By Eva Sless
If there’s one thing important, powerful people and organisations love more than money, it’s a scapegoat. That clever little “get out of jail free” card that allows you to pass the buck, take no responsibility for your actions, and most likely keep on keeping on the way you always have because hey, it’s not my fault!
Probably one of the best, most commonly used scapegoats is pornography. It’s brilliant! Just above “violent video games” on the “who can we blame for society’s ills” scale, the pornography scapegoat can excuse, or at least give a pass on, taking responsibility for almost any sort of bad behaviour or public outcry.
Mass shootings? Ooh they watched porn! BAN IT!
Violence against women? Porn taught me to do it! BAN IT!
Misogyny? Porns fault! BAN IT!
Unrealistic body expectations? Gotta be porn! BAN IT!
Unplanned pregnancy. The rise in STIs. Sexual abuse and assault. Sex trafficking. Racism. Impotency. Divorce. Sex addiction. All of these and more have been conveniently blamed on pornography which in turn means that no-one actually does anything to really address these issues and so the problems continue as does the misguided blaming of an outside source.
Porn is not perfect, even the most ardent advocates for pornography will tell you that, but the problems blamed on pornography, and indeed even the problems within the industry, are usually not because of the porn (or industry) itself but for far more complicated reasons that have very little to do with the making of, performing of, and consuming of sexual services and entertainment at all. When we look at the laws, regulations, and censorship issues that the industry is ruled by, we can get a far better understanding of what the issues, causes, and even solutions could be, as well as a real understanding of the problems that stigma, misinformation, and “morality policing” can bring.
To look at this in a local and simple to explain kind of way, the perfect example is the laws and restrictions that face Australian photographic images of genitalia in soft-core magazines such as People or Picture. Up until very recently the legislation around this was very clear (and pretty bullshit). Vulvae depicted in soft-core magazines were to be “healed to a single crease” so as not to be seen as obscene. This means that, for the most part, the first depictions of vulvae and labia that many people see is unrealistic and false, and has literally been linked to a mass rise in labiaplasty and other genital surgery, as well as poor body image and the mental health issues that can bring with it.
Cue the hand-wringing and pearl-clutching cries of “Porn Is Harmful!” and the fresh call for it to be banned. On the outside, with very little understanding of the intricacies involved, it sort of makes sense. Porn depicts these images, the images are misleading and lead to bad body image and unrealistic ideas of what their bits should actually look like, so surely porn should be held accountable for it right?
Wrong.
The thing is porn producers, photographers, editors, graphic designers do not want to do this. While the anti-porn crew may want society to believe all pornographers are greedy, gross men who want to exploit, harm, and ultimately own and ridicule women, for the majority of people within the industry, this couldn’t be further from the truth and there are huge pushes from within to fight against these damaging censorship laws and give pornographers, photographers and the models who pose, far greater control over what is depicted in their pages.
While the language in the legislation guidelines has changed – it now calls for “discreet genital detail” – it still means a very similar thing, and, for the most part, nothing has really changed at all.
Whether in front of or behind the camera, or even on the publishing side, the issue of forced censorship of genital detail is one that raises anger, frustration, and confusion from everyone.
“The guidelines are unclear. What is “discreet genital detail” anyway? We can’t show penetration or things like that, so surely just a naked girl who happens to have prominent labia is okay, but no-one wants to test it. We don’t want to risk our jobs” – Sam (asked for name change and magazine not to be named).
“I got into erotic photography because I love the female form in all its glory. I found the mutilating of my pictures to be so offensive to both my art and the women I was photographing that I stopped working for soft-core magazines. It really turned me off. I know it wasn’t the magazine’s fault, but I didn’t want my work altered in that way” – Jake – Freelance Glamour Photographer
If I didn’t have to alter women’s genitals to meet censor standards I wouldn’t have. I do not understand what is so offensive about labia. All vulvas are different, and I think that not showing what they really look like is creating unrealistic standards. – Katie – Former photo retoucher, People Magazine
“What frustrates me the most is that Men’s Magazines and Porn cop the blame for what is effectively the governments bullshit. If they don’t comply they don’t get published.” Lucie Bee – Porn Star
“[We had to] second guess what the OFLC would accept… Which made us err on the side of caution… I just thought it looked dumb turning everyone into a paper cut.” – Shane – Former editor People Magazine
With fresh calls over the last few months to rethink the way we teach young people about sex and pornography it seems as though it’s not just our youth that need an education. The government and Powers That Be have to understand that the industry is not going away, and the way it has been treated and shunned has not worked and never will. They need to realise that expecting an industry with its hands tied to undo the knots is a backwards and impossible task. It is time for a shift in the way we think about pornography and other erotic images. It is time for a change in the way we depict bodies and especially genitals. Most people within sexual work and/or lifestyles understand the real need for proper, inclusive, age appropriate sex education, and know that when that is applied properly, there are far less instances of violence, sexual assault, unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and all of the other things people like to hand-wring about.
It all boils down to experience, knowledge and understanding. In almost every other industry on the planet the people who know the most about the subject are usually in the fore when it comes to discussions about it, and the sex industry should be no different. Whether talking about laws, regulations, education, production, distribution, or any part of what is one of the most sought after products in the world, it’s time to stop scapegoating and start including them in the conversation. It is literally the most logical solution.
