Why the new 'porn norm' is hurting women
"(...) In defending their industry, many accuse the ‘‘anti-porn brigade’’ of focusing only on particularly violent examples of pornography. A recent study published in the journal Violence Against Women, however, has analysed the best-selling porn videos to see just how widespread and routine the degradation of women in pornography has become.
The research found that physical aggression was present in 88 per cent of scenes. Of these, there was an average of 12 aggressive acts per scene. In addition, name-calling occurred in about half of all scenes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the perpetrators of violent acts were most commonly men, while the targets of their violence were nearly always women. In almost every case, women were shown reacting to aggressive acts with pleasure or neutrality, enforcing the idea that women enjoy being dominated or degraded during sex.(...)"
"(...)They commonly contest, however, that the degree and frequency of violence towards women doesn’t matter because porn is ‘‘just fantasy’’.
It has to be pointed out that no one is suggesting that men who sit down to watch porn go out afterwards to assault or rape women. However, the trend towards the increased degradation of women in porn means
we run the risk of becoming desensitised to depictions of sexual violence. We also raise the very real possibility that a generation of young men and women will come
to view the humiliation of women as a normal part of sex (to say nothing of a distinct lack of female pleasure.(...)"