Porn as Liberator of Women?

As sex in a patriarchy is most often defined as a power struggle it's difficult to agree to Ovidie's suggestion that porn is a form of female emancipation. After all, words may have been given the power to define sexual interactions, even though the most common definitions don't hold water for a more close scrutiny: For instance, for a long time sex very often was described as "he got his way with her", as if it was all his doing. It's definitely not a definition made in Nature, but in Patriarchal societies: There are many "Mrs. Robinsons" out there, seducing whomever catches their eyes. However, somehow the idea of men as the "aggressor" is still (more or less) valid: Men are the seducers, proving their masculine superiority by getting women to sleep with them - something which they may even brag about.

Ovidie is of another opinion than the general one about the sexual roles, and, by the way, she is a French actress, movie director, writer, journalist as well as a former porn star. When entering the porn industry she was a very active feminist, and before trying out porn for herself she was sure that the female stars were subjected to all manners of suppression and degrading situations. However, she came to see that they themselves felt that they were gaining power from their work - and, after all, it is a job!!! - so she decided to try it out for herself.

 

She saw her porn experience as extremely interesting as a way of understanding something about the female sexuality, femininity as well as bodily expressions. Surprisingly enough in her opinion the female porn stars didn't come out as "victims", which was how they were commonly described, but as strong women made stronger through the performance of sexual acts. 

To me that looks as a very limited "freedom", but I admit that sexual rights are an important part of the picture as such. As it is, I hold that freedom should be the right to do whatever one wants within the legal limits of one's society and the personal limits of each of us. That also pinpoints what's very important in any society: The ability to earn a living, to have a meaningful career and to say "NO!!!" if that's what one wants to do when one is being targeted by that maybe not all that seductive guy.