rakishabpl's review
3.0
A relevant book that made some very good points albeit heavy-handed and lopsided. In the end, it became redundant and the porn watchers who provided negative anecdotes seemed flawed. If a doctor or psychologist did further investigation into their backgrounds, it might be revealed that porn didn't cause their problems but made it worse. I would even go as far to add that porn is a symptom not the cause of America's problems with sex, sexuality, and sexualization in the media.
curgoth's review
1.0
I worry at times that my non-fiction reading is an echo chamber where I just read books that reinforce my pre-existing biases. So, I figured I'd read something I expected to disagree with - Pamela Paul's Pornified - and later read Anne G. Sabo's retort in After Pornified. I have come to regret this decision.
Pornified is the Reefer Madness of sexuality books. I thought I'd be getting updated 2nd wave radical feminist arguments against porn. What I got was disingenuous and surprising avoidance of what I think of as radical feminist thought - which is to say, feminism that operates from the premise of the existence of the patriarchy.
The difficulty of women's body image, for example, is one of the classic problems with patriarchal oppression. Performing femininity for the male gaze, evaluating one's self against an unobtainable beauty ideal is a symptom of the pervasive system of values that make society unequal and unfair. Or, if you go with Pamela Paul, the problem is just that porn is presenting that image, and if we get rid of it, body image issues will go away, too.
I was expecting an update on Dworkin and MacKinnon, and instead I got lines like this: "Pro-porn feminists battled it out with anti-porn feminists while most men observed the catfight in delight or ignored it altogether". Which manages to be insulting to both feminists and men, I think. The only direct callback is to borrow MacKinnon's definition of porn vs. erotica, which boils down to "if it's gross sex stuff, it's porn. If not, it's erotica". (And yes, that is unfair paraphrasing on my part)
The structure of the book is largely quotations and paraphrases from interviews with people on the subject of porn, often with a line or two of editorial snark afterwards. By selecting and editing the words of her interviewees, Paul is able to imply the points she wants to make without having to state them outright, and without having to provide backing evidence.
Things implied by Pornified:
* Male fondness for large breasts is entirely caused by porn. No man would have a breast size preference without porn.
* Masturbation is infidelity
* If you look at porn, you will naturally progress to child porn and then abusing actual children.
* Pedophiles only abuse children because they look at porn first.
* If a women says she likes porn, she is only doing it to please men.
* Things no real woman would ever want to do: "anal sex, double penetration, or multiple orgasms". These are things that are manufactured porn desires that don't exist absent porn's influence.
* When someone buys a minivan with a DVD player in it, it's so they can watch porn while driving.
* Without porn, all men would be easily monogamous, and never have lustful thoughts about women other than their wives.
* Porn also causes impotence
* Porn causes men to be violent towards women
The interviewees were a troubled bunch, but it seemed to me that their problems were not caused by porn. These folks all seem to have serious issues with sex, sexuality and gender. Eradicating porn isn't going to make those problems go away.
There are a lot of problems with the modern porn industry, and how porn is woven into our society. Pornified manages to miss most of them, instead calling for a ban on things that are gross. This was an awful book, and I am very glad to be done reading it.
Pornified is the Reefer Madness of sexuality books. I thought I'd be getting updated 2nd wave radical feminist arguments against porn. What I got was disingenuous and surprising avoidance of what I think of as radical feminist thought - which is to say, feminism that operates from the premise of the existence of the patriarchy.
The difficulty of women's body image, for example, is one of the classic problems with patriarchal oppression. Performing femininity for the male gaze, evaluating one's self against an unobtainable beauty ideal is a symptom of the pervasive system of values that make society unequal and unfair. Or, if you go with Pamela Paul, the problem is just that porn is presenting that image, and if we get rid of it, body image issues will go away, too.
I was expecting an update on Dworkin and MacKinnon, and instead I got lines like this: "Pro-porn feminists battled it out with anti-porn feminists while most men observed the catfight in delight or ignored it altogether". Which manages to be insulting to both feminists and men, I think. The only direct callback is to borrow MacKinnon's definition of porn vs. erotica, which boils down to "if it's gross sex stuff, it's porn. If not, it's erotica". (And yes, that is unfair paraphrasing on my part)
The structure of the book is largely quotations and paraphrases from interviews with people on the subject of porn, often with a line or two of editorial snark afterwards. By selecting and editing the words of her interviewees, Paul is able to imply the points she wants to make without having to state them outright, and without having to provide backing evidence.
Things implied by Pornified:
* Male fondness for large breasts is entirely caused by porn. No man would have a breast size preference without porn.
* Masturbation is infidelity
* If you look at porn, you will naturally progress to child porn and then abusing actual children.
* Pedophiles only abuse children because they look at porn first.
* If a women says she likes porn, she is only doing it to please men.
* Things no real woman would ever want to do: "anal sex, double penetration, or multiple orgasms". These are things that are manufactured porn desires that don't exist absent porn's influence.
* When someone buys a minivan with a DVD player in it, it's so they can watch porn while driving.
* Without porn, all men would be easily monogamous, and never have lustful thoughts about women other than their wives.
* Porn also causes impotence
* Porn causes men to be violent towards women
The interviewees were a troubled bunch, but it seemed to me that their problems were not caused by porn. These folks all seem to have serious issues with sex, sexuality and gender. Eradicating porn isn't going to make those problems go away.
There are a lot of problems with the modern porn industry, and how porn is woven into our society. Pornified manages to miss most of them, instead calling for a ban on things that are gross. This was an awful book, and I am very glad to be done reading it.
buntatamilis's review
3.0
Read as part of research for school. Very interesting! I learned tons from this book. Lots of case studies and interviews used to illustrate issues for individuals and relationships.
line_so_fine's review
2.0
Things that were interesting in this book: the author interviews 100 people about their views and practices on pornography, especially internet porn. Things I didn't like: it was exclusively a discussion about hetero people and the arguments of the author were vague and slippery (no pun intended). It was ok.
akuhlma03's review
3.0
This book was very repetitive to me, but I would have to say I learned quite a bit about the porn industry and the impact on families.
greyhuigris's review
1.0
I understand that pornography is a controversial subject. As someone who considers himself liberal when it comes to internet censorship and pornography, I must state that I did not let my personal beliefs bear any effect on me while reading this book. In fact, I was looking for a well-articulated, clear, succinct opposing argument in this book. Instead, the author presents a few couples' situations and dealings with pornography. While it is entirely possible for a person to become addicted and lose himself in porn, I feel that the author took a few of these situations and insinuates that they are representative of every viewer of porn. She supports her arguments by using "statistics," but they are not necessarily causative or even corollary. Besides not presenting a clear or well-reasoned argument, the author also is repetitive, redundant, and the book is as a result quite boring. The book ultimately serves as a poorly veiled scare strategy to keep our noses and other body parts out of porn.
alytodd's review
2.0
I give this book probably 1.5 stars - and the half star is only because the last two chapters were actually worth reading. the rest of the book, i felt, was just the same statistic (taken from the poll the author was part of! don't forget!) repeated 100 different ways, with graphic details of pornographic films enjoyed by some of the men surveyed.
somechelsea's review
3.0
There were some interesting anecdotes, and I certainly know more about the porn industry - specifically online - than I did before. But it was repetitive and seemed to lack a focus or even a thesis beyond "porn affects relationships". Well, yeah.
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