Let me expand on this, a bit, because I think many people misunderstand the feminist critique of pornography, as I did for many years.
Circa 1985, when Andrea Dworkin & Co. were leading the feminist crusade against pornography, most Americans had zero exposure to hard-core porn. I know that I was clueless as to what the fuss was about, never having seen such stuff.
Prior to the mid-1980s, one had to go looking for actual hard core pornography, like at some grimy "XXX" theater or smut shop in the bad neighborhoods of a big cities.
At the time when Dworkin, et al., were ranting against pornography, most people hadn't seen hard core porn. So when we heard "pornography," we thought of, like, Playboy centerfolds and stuff.
Not to defend "skin" magazines (e.g., Playboy, Penthouse, etc.), but they were mainly of interest to the curious adolescent: "What do women look like underneath their clothes?" The term "adult entertainment" is a misnomer.
Whether or not commercial "skin" magazines like Playboy were harmful, they were not hard-core pornography. Mere nudity is not pornography. What is now at issue -- what feminists are talking about -- is some very sick stuff.
What woke me up to the problems caused by the pervasive availability of online hard-core porn was "Belle Knox" (Miriam Weeks) saying she started watching porn when she was only 11 years old. ELEVEN!
In another interview, "Belle Knox" said that, by the time she was 18, the only type of porn that could arouse her were scenes of so-called "facials." In other words, she was completely jaded by the time she was old enough (legally) to see it.
Because of the Internet, many young people start binge-watching hard-core porn long before they're even old enough to drive. Being exposed to extreme degradation must have a devastating impact on their psychosexual development.
Extremely deviant sexual practices -- abusive, painful and dehumanizing -- are being "normalized" through the medium of online pornography. The expectation that women would enjoy such practices is, quite frankly, insane.
The damage done to the minds of young people by the pervasive availability of Internet pornography cannot be measured, but it must be severe. And this is certainly a factor in the resurgence of radical feminism.
Do I have to *specify* what sort of activity I'm talking about here?
