I have a friend in the film industry, known for his controversial and politically-charged horror films.  He’s adamant that pornography is inherently harmless and that maintaining an anti-porn perspective is pro-censorship. He challenged some of my anti-porn peers as being moralistic, a distinctly dismissive approach that discredits their researched knowledge, their shared experiences, and their collective wisdom. For all of the fierce anti-oppression intelligence on display in his work, his words were a reminder of how deeply the pornography industry has entrenched itself as underdogs in the battle against oppressive regimes around the globe. Instead of striking at him, I attempted to engage him.

Here is my response.

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Hey ________.

I think you and I may forever be in a tango of death about the function of media! But that’s okay. Discussion is good and discussion is important; let’s not simplify our arguments by suggesting me or the women with whom you are arguing are simple moralists on a censorship crusade. Our perspectives are informed by knowledge, and in the case of women (at least as a class), these perspectives are also informed by experience. Please be respectful around these issues with my friends; they are good people.

My perspectives on pornography, prostitution, gender, race, and how sexual violence is depicted in media are largely informed by the social and cultural impact of all of the above, namely in the ways in which it manifests as furthering oppression against women and against women of color. Ours is not an anti-sex position. This is an anti-oppression position. This is an anti-propaganda position. This is a political position.

In pornography, 94% of the violence is perpetrated against women by men. This is not an accident – this is telling a story. When this story is repeated, over and over again, history tells us what happens: people believe it. So when pornography is usually violent against women and usually depicts women enjoying the violence, it works like propaganda and people believe it. There has been demonstrable evidence linking “gangbang” videos to increasing rates of men committing group rape against women. This is not me being moralistic: this is me speaking from empirical reality.

From your perspective, perhaps it looks like censorship and hence, it feels like oppression. I do not know the nuances of the way you think and how your art is created. But I do know that you are political and I hope that you can understand, from a political perspective (if not a social and cultural and anti-oppression perspective) that ours is a position that is extremely political in that it is anti-propagandist and anti-oppression. The art that comes from the women and men in the anti-oppression of women movement (including horror!) will inevitably look and feel different from the art that comes from the side of the oppressors.

As an artist that has a lot of influence over film audiences, I hope that instead of painting our side as moralist, you can at least move towards ambivalence and recognize that, at its core, we are

1) Anti-violence against women
2) Anti-trafficking of women and children
3) Anti-oppression

It might not evolve in the form that you like, but it is informed by science, by history, and by testimony.

We can tango to death all we like. But I know that you want the world to be a better place. So do I. Please consider that the women with whom I am aligning are likely more capable of creating that better world than the men who currently run it.