The Pop Culture of Sex
Summary
Catherine Salmon portends that the instant view of pornography and romance indicates two genres that are polar opposites despite their shared origin as products of the evolution of human sexuality. Typically, the subject of pornography elicits strong opposing and acceptance opinions in the United States and across the world (Salmon, 2012). Claims of the goodness or ills of pornography to the society or specifically a particular gender are often leveled without reliable and conclusive data. The article addresses the fundamental questions regarding pornography that are often disregarded when claims of the advantages and the disadvantages of pornography are advanced. For instance, the article delves in the questions of why pornography has an appeal to men, the essential aspects of pornography’s appeal, why pornography is not as appealing to women as it is to men since, in essence, the sexuality of males and females is similar in a species that is sexually producing. The article further probes the phenomenal tendency of women showing a preference for romantic tales.
Pornography and romance as a genre portend a significant effect or impact on culture in as much as they are not accorded artistic-level respect. All industrialized societies produce and consume commercialized pornography through explicit magazines, books, DVDs, and even internet sites where consumers pay and watch with the industry estimated to be worth in excess of $97 billion.
The article references, suggests that it is critical to ascertain whether there is pornography that is consumed by women exclusively and whether there is a fundamental difference between the pornography is different from that consumed or preferred by men. The article offers an answer in the affirmative in that the romance novel is pornography preferred and consumed by women, which in the United States account for more than twice the volume of science fiction sales.
Nonevolutionary perspectives offer an explanation to the phenomenon of pornography. The feminist approach employs two schools of thoughts, the traditional feminist approach, and the neo-feminist. The traditional feminist perspective does not advance a clear examination and analysis of men’s preference for pornography but argues that it is a reason for the oppression meted against women by men. Moreover, that pornography is inherently immoral and degrades women, and apart from being a diver of violence against women is the very violence against women. Salmon elucidates that it is worth noting that the traditional feminist perspective does not offer any tangible proof for the pervasiveness and popularity of pornography, particularly among men. The primary goal of the traditional feminist perspective is to enable the banning or censure of pornography even though there is evidence that the increase in pornography production and consumption in an area has not resulted in a consequent increase in sex crimes but either a reduction or normalcy.
Neo-feminists, on the other hand, posit a divergent view from the traditional feminists by claiming that pornography is of benefit to women on a personal level, and politically since it provides them with sexual information and thus enables a fantasy world where women can make exploration of their sexuality and sex in general freely and devoid of the emotional pressures which characterize the real world. Moreover, pornography offers an opportunity for women to break down any stereotypical notions of sex and ultimately offers sexual therapy. Also, pornography offers women empowerment by offering freedom from social prudery and limitations. Current feminism advances antiscience and biases towards social constructions that do not take into account the true role of nature and, as a result, cannot effectively deal with matters of sex since sex commences in the body and fueled instinctively by internal drives. Further, pornography manifests in periods of personal freedom and reveals nature’s dark truths that are concealed by civility. In essence, l, pornography entails lust, which is our animal reality that can never be managed or tamed by love.
The article further argues that men who consume sexually explicit content such as films do not harbor negative attitudes regarding the rights of women and also are not accepting of rape either, marital or Date rape. Also, an examination of sex offenders who have been convicted on the issue of their experiences with pornography determined that their views are not divergent from those of the other incarcerated males. Furthermore, the article reveals that countries like Sweden and Denmark, which have a high level of gender equality and significantly low levels or instances of violence against women, also possess an attitude that is very liberal towards pornography.
The evolutionary perspective of pornography and romance argues that they are both genres that entail the mating domain and the matter of selecting well-adapted mates by both males and females. The evolutionary perspective thus looks into mate value, which is what a male or a female contributes to a union. Consequently, through natural selection, males and females have adopted psychologically to synthesize information regarding mate quality since males and females have different information for selecting mate choice.
Pornography focuses on short-term dating where men look for fertility and sexual promiscuity as cues for mate quality, which is necessary for males to achieve short-term mating, which is a desire for men due to its potential for the reproductive pay-off. In the evolutionary perspective, ancestral women a choice of a long-term mate is likely to be guided by the economic ability and status of the male as this shows the ability and willingness to provide in the future.
Noteworthy, the appearance and significance of female pornography stars are evident in the industry in that they more influence and earn more financially in comparison to their male counterparts. Moreover, they are often the stars of the film, and their images are used for marketing the pornographic films. Thus, their image and appearance idealized the choice of a short-term male mate. The article further delves into pornotopia, which is male fantasy manifested in pornographic contents. Consequently, female pornographic stars exhibit cues of high mate value in that they are young and exhibit sexual attractiveness and engage in low cost and impersonal sex. Per contra, romance does not engage in sexually explicit materials as compared to male pornography and often revolves around a heroine overcoming hurdles to emerge victoriously.
Evaluation
The article The Pop Culture of Sex by Catherine Salmon perfectly delves into the dual issues of pornography and romance. I am in total conformity with the postulation that romance in itself is pornographic owing to the evidence of sexually explicit content in the genre. Furthermore, the postulation that pornography and romance as products of the evolution of the sexuality of both men and women are correct since when men engage in pornographic consumption or women in romance materials, they are, in essence, satisfying an instinctive desire that has persisted since time immemorial.
I agree that the preference by men more than women of pornography is as a result of natural selection in mate selection. Indeed, pornography aims to serve the short-term desires of men in which they prefer short-term, low-cost, and impersonal sexual relations as depicted by the content of pornographic materials like films. As a result, men watch pornographic content more than women so as to satisfy their desire for short-term mates in which they look at cues such fertility and promiscuity that is readily availed by the female pornographic stars. Undoubtedly, this is the reason why female pornographic stars are often attractive and promiscuous, as depicted by the films. I also agree with the article’s postulation that romance particularly augurs well with women on the basis of appealing to women’s desire for short term relations or mates. The depiction of females in the romance genre is thus in conformity with the evolutionary traits of women in which they value mates that have a high status or exhibit the capability to provide. Hence, as the article postulates, the romance genre which often accords significance to heroines who overcome tribulations and challenges to emerge victorious in love is in line with the evolutionary perspective of women preferring and desiring cues that indicate long term relations in their mates. Per contra, I do not agree with the traditional feminist perspective that pornography is, in essence, a tool of oppression and instrument that men employ to degrade women since women are active participants and social, political, and economic beneficiaries of pornography. As an evolutionary trait, pornography is a manifestation of male and female lustful instincts that cannot be suppressed by love.
References
Salmon, C. (2012). The pop culture of sex: An evolutionary window on the worlds of pornography and romance. Review of General Psychology, 16(2), 152-160.