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| X-Rated Ethics (Utne) |
I've been really pleased with all the attention given lately to the value of a porn that is ethical. Considers Harvard House Master Erika Christaki, "shouldn't consumers have some context to evaluate what they are viewing? Shampoo bottles and Tuna cans assure us that animals were unharmed. Shouldn't we know if porn actors are subject to out-of-control STD rates, or are forced to do things against their will?" Sex worker and activist Kitty Styker agrees; "In a capitalist world, granted, any consumption has multiple points of issue to be addressed and paid attention to, from sweatshop labour in clothing factories to migrant farmer rights, but I do believe that porn can be ethically produced."
In the UK, Alain de Botton, a philosopher, writer, TV presenter and founder of School of Life, has announced that he plans to promote an ethical porn movement, launching a "Better Porn" campaign (De Botton will meet with leaders in porn and the arts in order to bring about a better kind of pornography) and a website (which will display content "that parents would be comfortable with their children seeing") promoting "pornography in which sexual desire would be invited to support, rather than permitted to undermine, our higher values." As journalist Nichi Hodgson points out, "Sex-positive feminists and ethical sex enthusiasts ... have of course been espousing this for a while. Yet even if he is late to the party, De Botton’s campaign is ripe for the championing ... the faltering flow of finance makes it a good time to dump quantity for quality."
In a recent press release, De Botton explains his position on ethical porn as follows:
Ideally, porn would excite our lust in contexts which also presented other, elevated sides of human nature – in which people were being witty, for instance, or showing kindness, or working hard or being clever – so that our sexual excitement could bleed into, and enhance our respect for these other elements of a good life. No longer would sexuality have to be lumped together with stupidity, brutishness, earnestness and exploitation; it could instead be harnessed to what is noblest in us.It's worth quoting Kitty Stryker's definition of ethical porn too:
The real problem with current pornography is that it's so far removed from all the other concerns which a reasonably sensible, moral, kind and ambitious person might have. As currently constituted, pornography asks that we leave behind our ethics, our aesthetic sense and our intelligence when we contemplate it. Yet it is possible to conceive of a version of pornography which wouldn't force us to make such a stark choice between sex and virtue – a pornography in which sexual desire would be invited to support, rather than permitted to undermine, our higher values.
When I've personally been called upon to describe what the phrase "ethical porn" means to me, I've talked about pornography produced with the pleasure of the participants in mind; porn that does not depend on male-gaze shooting techniques; porn that shows diversity in body types, gender identities, and sexual orientation; porn that allows the performers to have a say in how the action progresses and what happens. How is the porn shot? Are the performers seen as people needing to be aroused, or just as permanently ready genitals? Is safer sex used? Do you see barriers put into place on camera, or negotiation/consent discussed? Is there use of sex toys that are high-quality, body-safe, and sterile? Does the sexual interaction end with the "money shot," or do they keep going or snuggle or kiss?Stryker also quotes several pro-ethical feminists porn makers on what makes porn ethical to them. Their viewpoints are valuable and insightful, so I recommend you check out Stryker's full article. As well as this Utne feature on a sustainable sex industry and fair trade porn.
Concludes Stryker:
Can ethical porn exist? There's really no reason why it couldn't, as long as the people involved have agency and a voice. I can recognize that the industry as a whole fails in that regard more often than it succeeds, but I do not agree that it is simply because of filming sex acts. I believe quite strongly that it is because of the combination of patriarchy, capitalism, and shame/ignorance around sexuality, both within and around the porn industry. The best way to challenge that is not, in my opinion, through censorship and abolitionism but through increased awareness of a more positive, successful, enjoyable way to create this content.
