We would like to tie the violence that is directed at women to pornography.
Pornography was accepted so “well” in our society, that we do not discuss it much, because it is so transparent and trivial to us.
The process of pornography entering our lives was so steady and consistent in the last decades, that, in fact, today we are all exposed to it everywhere.
We are not talking about the existence of pornography in dark or marginal places of society, but about the fact that different and diverse forms and presentations of it exist today on television, in the cinema, in advertisement, in the social networks, on our and our children’s cellular phones, and of course, all over the internet in general.
Lately, we were even exposed to pornography behind the closed doors of the courtroom, when attorney Roni Aloni Sadovnik, with the help of the TV show, “The source”, exposed how in the courtroom, five men discuss with a minor, who was a victim of gang-rape, sexual positions, the size of the attackers penis, and even ask her to demonstrate. So, apparently, one form of pornography has reached the courtrooms as well.
Overall, when we think about it, it may be easier today to say where pornography does not exist than to say where it does. Many researches have examined, and are examining the connection between pornography and violence by men towards women, and alongside, there are researches that contemplate or dispute this connection. However, we chose to mention a recent research, from last year, in which twenty one young men were interviewed regarding their watching of pornography(*), and the main finding that arises from these interviews is, as we claim, the root of the problem.
The researchers concluded that the discussion of those men about men’s dominance in sex, about the subordination and submission of women, and about the subject of violence by men towards women, as all of these find expression in pornography, this discussion was characterized by detachment.
In other words, it was very clear to the researchers that those men treat watching pornography as something so normative that most, if not all of them did not even think that there was a need for a critical look, or for a moral account regarding their enchantment and pleasure from consuming pornography. It was something that did not even cross their minds.
As said before, this is the root of the problem, because change begins and thrives only out of a critical look. When people are not critical towards reality, towards the norm; when they accept it as obvious, then there exist no motivation, and in such a case, there is no change.
In light of this, we hereby issue two appeals:
The first one is to the Ministry of Education, to integrate more and more programs that will raise the awareness among teenage boys and girls, and their ability to resist the meaning of watching pornography. To develop among boys the critical, the moral-social discourse regarding pornography, and to give the girls the emotional, mental and practical tools to stand up to the influence of contents that are harmful and demeaning to women and girls.
Our second appeal is to act for legislation against uploading and distributing pornographic contents. The combination of critical social attention to the subject, along with reducing exposure to such contents, as much as possible, of course, is what can lead to breaking the constructed, transparent, normative and socially accepted ties between sexual excitement and violence, between sex and male dominance and female submission. These ties affect all aspects of our lives, including the violent control, on all its forms, of men on the lives of women, even towards those closest to them.
(*) Details of the research mentioned:
Antevska, Aleksandra., and Gavey, Nicola
“Out of Sight and Out of Mind”: Detachment and Men’s Consumption of Male Sexual Dominance and Female Submission in Pornography.
Men and Masculinities (2015).