“‘Big Tent’ feminism? Sounds great. Feels a lot like the status quo.”

Meghan Murphy posted an excellent critique to The F Word on June 3:

The sex industry is not, and has never been a feminist space. It is, in large part, a space that is owned by, and operated for men. It is a space that treats women as commodities…

How big is your ‘tent’ when it means more women are trafficked? When it means that more men think that purchasing a woman is actually empowering her, because, you know, he’s paying her for the use of her body? Or when it means that some women are silenced by those very loud and popular voices who argue for the status quo? And yes, these voices are the loudest, and the most popular because they tell us what we want to hear. They reinforce the fantasy. They allow us to continue to be complicit in the exploitation and degradation of women. They allow us to ignore the fact that money is coercive. The playing field is not leveled because women are paid to be objectified, though it does tell us that which we already know: women need to survive in this world too.

Every woman has a right to say no. I happen to believe that pornography and prostitution make it harder for her to do so.

Click for the full article

See also:

NOMAS: “Does Consensual Prostitution Exist?” (5/27/11)
To most academic scholars, the preponderance of scientific evidence points to the conclusion that prostitution today in the United States is overwhelmingly – 85%-95% – of the devastating, no-exit, variety.

Kink.com: Bondage Porn Gone Chillingly, Cheerfully Corporate (explicit language)
Sex and Submission
“Our powerless girls scream as they are tied up and forced to have sex over and over. Are they screams for help or do they really just want more?”


Now Showing at Amazing.net: The War on Privacy and Consent (explicit)
Blame It On Daddy
Look what daddy made them do. These chicks are fucked up and they just can’t get enough. Adopt these sluts today make them call you daddy and see what they won’t do!


Herbert, Brooks and Osayande on Misogyny, Money and Power; Amazing.net’s War on Women and Blacks (explicit)
Mistress In Da’ Hood
If you can’t beat ’em whip ’em good! And the fur is definitely flying as you watch the painful climaxes these all black gash lashers love.


Punishment Porn: “Whether-She-Wants-It-Or-Not” (explicit)
Strictly Speaking Spanking, a magazine on sale at Bookends of Enfield, calls itself “entertainment for consenting adults”. On reading the magazine, however, one could be forgiven for becoming confused about the role of consent in the entertainment…

MacKinnon: Framing Torture as Porn Magically Makes It Acceptable


Why is the meaning of “no” even debated in cases like this? And is this the start of a slippery slope? Will “no” eventually cease to actually mean anything, to have no power? No means no and rape is rape, regardless of when it is said or for what reason.