"What I May Do With My Naked Body"
Apr. 7th, 2012 06:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
browngirlSo, 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.
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.
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no subject
Date: 2012-04-08 03:46 am (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-08 01:06 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-08 04:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-08 05:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-08 06:34 pm (UTC)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.)