A Critique On Pornography

A RESPONSE TO- CATHARINE A.
MACKINNON, SEXUALITY, PORNOGRAPHY, AND

METHOD: PLEASURE UNDER PATRIARCHY
INTRODUCTION
The issues related to sexuality1 have two or more embattled sides amongst the different
schools of feminism. Debates such as whether objectification by men and exploitation of
women’s bodies dominate heterosexuality in Western societies or the women are increasingly
initiating and becoming equal partners in consensual heterosexual encounters, whether
prostitution should be considered as sex work or sexual slavery, and whether pornography is
universally harmful or can be a legitimate part of varied sexual repertoires with some calling
for its complete suppression and others arguing against censorship. These issues split feminist
into ones demanding sexual freedom for women and others fighting to curb sexual oppression
of women.2
I identify Catharine MacKinnon as a radical feminist as she believes that a women’s gender
identity is given to her or forced upon her as a result of the (often violent) depiction of her
sexuality.3 For her, the gender hierarchy defines what women are; any affirmation of
femininity is to deceive oneself and any pleasure derived is derided by her as being
masochism.4 In the 1980s, radical feminists defined patriarchy as a universal domination of
women by men through violence and sexual exploitation.5 Hence, she can be identified as a
radical feminist.
1
The following terms have been used throughout in this context. Gender involves status, identity, and display.
Gender status i.e. being recognised as a man or a woman in the society implies dominance and assertiveness.
Gender identity i.e. the sense of self as a man or a woman present interactions and legal issues. Gender display
i.e. being feminine or masculine involves sexualised behaviour and appearance. Sexuality involves desired and
actual sexual attractions, fantasies, and emotions and not just behaviour. A sexual identity involves self-
identification and a lifestyle; and a sexual status involves social recognition of the identity. See, J. Lorber,
Embattled terrain: Gender and Sexuality, Paradoxes of Gender, 1994 in revisioning gender, M. Ferree, et al ed.
1999, 417.
2
J. Lorber, Embattled terrain: Gender and Sexuality, Paradoxes of Gender, 1994 in revisioning gender, M.
Ferree, et al ed. 1999, 416
3
D. Cornell, Beyond Accomodation: Ethical Feminism, Deconstruction and the Law 1991, 121
4
Contemporary Feminist Theories, Stevi Jackson and Jackie Jones (ed.) 1998, 66.
5
RADICAL FEMINISTS
Radical feminists believe that women are oppressed for being women i.e. on the basis of their
sex.6 They believe in sexual solidarity i.e. any woman has more in common with another
woman than any other man regardless of the differences in their race, class, age, ethnic group,
nationality.7
HETEROSEXUALITY: RAPE OR CROSS-PURPOSES?
They believe that all the men are capable of, if not prone to, raping women and all women are
potential victims and men’s control of women happens using this perpetual threat of sexual
violence. Even if the violence is indirect, sexualisation and objectification of women’s bodies
by culture and media encourage the attitude that women are sexually available for any man to
use at his wish. Radical feminists contend that universally pervasive nature of sexual
oppression of women by men reflects men’s deep-seated proclivities for domination and
control, often through violence.8
They contend that since dominant social status of men is the source of their power, so any
kind of relationship between a man and a woman is unequal: “Sexuality is conceived as …
nothing less than the dynamic of sex as social hierarchy, its pleasure the experience of power
in its gendered form”9
As per this definition, a woman cannot be said to have truly consented to a heterosexual
relationship if the consent is obtained by threats of ending the relationship or emotional
appeals or physical violence by the husband, lover or friend and that it is rape and not sexual
intercourse.10
6
C. Owens, “The discourse of others: feminists and postmodernism” in The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on
Postmodern Culture, ed. H. Foster, Bay Press, Washington, 1983, 57.
7
C. West, “The new cultural politics of difference” in The Cultural Studies Reader, ed. S. During Routelage,
1993, 210.
8
Ferree, et al ed. 1999, 419.
9
A. Catarine Mackinnon, Toward a Feminist Theory of State, 1989, xiii.
10
“Sexuality is to feminism, what work is to Marxism; that which is most one’s own and yet
that which is most taken away.”11 Women’s gender identity is given to her or forced upon her
as a result of the (often violent) depiction of her sexuality.12 Women’s objectified status is the
truth of female reality.13 Thus our sexuality is as it is seen, objectified and fantasised by
men.14 For her, the gender hierarchy defines what women are; any affirmation of femininity is
to deceive oneself and any pleasure derived is derided by her as being masochism.15
PORNOGRAPHY
They contend that pornography is harmful for women as it conflates sexuality and violence.
Mackinnon argues that: “In pornography the violence is the sex. The inequality is the sex. If
there is no inequality, no violation, no dominance, no force, there is no sexual arousal”16
One of the reasons because of which the oppressed consents to oppression is the formulation
of false desire in them, the belief that they want it, that it is pleasurable to be oppressed. And
this constantly needs to be reinforced and endlessly reiterated. Pleasure and desire ‘enable’
the continuation of the social conditions of male supremacy. Pornography serves as a medium
to express the desire of male to dominate in the clearest, equivocated manner. What is
problematic is the ideological construction of sex around the penis.17
Pornography is the ideology of male supremacist masculine desire writ large and shameless.
It portrays the worst men can do it women and encourages them to do it. It teaches them the
infinite power of their penis to do whatever they want, that women crave for it. That the sole
purpose of women’s existence is for men to fuck them. That they can hurt women and that
women like it otherwise why would they choose to be porn actors.18
It eroticises subordination and domination through sadomasochism but instead of treating it

as a moral evil, pornography glorifies it as being delightful and beneficial, as innocent fun
11
A. Catharine MacKinnon, “Feminism, Marxism, Method and the State” 1952, 515
12
13
14
15
16
A. Catharine Mackinnon, FEMINISM UNMODIFIED: DISCOURSES ON LIFE AND LAW, 160 (1987).
17
D. Thompson, RADICAL FEMINISM TODAY, 36 (2001).
18
and pure enjoyment. It advocates doing anything and everything to avoid sexual frustration
and portrays it as a right.19
METHODS
They viewed society as “structured by a sex/class system.”20 Their assumption is that all
women are oppressed by virtue of their position in the society. Consciousness raising was
used to encourage women to share their experiences with one another which in turn would
help them understand that their personal problems are politically over-determined and help
them realize how they have been complicit in their own oppression as they internalized
societal norms.21
MacKinnon uses this by interviewing pornographic actors,22 rape survivors,23 looking for
statistics for violence against women,24 and urging women to understand that their oppression
is socially constructed by men so they don’t blame themselves or complicit in their
subordination by believing that they really wanted it.
Consciousness-raising is the method through which radical feminist analysis of the situation
of women has been shaped and shared.25 They collected accounts of women on how they
experience sexuality, intercourse, daily interaction with men, other women, sexual history,
violence inflicted on them to create a composite image of what it means to “be a woman”.26
They tried to understand how and why they behave in a particular way.
This helps in realizing the aim of radical feminists to make personal, political by explaining
to women that since they all share the same problems so the solution also has to be on a broad
level.27 This helps in realizing that “male power is a myth that makes itself true.”28
19
20
R. Claire Synder-Hall, Third-Wave Feminism and the Defence of “Choice”, 257.
21
22
Catharine A. MacKinnon, Sexuality, Pornography, and Method: Pleasure under Patriarchy, 338, 1989
23
24
25
Patricia Hill Collins, Defining Black Feminist Thought, in The second wave, A reader in feminist thought, ed.
Linda Nicholson 1997, 84.
26
A. Catharine Mackinnon, Toward a Feminist Theory of State, 1989, 89, 90.
27
A. Catharine Mackinnon, Toward a Feminist Theory of State, 1989, 95.
THIRD-WAVE FEMINIST
For the third wave feminists, feminism requires acting with a “feminist consciousness” i.e.
with a knowledge of the reasons behind doing certain acts such as participating in sex work.
They talk about ‘demands of femininity’ that is those demands of a woman that are socially
constructed including their sexual desires and their internalized beliefs about gender identity
and roles. These demands often result in feminists getting attracted towards things that
inevitably bolster patriarchy and hence reduce their chances of being truly liberated. Hence,
feminism is nothing but “a conscious struggle with the demands of patriarchy.”29
They urge other feminists such as radical feminists to tolerate other women’s choices about
how to present themselves such as the choice to wear make-up instead of deriding them for
being “un-feminist”. For them, feminism is all about being able to make one’s choices.30
Even though radical feminists advocate that the only reason of existence of prostitution and
pornography is to depict women as vile whores and that they are only to further patriarchy
but a woman participating in these activities might not consider herself as a victim. As one
woman put it, “we’ve been out there doing out own thing, fighting all the fights that you
possibly can to be females in any way we choose, and that’s our right and our power. We
were out there doing it long before the feminists came in and started picking clubs, saying
that we were exploiting ourselves.” She argues that feminism is all about empowering
yourself and the act of stripping yourself is personally empowering for them.31
They contend that not only radical feminists generalize the power structure in certain
heterosexual relationships but they are also not open to other interpretations and portray their
views as the feminist position like “S/M is abuse, pornography is male dominance, or
28
A. Catharine Mackinnon, Toward a Feminist Theory of State, 1989, 104.
29
30
Susan Muraddi Darraj, It’s not an Oxymoron, in Colonize this! Ed. Hernandez and Rehman
31
L. Bell, ed. 1987, Good Girls/Bad Girls: Feminists and Sex Trade Workers Face to Face, 195.
intercourse is a violation.”32 This leads to the women who henceforth thought they were
exercising their agency to take the defensive stance.33
Third-wave feminist respect the choices a woman makes make as she attempts to balance the
dichotomy of equality and desire. They contend that multiple dimensions of a woman’s
reality exist simultaneously. They are pluralistic as they avoid exclusions on the basis of race,
sexual orientation, gender identity and so forth.34
The desire of women claiming to be feminists to engage in violent sexual practices shows
that feminism cannot have one universal belief. These women consider themselves to be in
sexual minorities and ask everyone to respect their right to pursue their desires, opponents
judge them and equate consensual S/M with Nazi inquisition and genocide.35
METHODS
They use consciousness raising to understand the different reasons behind the choices made
by women without judging them. They try to identify ways in which each individual is trying
to struggle with her life’s competing demands. It differs from the method used by radical
feminists as they are not trying to prove that the choice exercised by women are not really
their choice irrespective of what they believe.
They urge each woman to ask herself reasons for which she is engaging in any activity. A
pornographic actress might ask herself, “Am I really expressing my deep-seated sexual
desires or just indulging in my own narcissism? When I participate in S/M, do the viewers
view me as an equal to my co-actor or as a subordinate? Do the movies I make encourage
rape culture when I project myself as enjoying violence? Does the sexualized image I am
projecting expand the boundaries of gender and sexuality for women or restrict them? While I
enjoy dominant men, what impact do misogynistic messages in the movies have on the
socialisation of young children? Essentially, to understand the impact their choices have on
32
33
34
35
themselves, other people, and the entire range of values they hold dear when they decide how
to live.36
The solution they provide is for women to participate more in public sphere by setting
examples using literary and cultural production so that women can see the various range of
possibilities outside patriarchy by offering alternative images of relationships, gender, and
sexualities. For them, pornographic sexuality, conservative lifestyle, and self-sacrifice for a
family are just a few of the options among many which can co-exist and not hegemonic
norms.37
LESBIAN FEMINISTS
Lesbianism is a way to free women from the oppression by men which is why men are hostile
towards them.38 Their independence is a terrible threat to male supremacy.39 By saying so,
even the lesbian feminists agree with the proposition in the article that men use sex as a
means of domination over women.40 However, lesbian feminists uniquely propose that
lesbianism is a way out of this form of male supremacy, albeit a difficult way. The difficulty
lies in the fact that the independence lesbianism gives to women comes at the cost of
exclusion of women in the job market, child rearing and extreme social contempt and
ridicule.41
Thus, lesbian feminists who agreed with Mackinnon’s view that in both ‘butch/femme’ role-
play and sadomasochistic ‘top/bottom’ dynamics a pattern of dominance and submission
reflecting heterosexual structures,42 contended that lesbians should not imitate male sexual
behaviour such as ‘objectifying i.e. women as sexual objects’ or penetration of any kind
hence disusing dildos.43
36
Marso, Lori J. (2010) 'Feminism's Quest for Common Desires'.
37
R. Claire Synder-Hall, Third-Wave Feminism and the Defence of “Choice”, 259, 260.
38
M. Shelly, “Notes of a Radical Lesbian”, 1969, 345.
39
M. Shelly, “Notes of a Radical Lesbian”, 1969, 343, 345.
40
41
M. Shelly, “Notes of a Radical Lesbian”, 1969, 345.
42
43
PORNOGRAPHY
A homophobic and sexist person disregards lesbianism by calling it as a mere deceptive

imitation. MacKinnon contends that non-heterosexual pornography is not exceptions to the
fact that “what is sexual about pornography is what is unequal about social life.”44 In fact,
they affirm this.45 She argues that the sexual stimulation derived from homosexual
pornography is just by reversing the standard arrangement and that “sexuality is so gender
marked that carries dominance and submission with it, no matter the gender of its
participants”.46 It ignores the agency of lesbians to express themselves in the manner they
deem fit by calling it a mere imitation of heterosexual relationships. Some lesbians started
being attracted to and actively embraced the same type of dominance and submission as was
purported to be a key feature of heterosexuality. They rejected the ideal of sexual
egalitarianism and through lesbian sadomasochism, started endorsing playing with power and
inequality.47 In sexist pornographies, lesbian sex is merely depicted as a supplementary
foreplay to pave the way for the real male heterosexual pleasure.48 MacKinnon claims that as
lesbianism is claimed by the women as their own, it is depicted as “sexy, dangerous,
provocative, punished, and hence made men’s in pornography.”49
BLACK FEMINISM
Black feminism agrees with Mackinnon’s view that sexuality has been used by men as a
means of dominating women and controlling their behavior and that sexualization of women
by leads to their oppression. However, it is important to note that all the assertions of black
feminists are limited to experiences of black women.
44
45
46
47
48
The regulation of Lesbian Sexuality through Erasure: the Case of Jennifer Saunders, Anna Marie Smith,
Feminism and the New Democracy, ed. Jodi Dean, 1997, 184; See also, Movie: American psycho, 2000.
49
PORNOGRAPHY
The black feminists believe that there is a problem of hyper sexualisation of black woman in
the mainstream culture of white supremacy. The culture forces a black woman to either
become overly modest prude or capitalize on her purported sexiness.50 This is a pervasive
problem in the pornographies depicting black females. It subtly inflicts in their minds that the
only reason they are being accepted and appreciated by men is that of their big breasts and
broad hips. They argue that instead of internalizing these stereotypical images, black women
should be proud of themselves regardless of their body shapes.51
They also contend that throughout history, black women have been sexually stereotyped as
immoral, insatiable, perverse, the initiators of all sexual contacts- abusive or otherwise.
Pornography reinforces such stereotype, hence resulting in a belief that a black woman
cannot be raped or otherwise sexually abused.52 MacKinnon characterizes black women as a
group of “victimized and vulnerable women” and the pornographies depicting them as a
means to satisfy the “diverse customer’s favorite degradation.”53
LESBIAN AND BLACK FEMINISTS METHODOLOGY
Black and lesbian feminists use a black woman’s and lesbian’s standpoint respectively to
theoretically interpret the reality of their lives by using the experience of those who actually
live it rather than imagining how a black woman or a lesbian lives as is done by the
mainstream feminist discourses. As Patricia Hill puts it, “Groups unequal in power are
correspondingly unequal in their ability to make their standpoint known to themselves and
others.”54 It showed how stereotypes such as Black women are interested in sex are formed
to describe the required qualities in them.55
By collecting the individual expressions of consciousness by Black women, a collective,

focused group consciousness becomes possible. The black feminist thought is for black
50
Bell hooks, “Naked Without Shame: A Counter-hegemonic Body Politic,” in Talking
Visions: Multicultural Feminism in a Transnational Age, ed. Ella Shohat (Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press, 1998), 69.
51
Rosamarie tong, Feminist Thought, 219 (4th edn, 2014)
52
The second wave, A reader in feminist thought, 1997, 268.
53
54
55
A. Catarine Mackinnon, Toward a Feminist Theory of State, 1989, 90
women as it empowers them for political activism.56 Same could be applied to lesbians as
well. As Audre Lorde points out, “it is axiomatic that we do not define ourselves for
ourselves, we will be defined by others – for their use and to our detriment.”57
The methodology used by the black feminists is consciousness raising, that they call as life
sharing, through which they recognize the commonality of their experiences and from that
sharing and growing consciousness, to build a politics that will change their lives and
inevitable end their oppression. Since racial politics was all pervasive in their lives, they
overlooked the factors such as patriarchy, sexual politics and the wave of feminism that make
their lives what it was.
Further, the black feminists also actively bring out the differences between the experiences of
black women and white women. They argue that, although black women and white men are
differentiated because of their sex58, the fact that they are denied power because of their race
and that their gender positions are different from the white people implies that the
“dominant/subordinate model” of sexual power relationships is not applicable to black people
as it does to white people. 59
The concern of Black feminists is that the mainstream feminist theories have ignored the
peculiarity of the experiences of Black women and racist perspectives and reasoning
dominate even if it does take them into consideration.60 As a consequence of not
acknowledging the difference between themselves and Black women, the white feminists end
up writing Eurocentric and Ethnocentric theories of women’s oppression and portray them as
being universally applicable.61
56
57
Aurde Lorde, 1984, 45
58
The author uses gender
59
Theories of gender and black families, Ann Phoenix, G. Weiner and M. Arnot (eds.) 1987 Gender Under
Scrutiny, Huchison in assoc. with the OU, London, 50, 51.
60
Challenging imperial feminism, Valerie Amos and Pratibha Parmar, Feminist Review (1984) , Special Issue,
“Many Voices, One Chant”, no. 17, July 1784, 3
61
Challenging imperial feminism, Valerie Amos and Pratibha Parmar, Feminist Review (1984) , Special Issue,
“Many Voices, One Chant”, no. 17, July 1784, 3

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A RESPONSE TO- CATHARINE A.

MACKINNON, SEXUALITY, PORNOGRAPHY, AND

HETEROSEXUALITY: RAPE OR CROSS-PURPOSES?

It eroticises subordination and domination through sadomasochism but instead of treating it

A homophobic and sexist person disregards lesbianism by calling it as a mere deceptive

LESBIAN AND BLACK FEMINISTS METHODOLOGY

By collecting the individual expressions of consciousness by Black women, a collective,

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