"What I May Do With My Naked Body"

[browngirl]

So, to cheer myself up after my last post, I went to look at Sex Is Not The Enemy (explicit content) and found this excellent essay by Greta Christina in response to criticism of the Nude Photo Revolutionary Calendar.

Now. It is certainly the case that my choice to participate in this calendar was made in the context of a sexist culture: a culture that treats women as sexual objects rather than subjects, a culture that treats women’s bodies as commodities, a culture with a strong tendency to value women primarily as ornaments, sexual playthings, and babymakers. My choice to pose naked for this calendar and let the photo of my naked body be (a) disseminated for free on the internet and (b) sold to raise money for feminist causes… yes, that choice was made in the context of this sexist culture. It was in some ways influenced by that culture, and in some ways it contributes to it.

And your choice wasn’t?

Your choice to scold me, and the other women who posed in this calendar, is somehow magically free of this sexist culture? It somehow has not been tainted by the sexist culture that treats women’s bodies as shameful, the culture that reflexively abjures women to cover our nakedness, the culture that demands that women share our bodies only with the men who rightfully own them, the culture that reflexively slut-shames women for enjoying our bodies and our sexualities and making our own decisions about it? My selling photos of my naked body to raise money for a cause I believe in is automatically part of the commodification of women… but your attempt to enforce the standards of modesty has nothing to do with women’s physical and sexual suppression?

I pasted this into my journal for two main reasons: on a global scale, I think Greta Christina's essay is right and want to signal boost what she's said and the Nude Photo Revolutionaries Calendar she's participated in.

On a personal level -- one of these days I'm going to distill into words, and write those words down, my reasons for being a pro-pornography feminist. By which I mean not that I approve of all pornography -- I'm sure people could find horrifying specific examples I'd despise, and heck, I could find such examples if I hadn't repressed running across them -- but I don't disapprove of all pornography, of the entirety of the possibilities of entertainment, art, and communication based around depicting human sexuality. (After all, I've read, watched, owned and even created porn I approve of.) I have a lot more to say on the subject (not least about why I feel inclined to say anything, the idea of feminism being necessarily anti-sexuality and other such ideas I want to counter) and when I ever get around to that I'm going to want to refer to what Greta Christina said here.

Comments

[hand2hand.livejournal.com]

I was profoundly affected by -- I believe it was -- audre lord's essay on the importance of the erotic.

something to the effect of, once you know it can feel that good, be that kind of a peak experience, you want life to be rich and sweet like that. more of the time.

also a long while ago I had a discussion about porn in regard to fanfic, and someone in that discussion said something about how if sex is seen as sinful and bad theologically, then things that make you think about sex are going to be seen as sinful and bad.

that got me thinking about "throwing the baby out with the bathwater."

it's a fascinating question and one I have certainly not fully articulated for myself, but while a lot of porn is clearly Not Aimed at Me, or is demeaning to women, well.... I've found the stuff that isn't. And i'm pretty okay with that!!!

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thank you for reminding me of Audre Lorde's essay. I remember reading it at nineteen or twenty, and thinking, "yes yes a thousand times yes"

One of the many things I love about media fandom is the handcrafted porn side of it. :)

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

Given the variance of human sexual appetite, I'd expect that the majority of porn doesn't appeal to any given individual, even if they enjoy erotic entertainment generally. De gustibus non disputandum est and all that.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

That's a great quotation, thanks!
Go, Greta, whomever and wherever you may be.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

On a somewhat different topic, have I ever tried to tempt you to join the cult of Digger? Woman, wombat, feminist, nice gal, engineer ... protagonist of the otherwise sword-and-sorcery-ish web comic of the same name. Lovingly planned and written and illustrated, with snappy dialogue and mind-bending plot twists, by Lj user and brand-new Hugo nominee UrsulaV. (Ursula Vernon to the rest if the world.)

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Oh my wow! *makes a note*

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

More info:
https://www.sofawolf.com/products/digger-1

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

I was just taking a peek at sratlingbright. Nice.

Oh, I was mentioning ursulav (whom autocorrect wants to transform into "yeshiva" O.o) ... more about her, plus some of her art, can be found over on RedWombatStudio.com.

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

Nod. It's a tricky issue. Sex and celebration of sexy feelings is good and wonderful. It's power imbalances that make it ugly. (That, and, let's face it, if a person learns about sex from porn, they might have a really hideous view of sex.)

And that makes it an even more complicated situation, because there are excellent and powerful arguments on either side of the issue, with motives that should be respected.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

That, and, let's face it, if a person learns about sex from porn, they might have a really hideous view of sex.

Depending on the porn. Remind me to one day tell you the story of how Martial (the Roman poet) taught me how to give blow jobs. He was an excellent instructor despite being dead for two millennia.

I think there can be a situation where both sides have clear and powerful arguments but in the end one can be decided upon as closer to the truth than the other.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

I suspect there's a vocabulary issue here, such that your "good porn" = my "erotica".

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

I must remind you to tell ME this story. :)

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

Depending on the porn.

Nod. I was careful to say "they might..." :-). I know there's good stuff out there.

I think there can be a situation where both sides have clear and powerful
arguments but in the end one can be decided upon as closer to the truth
than the other.

Yes, but....

Yes, but there's more than truth-finding going on. A person who argues one side or the other is also learning ethics and grappling with issues and figuring out what's important and why. Pick an issue that is distinctly uncomfortable, with opposing sides, A and B. If both A and B both have noble defenders, then proving A "right" or "closer to the truth" might end the journeys of those who defend B - and those defending B, being noble, might have other things that are important to contribute.

I'm not saying the answer isn't important, or that the journey is *more* important than the answer, but I think that the journey is very important, because it leads people to interesting places.

(Unless they're saying something like "JESUS SAYS PORNOGRAPHY IS EVIL AND YOU ALL ARE GOING TO HELL!" I suppose that's an interesting place to be, but it doesn't strike me as one that is part of a journey.)

[spinrabbit.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing both the quote and thought, and the tumblr.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

*beams* Anytime, mi amici. :) I do love SINTE.

[bearfairie.livejournal.com]

This whole subject is a Thing(TM) upon which I have strong opinions, which agree with what I've seen of your opinions on the same subject.

I am reminded of back many many years ago when I occasionally worked as a stripper at a lesbian club. The shows were wild, dangerous (to the dancers as well as to the audience, but there's another sidestory for another day... when are we gonna have that cup of tea, anyway? :) ), over the top, sometimes really really fun, and for me at that time, a supplement to my income while I was temping and job hunting and couch surfing (having just ran away from home). I was approached by a woman after my set one night, who for some odd reason decided she needed to justify and explain herself to me. She said basically she was anti-pornography, but felt that it was really important that she Respect Women's Art and Erotic Expression. Which is why she didn't tip me while I was dancing. Like I had noticed her individual failure to tuck a dollar bill down my g-string in a tight-packed crowd of well over a hundred women in a tiny club zoned for 40.

I explained to her that I was not dancing for art or erotic expression, I was a stripper who was doing sex work for a living because I need to eat and am between legit jobs. I was furious. I told her that when you attend strip clubs where women are WORKING and you DON'T tip them, it's a disrespect to our attempts at keeping ourselves fed and housed by working for a living. And that when she chose to walk in the door of the club, she was choosing to patronize sex work, regardless of how uncomfortable that admission might make her. The fact that it was geared towards an all-women crowd didn't somehow negate the sex work aspect - stripping for cash is stripping for cash, regardless of the audience. I was... not impressed.

I don't remember whose original quote it was... but someone smart once said "Porn is the erotica you don't like" or "Erotica is the porn you do like" or something like that. There's lots of historical fiction I find offensive. I don't try and ban historical fiction on account of my personal preferences.

Sorry, will stop tirading... b/c I can keep going on this particular issue. Anyway, yeah. What you said. What Greta said. I agree.

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

Have I told you recently how much I adore you?

I have taken far too long to reply, becase I keep rereading this (and imagining that strip club of splendor). You are, of course, absolutely right, and I was thinking about that irregularly conjugated noun indeed.

*hugs you delightedly*