately shown. There are so many societal beliefs on the female gender. Similarly, the viewing of females as objects and the requirement of the society to be submissive is surely very unfair creating the inequality aspect of it.
References
Anderson, E. (2016). Comment on Catherine Hakim/1. Sociologica, 10(3), 0-0.
Atkins, M., & Attwood, F. (2015). Dennis Altman is a Professorial Fellow in the Institute for Human Security at LaTrobe University in Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of 12 books and, among other accolades, was awarded the Simon and Gagnon Award for career contributions to the field of sociology of sexualities by the American Sociological Association's Section on Sexualities in 2013. Queer Sex Work.
Atkins, M., & Attwood, F. (2015). PL-34 Effects of Pornography Use on Adolescents' Sexual Debut And Condom Use: A Longitudinal Assessment. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 14(5), e220.
Atkins, M., & Attwood, F. (2015). PL-32 Sexual Markets and Erotic Capital in the 21st Century: The Impact of the Internet. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 14(5), e220.
Attwood, F. (2017). PL-33 Pornography Use Among Young People. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 14(5), e220.
Bagley, C. A. (2017). Book Review Essay: Pimp State: Sex, Money, and Equality by Kat Banyard. Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence, 2(2), 6.
Banyard, K. (2016). Pimp state: Sex, money and the future of equality. Faber & Faber.
Boyle, K. (2018). The implications of pornification: pornography, the mainstream and false equivalences. In The Routledge Handbook of Gender and Violence (pp. 99-110). Routledge.
Bridges, A. J., Sun, C. F., Ezzell, M. B., & Johnson, J. (2016). Sexual Scripts and the Sexual Behavior of Men and Women Who Use Pornography. Sexualization, Media, & Society, 2(4), 2374623816668275.
Clatterbaugh, K. (2018). Contemporary perspectives on masculinity: Men, women, and politics in modern society. Routledge.
Cornell, D. (2016). The imaginary domain: abortion, pornography and sexual harrassment. Routledge.
Florian, V. O. R. O. S. (2014). Raw Fantasies: An Interpretative Sociology of What Bareback Pornography Does and Means to French Gay Male Audiences. Queering Paradigms IV. South-North Dialogues on Queer Epistemologies, Embodiments and Activisms, Peter Lang, 321-343.
Foubert, J. D., & Bridges, A. J. (2017). Predicting bystander efficacy and willingness to intervene in college men and women: the role of exposure to varying levels of violence in pornography. Violence against women, 23(6), 692-706.
Fritz, N., & Paul, B. (2017). From orgasms to spanking: A content analysis of the agentic and objectifying sexual scripts in feminist, for women, and mainstream pornography. Sex Roles, 77(9-10), 639-652.
Horton, C. (2017). Systemic Sexual Abuse in Christian Congregations. WHEATON WRITING: A Journal of Academic Essays, 1, 61-66.
Kimmel, M. (2017). Manhood in America. Oxford University Press.
Klaassen, M. J., & Peter, J. (2015). Gender (in) equality in Internet pornography: A content analysis of popular pornographic Internet videos. The Journal of Sex Research, 52(7), 721-735.
Kohut, T., Baer, J. L., & Watts, B. (2016). Is pornography really about "making hate to women"? Pornography users hold more gender egalitarian attitudes than nonusers in a representative American sample. The Journal of Sex Research, 53(1), 1-11.
Littleton, C. A. (2018). Reconstructing Sexual Equality [1987]. In Feminist legal theory (pp. 35 56). Routledge.
Louis, K. (2017). Pornography and Gender Inequality-Using Copyright Law as a Step Forward.
McCormack, M., & Wignall, L. (2017). Enjoyment, exploration and education: Understanding the consumption of pornography among young men with non-exclusive sexual orientations. Sociology, 51(5), 975-991.
Mikorski, R., & Szymanski, D. M. (2017). Masculine norms, peer group, pornography, Facebook, and men's sexual objectification of women. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 18(4), 257.
Palmer, T. (2018). Rape pornography, cultural harm and criminalization. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 69(1), 37-58.
Regnerus, M., Gordon, D., & Price, J. (2016). Documenting pornography use in America: a comparative analysis of methodological approaches. The Journal of Sex Research, 53(7), 873-881.
Thögersen, S., & Holgersson, C. (2017). Corporate sexual responsibility: How companies can act against the purchasing of sex. In Gender Equality and Responsible Business (pp. 97-106). Routledge.
Toates, F. (2017). PL-35 An Incentive Motivation and Hierarchical Model of Sex–2017. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 14(5), e220.
Wright, P. J., Sun, C., Steffen, N. J., & Tokunaga, R. S. (2015). Pornography, alcohol, and male sexual dominance. Communication Monographs, 82(2), 252-270.
