Pornography and the porn industry is a hotbed of differing opinions. Some frame the porn industry as a liberating approach to sex and sexuality.
Gender critical feminists however criticise how the porn industry exploits women and pushes ideas of rape, sexual violence and gendered abuse into the mainstream.
But does pornography benefit the individual woman and women’s collective rights and development?
Urban Woman Magazine recently spoke to women to answer that question.
Read their responses below.
Aliyah
There’s no world in which the existence of pornography will be a benefit to women. The industry is built and relies on the subjugation, abuse and maltreatment of women.
They like to say that serial killers and abusers begin from a porn addiction. If pornography was a good or morally neutral thing, why does it influence such fierce hatred against women?
Ibilolia
To think I was in the middle of crafting a project on how Tech and Media facilitates GBV. I think [porn] does the opposite of benefitting and this is because, behind the scenes there is a lot of brutality going on for the women.
In the public eye, of course there is backlash and all. Women porn actors who indulge in BDSM say they are thoroughly flogged and it’s not pleasurable.
Yes I also agree that women who indulge in porn see their SO’s as objects but this is to an extent.
Margaret
I have a nuanced opinion on pornography. I think there are different forms as visuals are very different from erotica (written pornography). That fundamental difference makes all the difference.
Pornography used to be the perjury of women as it has led to various forms of degradation, marginalization, objectification of sex workers etc but that was with the invention of videos.
Before it was women who used to write erotica, and it was a way for us to safely fantasize about sexual experiences we might not have or not be able to have in person. And that in itself was a way for us to engage our imagination on what sex should be like rather than what it is in reality, that makes it amoral.
Pornography is amoral in itself but because of video and men have basically turned it into an industry that predates on women, and it is now their creative outlet.
Women should be allowed to speak, talk, write, dramatize about their sexual experiences and even make videos of it if it was a perfect world but it’s not.
Video pornography lives for the degradation of women and distorts reality, etc.
I’m not saying that written erotica doesn’t have its drawbacks, because it also gives girls and women an unrealistic view of sex and relationships but it has not caused the harm that video pornography has.
In a way, I don’t think that pornography should be outrightly banned, like for OnlyFans who are democratizing who should create and who can create these content. I think It’s positive if there can be regulations and reviews on the industry to check mate cases and conditions of abuse, usage, and who can create, etc.
Pornography is healthy because as a society we will always talk about and indulge in sex.
Ada*
I used to watch porn a lot as a teenager, because I was a virgin and sex was a sin.
In uni, I was making out with someone, and I was telling him to call me bitch, slut etc, as I felt a need to be degraded so I can enjoy it. Even though I felt that was off at that moment, I did not want to be quiet during the act so he would not think I was not enjoying it.
Later on, we became friends and he let me know that that was very weird and I did not have to do that, mind you I was shaking during the act – we were not having sex or having any form of penetration, it was a performance.
I don’t think porn is a true reflection of sex in general, I don’t think there is a playbook on how women should enjoy sex.
In my finals/later years, I was with this guy who – I got undressed and the first thing he said was “you are like those girls in porn” when I asked how he referred to my tummy. Spoiler alert: He was in an on/off relationship with a girl who was more voluptuous.
I am very wary about men who cannot differentiate between real and fake, who cannot tell that porn is fake. Porn characters are paid actors and on drugs, or trafficked humans.
Porn is not a true reflection of our lives. People now expect to mirror whatever form of pleasure they see there even when they don’t enjoy it like being slapped and such.
Gladys
I have dated a porn addict before.
First, I want to say porn was created for men. The major metric all men take from it is the desire and drive to last longer, especially as pleasure is easier for their bodies.
My ex then was trying a lot of things, but hardly did I reach orgasm. He was just trying his fantasies, less time on foreplay and once he was in, no other side activity mattered.
Porn is mostly by paid actors and yes for a good pay they might put up a lot of acting, and be on enhancers, unlike the real life situation that is between a man and a woman who may have a relationship and are not acting but be naturally humane.
I was young then, I did not know what peak pleasure was and I didn’t get to experience that until later. Again, men get the wrong lessons from most porn videos, they learn to run with it and not so much listening to another’s body and selflessness.
Angel Nduka-Nwosu is a writer, journalist and editor. She moonlights occasionally as a podcaster on As Angel Was Sayin’. Catch her on all socials @asangelwassayin.