Monday, December 1, 2008

Week 9 and 10 Assignment

Week 9 

I thought bring a man to class day was a great success. We created a warm and inviting atmosphere where our guests felt comfortable and welcomed. It was nice to see how many men came to show their support and willingness to help. I think showing the Jackson Katz film was a good idea because it is geared towards men, it points out the flaws in society rather than simply blaming all men. I was happy to hear that many of the men had insightful contributions that encouraged conversations. My favorite part was having the men read out loud many of the common fears that women have. I think you should continue to do that activity each year. 

Week 10 
For our week 10 assignment I watched a few short pornographic films, which was a new experience for me. I have never really watched porn before and I found it difficult to to watch an entire video so I watched a few shorter clips instead. I found the films to be very degrading. They are all about focusing on the man's pleasure, even if it is painful for the woman. One film feature a young woman in Spain, who had oral, vaginal, and anal sex with middle aged American man while his friend filmed it. There were several times when it was clear the young woman was in pain and reached to stop him, but each time he would reassure her and continue doing it. After watching a few more short clips there are a few things I concluded about the films i watched. First, the number one concern is the man's pleasure and satisfaction because men are the target audience, but this often means the woman is in pain. One example of this that I saw in all the films was women choking as the man inserted his penis into her mouth. The women would cough and gasp once her pulled out and the man would  simply laugh at her and do it again. A second commonality was this enjoyment that the men got from watching women in pain. The article by Robert Jensen focuses on this point. Women in pornography are not depicted as people and so it is acceptable for them to be mistreated. As Jensen says, "in pornography, women are not really people; they are three holes and two hands." The problem with this portrayal of women is that some men carry these ideas into their everyday lives. 

0 comments: