Wednesday, October 8, 2008

When David Duke Meets Radical Feminism: The "Porn Stars Shouldn't Be Having Children" Debate

I've gone off at my own venue about the absolute fuckwadery of that pronouncement...but I will explain here why this shit really hits me hard.

It's not just because I've met and befriended (online) more than a few porn performers and erotic artists who happen to be mothers (and I mean REAL mothers, not just MILF's), and both they and their kids turn out to be as happy and healthy and normal (all of the usual stuff that goes with raising kids aside) as anyone else.

It's not just because of the general principle of not sticking your nose in other people's private lives and pretending to know how to live their life for them without even making an attempt to listen to them speak for themselves.

No....what really burns me up to the point of going "nucular" is the fact that a putative FEMINIST.....nay, a RADICAL FEMINIST, would have the unmittigated gall to make a statement that would be more telling of neo-Nazis against Jews, or Klansmen against Black women.

I am not that far removed from the time when David Duke was running for governor of my home state of Louisiana, and one of his might racist planks of his campaign was to pay poor (read that to mean, poor Black) women in exchange for them taking permanent drugs like Norplant to prevent them from having children.

How is this nonsense any different now merely because it comes from the mouth of a presumed "progressive"??

But, then again, all standards fade when it comes to sex, and the threat of a naked nipple, a soaked thong, a hard-on, a scream of orgasm....can do much to turn even the most putative liberal into a fearful, skirt-clutching, "Not in front of the children/ladies!!" spouting Mrs. (or Ms. Grundy).

Considering all the talk about how sexually free we have become, the old repressions and reactions are still as strong with us....ask Tristian Taormino or Audacia Ray or Melissa Gira, whom have seen how the long arm of sexual censorship can strike even in the most supposedly "liberal" venues.

Sex may be the last vector of social reaction, since race and gender oppression are slowly fading. It's about high time we took it seriously...and defended sex for its own sake, as well as the women and men who produce sexual media. They don't deserve to be treated like human beings; they ARE human beings by right. And so are their children.

9 comments:

  1. "Won't someone PLEASE think of the children!" -Mrs. Rev. Lovejoy, The Simpsons

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  2. One problem I see with everyone piling onto this post is that they aren't paying much attention to the comments. In defense of that LJ community (as much as I disagree with their purpose) the moderators seem just as pissed off at the post as the rest of us. The nature of LJ is that unless you moderate all community content, nutjobs can make posts like that. I'm not sure the author self-identifies as a radical feminist and I'm pretty sure the rad fems in that community aren't happy with the content of the post.

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  3. Ellie,

    Yeah, you're right. I do think it's worth debunking here -- this site is not about how Radical Feminists are Evil -- but AK may well be mistaken that that person is a radfem.

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  4. Ellie:

    Indeed, you are right, and I should have tempered my comment with the fact that even some of the more virulent antiporn radfems were willing to call asukasan on her nonsense.

    The fact remains, however, that there are a sizable number of self-described "rad fems" who have come dangerously close to supporting the basis of that original statement. It is NOT to say that all radical feminists are TOTALLY EVIL, to condemn those who do in fact promote this nonsense.

    I didn't mean to tar all of them with the same broad brush, and I duly apologize for those who may think otherwise.


    Anthony

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  5. Well, I also noticed Delphyne's comment to the effect that the male partners of these women shouldn't be allowed to have children, which in effect, says the same thing. I guess the women would be allowed to have children presumably when the broke with the "pimp" partner. Or something.

    Which is unfortunately typical – confront some of these idiots with whether they get behind something really fascistic toward women that their politics seems to imply, and their response is often that they simply want to do that to men. Like that makes it any better.

    As far as I'm concerned, that group of radical feminists who basically views the male gender (and, in many cases, trans people) as not having basic human rights (hi there, Demonista, Laurelin, Delphyne, Witchy....) is pretty fucking evil.

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  6. Sex may be the last vector of social reaction, since race and gender oppression are slowly fading.


    Right here is where you lost me. I agree that we do not live in a sexually progressive society despite the fact that sex seems to be open however race and gender issues are not markedly improved in any real and serious ways. As a WOC who must deal with both areas of marginalization I can unequivocally state that both have and continue to impact my life.

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  7. I agree with Renee. In many ways, issues for ethnic minorities and women are getting worse. Case in point: immigration.

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  8. Well, without belaboring the point too much, I'm not sure if the onus is on the kids, but at the same time, there's just something that strikes me as wrong with these narratives. Basically, its, "I was snooping around looking at stuff that was none of my business and I found something really disturbing to me. I blame my father and pornography."

    And it seems to me that's misplacing responsibility. The only thing I can think of that should have been done differently is that the father should have locked up his stash better – I agree with Ernest there. But blame her dad for having violent fantasies that he didn't intentionally share with her, or the mere existence of porn and lurid "true crime" magazines that weren't made for kids her age? That's where I see these people putting responsibility, and I think that's wrong.

    What Ernest said about maybe there's more going on there than the story is telling may also be the case – I only have the story itself to go on, though.

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  9. IACB: Kids are not small adults. Kids do not snoop because they lack respect for others' boundaries. Kids snoop because they are still figuring out what boundaries ARE in the first place.

    I'm going to stop this now, as the actual topic of discussion here should be TPOP. But what you are saying is really sketchy, and more than a little creepy.

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