A response to 'The Ethics of Porn on the Net'

I also change my mind all the time on whether or not I’m ‘okay’ with porn. I don’t think Kath Albury explored the problematics of porn in enough depth in her article. On one hand I think it’s important for female (and male) sexuality to be depicted in diverse ways, and if people want to choose to participate in or watch pornography they should be able to. However, a small part of me does agree with Andrea Dworkin’s argument that women who participate in porn are practising a form of prostitution.

Kath Albury talked about how internet porn has an ‘ethical sensibility’ because it allows people with more diverse or kinky sexual tastes to be represented and catered for. She mentions that some websites do have guidelines and rules, but the internet is so unregulated, obviously there would be a lot of unethical stuff going on. I remember a documentary I watched a while ago about men with fat fetishes overfeeding their partners in order to have more control over them In my opinion, I don’t see how a porn site with images of amputees or really hairy women is necessarily any more ethical than one with fake-breasted conventional porn women. Porn can be hilarious and harmless, but it also tends to promote and perpetuate some pretty distorted and unrealistic ideas about sex and the potential for exploitation is too great for me to be completely comfortable with it.