Jameela Jamil definitely has a harsh way of articulating things sometimes (and also a lot of cis celebrities still use language like “both genders” so it doesn’t surprise me that she did as well) but her points are often on point.
I also want to thank you for bringing this up because porn is something I’ve wanted to talk about for a while.
The thing is, the porn industry is bad for women. The violent depictions of sex, the sexualization of dehumanizing and degrading women that is prevalent in porn, the fetishization of trans women, of lesbians, of bi women, of women of color (especially with themes of revenge porn), the unhealthy portrayals of men and women’s bodies (both men and women often have to take supplements and drugs to enhance the sizes of their breasts and genitalia), the normalization of kink and dangerous sexual practices, the fetishization of age gaps, incest, pedophilia, rape, and abuse … all exemplify how terrible porn is for women. The porn industry is what leads young men to expect women to perform painful sexual acts for them, and in particular it leads women to think that they have to have violent and degrading sex in order to be “cool” and “sexy”, and that if they don’t, they’re “boring” and “vanilla”.
The problem is that most of the people who articulate these things are swerfs, and swerfs make a value judgement against sex workers, rather than analyzing how the porn industry is an actual industry that thrives off profit. So instead of criticizing the porn industry as a function of capitalist patriarchy, they direct their criticisms at actual sex workers (who actually bear the brunt of the porn industry’s abuses). They call sex workers “dick worshippers” and blame sex workers for the abuses that women face.
The porn industry is bad for women the way the beauty and skincare industries are, the way the fitness industry is, the way multi-media corporations and Hollywood are, the way corporations in general are bad for women. But again, radical feminists completely miss the class component of the analysis, and personalize everything, to the point of creating an elitist hierarchy between “enlightened” desexualized “feminist women” and “shallow, dick-worshipping, slutty” sex workers. They may not call sex workers “sluts” but that’s absolutely what they’re implying.
And as we know, sex workers actually do face state violence. The criminalization of sex work is what contributes to sexual violence and police brutality against sex workers. SWERF criticisms of sex workers cement the violence that they face.
Thus I understand why people, especially liberal feminists, are reluctant to criticize porn and the sex industry. However, the more we shy away from acknowledging why the porn industry is among the hundreds of industries that are bad for women, the more we left SWERFs stay at the forefront of these critiques, which only leads to sex workers being denigrated and dehumanized. But ignoring that porn is bad for women neither helps sex workers nor women – it only inflates the egos of SWERFs and enables men and agents of the state to enact violence against sex workers.
If people can criticize the beauty industry without implying that underpaid makeup artists and cashiers are the Real agents of patriarchy or that they’re evil bitches then they should be able to criticize the porn/sex industry without stating that sex workers are “dick worshippers” or are bad for women.
Also, criticizing individual wealthy, bourgeoise women like Kim Kardashian is not “swerfy rhetoric”. Again, Kim K benefits from capitalist patriarchy, and so it absolutely is necessary to criticize women who are traitors to women as a class. Instead of targeting sex workers (who are usually working-class and experience homelessness too), people should pay more attention to deconstructing various industries (makeup, beauty, skincare, fitness, porn/sex, media/hollywood) and to calling out wealthy, bourgeoise women who perpetuate capitalist patriarchy.
wholesome student life things that we should collectively start romancizing
waking up and being genuinely thrilled to go to class because today is THAT CLASS you love so much you’d like it to never end
coffee breaks with friends, chatting and joking about this particularly hard essay and the prof’s mannerism
coffee breaks on your own, as you absent-mindedly watch the people around you, while thinking about what you’re working on
finding this book you’ve been dying to read for so long, and borrowing it from the library
the feeling of excitement that goes through you whenever you remember The Book is in your backpack
understanding everything during demanding classes and being genuinely interested in the subject
buying a New Special Pen and taking colorful notes that look super pretty
not being able to shut up about your school projects (no your friends dont really care about the intricate details of what you’re working on, they don’t even have the same major as you, but they’re happy to hear you rant with such a burning passion)
actually doing the extra reading and having your curiosity so piqued by what you’re reading that you go on and on and suddenly its 1am and what happened
printing the project you’ve spent so much time and energy on and feeling the paper’s warmth
actually submitting that project without feeling awful about it because you know you did your best and aren’t responsible for what happens next
when you finally finish this Super Hard And Important Essay at like 3am, open the window and feel the cold night air on your burning cheeks and everything is dark and quiet and you can see the moon and you’re at peace with everything for a few minutes
when this professor you admire says you did a great job and/or that you’re talented!!!!
realizing two concepts that seemed so far away from each other and that you discovered in wildly different contexts are actually interlinked, then Realizing™ things and linking concepts/works/articles to each other at the speed of light & being super excited about it
being so deeply immersed in your work that you didn’t realize two hours have passed
finding the Perfect Spot at the library
that Pure Joy moment when you FINALLY understand that super obscure sentence/text
when you feel anxious because you’re not done with your homework & the deadline is super tight & your friend tells you they aren’t done yet either
same but with an even more intense relief feeling when you realize you both haven’t even started yet
when the professor starts a new reasoning and you can predict what the next idea/the final conclusion will be
when the professor mention your favorite novel/author/fictional character in class and you feel like your internal screech of joy could shatter glass
the Academic Salt™ that has you like 👀👀
when the professor tears apart an author or scholar you hate and you’re like YES I WANT BLOOD GIVE ME BLOOD
when you learn that Cool New Fact that makes you reconsider your whole life
leaving the library after a long productive day and feeling like nothing is real but experiencing everything more intensely
leaving the library at night after a long study session and everybody has left already and its just you and the long neon-lit corridors then stepping outside and smelling the crisp night wind
feel free to add your own!!!
Not to crash the party but whenever I read these things I feel as though I’m not meant to be a student because I can’t really appreciate any of this and even though I know a bunch of these feelings I never get them with regard to studying
And that’s okay I guess but I’d like to know what that passion is for me then
@pandora-in-the-box hey, buddy. It’s okay! It really is. I dropped out of uni last year because of mental health problems and i actually wrote this down because i wanted to remember how it feels to have passion in what youre doing after months of hardcore depression! So really, its okay if youre not feeling well – first of all you dont HAVE to experience class this intensively (am just a big ol nerd), and secondly it’s okay if you feel unable to focus/be as excited as you wish you were. My tactics are to feigh interest even in subjects that arent super interesting on the first look, and to try and transcribe it in tumblr lingo for example. It was more of a healing progress than a directive; we emphasize a lot (especially here on tumblr) the stressful aspect of college/uni. Like those “i havent eaten anything but coffee in a week and havent slept in three days and now i hear colors i want to die but i can’t because i have an essay due”. Ive been in this situation before and it actually made my mental health worse. So i thought that yeah, college can be hell, but 1. Its okay to change majors or drop out if you really cant find any fun in what youre studying and 2. Education is supposed to free your mind and be interesting so i think itd be healthier to try and see the actual fun parts of that experience! Basically dont exhaust yourself and its okay to not feel as excited as youd like to be!
I really hope you don’t feel like a failure for this cause it really wasnt the goal of this post and im really sorry.
medusa-avenging-squad 