How Male Sexual Dominance in Pornography Has Spilled Over Into Mainstream Media
HOW MALE SEXUAL DOMINANCE IN PORNOGRAPHY HAS SPILLED OVER INTO MAINSTREAM MEDIA AND EVERYDAY LIFE
The implications of the overuse of sex in the media are very many, whether we want to admit it or not. Overt sexual themes are becoming more prevalent in music videos and television commercials in addition to the already, ever-increasing usage in television shows and movies. There is a correlation between dominance and power and more noticeably in the porn industry, sexual dominance, and power. Mainstream media is now taking advantage of the "sex sells" attitude and selling dominance to men--selling an idea of how male sexual prowess--of power.
One prime example of the overuse of sex in the peddling of male sexual dominance is in rap music and videos. I've never been into going to clubs, but one particular night, right after I graduated high school, a few girlfriends and I went to a nightclub. Almost every song was completely degrading and while, my friends got super excited, rushed to the dance floor, and mouthed the words to songs like "Just put it in your mouth" and "There's some hoes in this house" I was disgusted. I could not enjoy myself. And when I asked one friend why she thought those songs were okay she looked at me as if I were crazy and said "It's just a song. It's not like he's talking about me." Oh, but he was. They are talking about all of us.
In "The Price of Pleasure" we see that women are really being objectified, they're no longer human, they are things--robots to be programmed to be hyper-sexual, to be commanded, dominated. Commercials make young girls feel as if we are obligated to have sex and young men, feel as if we are obligated to have sex with them. "Pornography is a world view, it's an ideology, it's a way of understanding relationships," (The Price of Pleasure). And this ideology is that men rule--men dominate, men are supposed to dominate, men are supposed to be aggressive and then there's the belief that women want to be dominated, as a few people mentioned in the documentary. With this accepted aggression comes violence towards women. Even the words for "sexual intercourse equate violence: fucking, nailing screwing, banging" (GRCM-Caputi, 313).
Pornography's male dominance ideology even shares with patriarchal religion, the idea of sex being 'dirty' but also that women are inferior to and in service to men...providing for a sexual double standard that allows men greater sexual latitude, defines women in relation to men, splits women into pure or dirty, virgins or whores, keepers or trash, 'good' goods or damaged goods, often along race and class lines" (GRCM, 314). These are ideals that are ingrained in society by religion and adopted by the porn industry, which the media then recycles to continue to sell the idea of male sexual dominance. And the ideals that they are selling to women? "On your knees and take it, bitch", like an animal.
Caputi, Jane. "The Pornography of Everyday Life." Dines, Gail, Humez, Jean M. Gender, Race and Class in Media. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2011. 311-320. book chapter.
