Pornography: A Sexist & Racist Industry

While many people refuse to admit to watch porn because its seen as dirty or naughty, we all watch it.  I admit as a guy I watch a good amount of porn.  However I never noticed how extremely racist and sexist the pornography industry was until I read "The White Man's Burden: Gonzo Pornography and the Construction of Black Masculinity" in my class textbook.   This article makes it seem like pornography is designed for a white male audience.  The industry is designed so that white males can live out their fantasies and experience new types of sexual activity that they might not be normally able to live out.  The phrase "its a white mans world" appears to be true within pornography.   While there are many black and white porn stars who are very famous and make loads of money having sex on film, how these porn stars are represented are very different.  Black male stars are almost always portrayed as "hung thugs from the hood" in street attire and having wild animalistic sex.  It is very rare you see black male porn stars that do not fit into this stereotype.   This is extremely offensive being a black male, not that I personally have a issue with being portrayed as "hung" but not all black men are thugs.  I thought that society had finally come to understand and appreciate that black people are no longer the intimidating wild creatures we were once thought to be.  I find it even worst that I never noticed this until reading about this topic for class. This view of African American men is very outdated and stems from a white males perspective.  Not to mention that Asian or Hispanic men rarely get a career in porn unless they are doing gay porn.  Why is it that only white males are portrayed as normal while African American men are thugs, and Asian and Hispanic men are not even visible?  

Black males are not the only ones discriminated against in the porn industry.  Women are rarely shown having any power unless it's dominatrix or something of that nature.  A women's power is usually judged by how many penises she can cram into her multiple holes or how rough she can handle a man pounding her.  Female's are objectified by men in most porn that is made these days.  They are portrayed as sex rag dolls. It has become common in a porn films for women to be called degrading words like "slut", "whore" and many many worse names.   In no way does calling a women a whore and pounding her holes empowering to women.  But I understand why these women do it, the money is good and the industry is booming, but can their not be some guidelines to what is said and done in these films?

Sex, The City, And Friendship

Sex And The City features four girls who became friends in New York City; Charlotte, Samantha, Carrie, and Miranda.  The show follows the work lives, love lives, and friendship between these four women.  When reading the title of the show one might conceive its a show full of smut, which isn't all false but the show also has a lot of redeeming qualities.  Through friendship these four come to power, wealth, and love. 

Throughout the show these four women are show having breakfast, lunch, and dinner once every so often to discuss men, sex, relationships, and work issues.  (As a child these type of discussions is what I imagined women having when they went to the bathroom together.)  During these meetings they would provide insight on the other's issues and explain a situation they had been through which was similar. A very effective way of helping one another out, in my opinion.  These four had a strong bond, and through this bond have been there for one another in times of financial debt, weddings, birth, adoptions, deaths, and heartbreaks, you name it.   

These are possibly the four best friends that anyone could have. This dynamic bond was based around how different the four women were. Carrie was a writer, she was very modest about her sex life, lived a extravagant lifestyle.  Miranda was a lawyer, married to her job, and had a child.   Charlotte started off the show as a art director for a museum but ended up getting married converted to Judaism, adopted a child, and became a house wive.  Samantha ( the true star of the show in my opinion), was a well known publicist who slept with A LOT of men, and did not believe in relationships or love just sex. And of course the they all had a passion for fashion and boy did these women have taste.   

While these four had their ups and downs, financially, emotionally, and have even fought they had always sought out their problems and helped each other in any way they could.  I feel like this show sends a positive message to the female community. It is rare for any female to have a group of female friends they can rely on these days.  Most of the girls I know all hate each other.  Girls now view women as competition for men, which is just sad in my opinion.  Instead of joining together, they have turned on one another.  This show says that women can be friends and can survive without the need of a man, as long as they have good friends. I feel like this message can provide relief to many people who believe they need to find a soul mate to fulfill their life's destiny, when really you can get by and be happy with just really great friends. 

This show explains the coming of power, wealth, and love for these four women who got there all thanks to the help of one another.   In class we discussed this as being "queer", and yes I agree on paper I can see how one might mistake this set-up as being "queer". Actually watching the show and viewing their chemistry one would see more of a family than a "queer" relationship.  This show is not only just about sex, its about dating advice, fashion, life lessons, heartbreak all rolled into one excellent show.

(I have seen almost every episode of Sex And The City, so i guess you could call me a huge fan. My mother and I would watch the show back in 1998 every night before bed. I must admit that it might seem rare for a 7 year old to find interest in such a show but then again I was no normal 7 year old. What really grabbed my attention about the show was the four ladies extreme tasteful fashion. This show is the reason I hope to go into fashion journalism after college.)  

Adult Cartoons: A Growing Epidemic

Cartoons for adults? Ten years ago the closest thing to a adult cartoon that was television was Beavis & Butthead, now we have many more like Family Guy, The Simpson's, American Dad, South Park and a few others.  These shows while still being animated do more than just entertain they talk about current events, and issues going on in the world in a comical demeanor. These shows do very little to reach out to a younger audience, many of the jokes of these shows are from 80's references or political views things that children aren't too interested in.   The three most popular adult cartoons, The Simpsons, American Dad and Family Guy all have a family as the main cast. The cast is almost identical with one dad, one mom, a daughter, and a son, and then one character who is the wild card who you never know what to expect out of. This identical cast set up in all of these adult cartoons are to reach out to families specifically parents and people over 20 who can easily relate to these shows by seeing a similiar family set up in their own homes. The parents are usually the main characters while the children are used as comical relief which also proves that these shows are reaching out to a older demographic.

While many would argue that the Simpsons have been around longer so therefore they have started this trend of adult cartoons I have to disagree. The Simpsons have not always been targeted at a adult audience. The Simpsons have been on television since 1989 which means it has been on air for about 23 years. The original audience that started watching the Simpsons has grown older and since the show has adapted to the current trend of adult cartoons to keep their original audience while still hoping to gain a wider audience. Since the show has been on the air it has also gone through many different writers which also has changed the dynamic of the show.

American Dad, some might call a rip off of the Simpsons, and Family Guy but in my opinion this show has a more modern twist than the other two. The family consists of a husband, wife, two kids, a alien, and a pet goldfish. Unlike the other two the children are seen as quite unnatural for television yet more realistic for real life. The daughter, Haley is portrayed as a modern day feminist who smokes pot, has sex, and hates government policies, she is also the older sibling which is rare. The son, Steve is more on his feminine side, he enjoys reading books, dancing, and playing in flowers in the show he is a disappointment to his father.  Lets not forget the alien?! Roger is probably the most humorous and inappropriate character on the show, he enjoys cross dressing, getting drunk all times of the day, and just does the most ridiculously inappropriate things. Stan and Francine, the two parents are of course the two main characters of this show, and most of the views shared in the show are from their eyes, and both are easy to relate to (Stan moreso than Francine).  These racey characters no doubt prove that this show is a adult cartoon, it is very rare that the son would be considered the wuss or wimp and the daughter to be older than the son but this is a more typical American family in my opinion. This show being the freshest adult cartoon coming out in 2005, is of course going to also be the most modern cast (minus the alien) out of the 3.

Family Guy triumphs over these other two in the adult cartoon industry. This show has been on since 1999, and has many similarities to the Simpsons in the cast set up.  However this show has pushed the envelope in addressing modern day issues than the other two.  Family Guy has attacked many artist, political canidates, religious views, government policies, musicians, I mean you name it and Family Guy has most likely addressed it. This show is not afraid of using its power in addressing topics that most people ignore. One of the most recent episodes on the show dealt with healthcare and religions who don't believe in it.  This episode delivered a very serious and deep message to this shows audience something way over the head of any child.  This show's controversial topics has definitely drawn in a audience, leaving us anxious for the next episode.

If you have ever watched these shows there is no doubt that they are not intended for children.  I believe with the characters being cartoons that the shows can get away with a lot more controversial/important topics than a normal family sitcom came without crossing too many boundaries, and I feel like this is a trend that will continue to grow and expand because their will always be more scandals and controversial topics for these shows to poke fun at.

Tucker Max

So recently I finished reading I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell  a book written by Tucker Max, (a friend had got me this book as a Christmas present) it is a collection of short stories regarding Tucker's wild drunken and whorish behaivor and the few to no consequences he has to pay for them. Tucker is living the all American college boy dream, he gets black out drunk, sleeps with plenty of women, and all his friends (mostly men) admire him.  He admits in his book, "I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging dickhead" but women still sleep with him and men still admire him. Tucker Max has perfected the all American college dream of masculinity, or better yet the dream of college masculinity set by society. Many behaviors demonstrated by Tucker are also very popular with college frat brothers, and jocks.  Society encourages this behavior by calling it entertaining or amusing instead of clarifying that while this type of behavior may be entertaining it is not how young men should actually act.

This book tells young men it is okay to treat women like whores because that is what they are and they love it, but in reality the women in Tucker Max's stories do not appear to enjoy being whores or treated like such .  He, himself is getting a kick out of treating them like whores. Tucker has a very 50's sexist view of womens roles in society by his standards, they should be hot, willing to be exploited, easy to sleep with but have not slept with too many people, a freak in the sheets, and a servant to which their main duty is to worship his penis. I feel like this view of women is shared with many college teen boys these days or atleast fantasized. I must clarify that most of the time Tucker admits to being a douchebag before sleeping with these women, or they already know how much of a douchebag he is however they still decide to sleep with him.  It almost leads the reader to believe that women actually do enjoy being sexually exploited by pigheaded men. The best example to help prove this point would be the chapter "Girl Beats Tucker At His Own Game", now i warn you this chapter is one of the most disturbing chapters in the entire book.  Tucker meets a girl named Rachel who is shy and reserved until they are on a date one night and the subject of sex is bought up then she really opens up. From date to date the sex gets kinkier and kinkier, always involving pain and humiliation on her part but she appears to get off on it. But then Tucker being the douchebag he is attempts to push her limits and see just about how much humiliation she is willing to go through for "love".  He ends up convincing her to give him oral sex while he is deficating on the toilet. (Yes, this is the type of ludicrous activities found in this book).  Not only does the girl go through with it, but after he never calls her again. This girl was clearly desperately seeking love and was willing to do anything to please Tucker but being the pigheaded macho man he is, he took advantage of this to use for his own sick pleasure.  While most guys wont take it to this extreme it is very popular for guys in college to promise a girl the world just to sleep with her and once they get what they are after never call her again and I feel like this type of behavior has been learned from how college masculinity is represented in the media.

 Tucker does admit to finding love in his book,  after a night out bar hopping with his friends (getting Tucker Max Drunk) he has found the love of his life, "this was the most gorgeous person I had ever seen.. piercing blue eyes and sandy blonde hair. Great body. A deep, penetrating stare that revealed wisdom and understanding beyond the average person" but dont forget this is Tucker Max we are talking about people. This love of his life that he considers perfect ends up being only himself in the mirror and he spends a hour dancing in front of a mirror by himself at a bar. Tucker only cares about himself and will do anything it takes to make sure his selfish needs are tended to which I must admit sounds a lot like the average typical American college male student. The fact that he is famous due to his ridiculous behavior and stories only makes him and others believe that what he is doing is acceptable which in reality is only so famous due to how ludicrous his actions are. Sex and being a douchebag sells.  I could not put this book down due to how ridiculously hilarious it was which i am ashamed to admit due to the fact that I feel like even reading this book is contributing to this idea of masculinity.

This style of masculinity is also found in the infamous college movies, American Pie in the character played by Stifler.  Stifler is rich, sleeps with lots of women, speaks his mind, treats his friends as a mean to a end, and puts sex before anything else.  Stifler and Tucker are almost exactly alike, except for the fact that Stifler seems to learn some compassion through the years while Tucker never really seems to learn anything. The fact that there are little to no consequences to these characters leave young men believing that this is the lifestyle they should lead to achieve masculinity.  The media makes it seem that to be achieve masculinity in college one must sleep with as many women as possible and treat them with as little respect as possible because only then will you gain respect from your fellow man.