People routinely assume that pornography is such a difficult and divisive issue because it's about sex. In fact, this culture struggles unsuccessfully with pornography because it is about men's cruelty to women, and the pleasure men sometimes take in that cruelty. And that is much more difficult for people-- men and women-- to face.
Interpretation
The quote addresses the deeper issues of cruelty towards women within the context of pornography, revealing societal discomfort with this truth.
Robert Jensen explains that the societal struggle with pornography is often mischaracterized as merely about sex. Instead, it delves into the more troubling dynamics of male cruelty towards women and the unsettling enjoyment that some men derive from this cruelty, which is a far more complex and difficult issue for society to confront.
In practice
This quote can be used in discussions about media representation of women.
The pornographers are not a deviation from the norm. Their presence in the mainstream shouldn't be surprising, because they represent mainstream values: The logic of domination and subordination that is central to patriarchy, hyper-patriotic nationalism, white supremacy, and a predatory corporate capitalism.
This is the simple discovery which we must confront. We were given a place in the creation, with a beauty beyond telling, and we have failed to care for it. And as our collective contempt for the non-human world has intensified, so has our contempt for each other. We have failed to care for each other.
God will always bring the right people into your life, but you have to let the wrong people walk away.
Don't quarrel with your parents even if you are on the right.
Something in the human psyche confuses beauty with the right to be loved. The briefest glance at human folly reveals that good looks and worthiness operate independently. Yet countless socializing forces, from Aunt Clara to the latest perfume ad, reinforce beliefs like 'If I were pretty enough, I would be loved.'
The next step is to learn to communicate with the people that you feel are causing your pain and misery- not to learn how to prove them wrong and yourself right but how to communicate from the heart.
Gay people are born everyday. You will never legislate that away.
In elite, primarily white institutions, there are many blacks who have white wives. So much so that sometimes there is almost the assumption that I would be married to a white woman.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.