First, what passes as good, clean, American fun in “Deep Throat” is really rape. In 1986, Linda Susan Boreman (aka Linda Lovelace) testified before the Meese Commission on Pornography about the violence that propelled the filming of the movie: "When you see the movie, 'Deep Throat,' you are watching me being raped," she said. "It is a crime that movie is still showing; there was a gun to my head the entire time." “Inside Deep Throat” conveniently dismisses Boreman’s testimony, and Boreman is no longer alive to defend herself.
The second dirty little secret is that pornography celebrates the denigration of women by portraying women as objects to be exploited. Not only are women depicted as sex objects; they are shown to enjoy their role as sexual servant. This depiction of women as passive, eager servants heralds back to old Hollywood films depicting blacks and Asians as somewhat stupid and extremely eager to please their white bosses. These films sent the message, “Of course they’re happy with the status quo. See, they’re smiling. No need to change anything.”
Pornography sends a similar message about women: regardless of any progress women may have made toward challenging the limitations of prescribed gender roles in society, in the bedroom, women understand what purpose they really serve and are glad to go along. Porn, in short, represents a male fantasy of paradise where the women are nothing but eager and obliging sex toys. What most people don’t get is the fact that porn is damaging to men as well. Men are depicted as less than human in a different way. Pornography reifies those old messages that men are supposed to be able to “get it up” anywhere, anyhow, anytime, at the drop of a pin and tells men that the only aspects of sex that matter are sexual performance and sexual satisfaction. Intimacy, connection, and surrender (other important elements of sexual interaction) are ignored. In this way, the idea that in order for men to be sexual, they must disconnect from their emotional and spiritual selves, gets recycled and reinforced.
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