Men and misogyny are two separate things

Based on Shaw's argument, I think we can reasonably conclude with this: feminists hate masturbation. THAT'S why they hate porn (and men. and sex. but mostly penises. badwrongyuck.).

But wait! Understandably concerned that we're still unclear on these simple, straightforward, and true-fact points, Ben Pobjie felt obliged to write pretty much the exact same article the next day. So that you don't need to strain your special and delicate lady-eyes, I will summarize the key points for you, in a non-offensive and femmy way so the womenz can read too (we like lists, yes?):

1) Feminists hate porn because they've never watched porn. Sorry to break it to you, porn-researching feminists, all those images of objectified female bodies and cum-shots you think you saw? Wrong-o. You didn't see anything.

2) You just don't get porn. As we learned from helpful Justin, feminists don't understand porn. We don't get that porn is just people having sex! BOOBS YOU GUYS. Boobs.

3) Porn opens minds. Because fake lesbian sex. Without porn probably no one would even know that some women like to have sex with other women. Thanks, porn! And naturally, lesbians have sex with each other so that men can have orgasms.

Now, both Shaw and Pobjie will probably tell you that HAHA they're joking! Get it, silly? Because the best way to deflect criticism and deny misogyny is to respond by saying something creative like "feminists don't have a sense of humour" or "oh haha, but that rape joke was a rape joke."

But the thing about this kind of humour is that it isn't funny. Or rather, it isn't a joke. This is actually what people who support the porn industry believe. This is what the men who wrote these pieces believe. What dominant discourse tells us is that pornography is a 'normal' part of male sexuality and because it is framed as definitive of sex and sexuality, we can't criticize it. It's like criticizing people for breathing. I mean, it's just what humans DO.

Whoops! Not what 'humans' do, actually. It is, of course, largely, what men do. Regardless of the fact that some women watch porn, the sex industry is largely driven by men. Men make up the majority of consumers and makers of pornography. And, therefore, it has come to define male sexuality. Not only that, but because men (specifically, white men) are still viewed as 'the norm' in society, pornography has come to, simply, define sex.

It isn't that pornography actually equals male sexuality, it's that our culture has been so saturated by porn and pornographic imagery that we have learned to view sex through a pornified lens.

As long as male sexuality is positioned as naturally misogynist, it isn't patriarchy or violence or objectification that feminists critique when they critique the sex industry, it is simply that we hate men in their natural state. Because you see, men are 'normal'. Everything they do is 'normal'. If they do it, it's 'normal'. And who can argue with 'normal'? Certainly one can't argue with nature? And, conveniently, anything that happens is somehow 'natural' (and therefore, immune to critique) simply because it exists.

This is strange because I don't see people giving up on war and murder and, like, cancer. But those things happen. According to the logic of everything-men-want-and-do-and-think-is-fine-and-good, these are simply natural things that happen to human beings and, therefore, are perfectly fine and everybody just sit down okay?

I'm just not quite sure why our culture works so hard to normalize sexism as something that is an innate part of being male. If we can imagine that it's possible for people not to murder one another or imagine that there could be an end to war or child abuse or whatever other kinds of behaviour we've agreed, as a society, is unacceptable or at least undesirable, why are we so avidly working to preserve sexism?

Why are we so unwilling to see porn or prostitution as something invented by a society that is not egalitarian? Just because you get an erection when you see a woman being objectified onscreen doesn't mean women deserve to be objectified. And I am not saying that because I have a hate-on for erections, or masturbation, or penises, or even sex. It's because I can separate men from misogyny. I don't believe that your erection is dependent on my subordination.

And you know why? Because I don't believe men are born sexist.