Editing Radical feminism (section)

===Pornography===
{{main|Feminist views of pornography}}
[[File:MacKinnon.8May.CambridgeMA.png|thumb|[[Catharine MacKinnon]]]]

Radical feminists, notably [[Catharine MacKinnon]], charge that the production of pornography entails physical, psychological, and/or economic [[coercion]] of the women who perform and model in it. This is said to be true even when the women are presented as enjoying themselves.{{efn|MacKinnon (1989): "Sex forced on real women so that it can be sold at a profit to be forced on other real women; women's bodies trussed and maimed and raped and made into things to be hurt and obtained and accessed, and this presented as the nature of women; the coercion that is visible and the coercion that has become invisible—this and more grounds the feminist concern with pornography."{{sfn|MacKinnon|1989|p=196}}}}<ref>MacKinnon, Catherine A. (1984). "Not a moral issue". ''Yale Law and Policy Review'' 2:321-345.</ref><ref name="pbs.org">{{Cite episode| title = A Conversation With Catherine MacKinnon (transcript)| series = [[Think Tank]]|network= PBS| year = 1995| url = https://www.pbs.org/thinktank/transcript215.html}}</ref><ref name=stanford-shrage>Shrage, Laurie (13 July 2007). [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminist-sex-markets/#Por "Feminist Perspectives on Sex Markets: Pornography"]. In ''[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]''.</ref>

Radical feminists point to the testimony of well-known participants in pornography, such as [[Traci Lords]] and [[Linda Boreman]], and argue that most female performers are coerced into pornography, either by somebody else or by an unfortunate set of circumstances. The feminist anti-pornography movement was galvanized by the publication of ''Ordeal'', in which Linda Boreman (who under the name of "Linda Lovelace" had starred in ''[[Deep Throat (film)|Deep Throat]]'') stated that she had been beaten, raped, and [[pimp]]ed by her husband [[Chuck Traynor]], and that Traynor had forced her at gunpoint to make scenes in ''Deep Throat'', as well as forcing her, by use of both physical violence against Boreman as well as emotional abuse and outright threats of violence, to make other pornographic films. Dworkin, MacKinnon, and Women Against Pornography issued public statements of support for Boreman, and worked with her in public appearances and speeches.<ref>Brownmiller, ''In Our Time'', p. 337.</ref> She later became a [[Born again|born-again Christian]] and a spokeswoman for the [[Opposition to pornography|anti-pornography movement]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Briggs |first1=Joe Bob |title=Linda Lovelace dies in car crash |url=https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2002/04/23/Linda-Lovelace-dies-in-car-crash/54451019598347/ |work=[[United Press International]] |date=April 23, 2002 |access-date=27 April 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150423200636/http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2002/04/23/Linda-Lovelace-dies-in-car-crash/54451019598347 |archive-date=April 23, 2015 |quote=By 1980 she had become a mother of two, a born-again Christian, and a feminist -- and was living on welfare as her husband tried to make ends meet as a cable installer on Long Island. She had already become the feminist poster child for the demeaning effects of pornography, turning up in Andrea Dworkin's 1979 book ''Pornography: Men Possessing Women''.}}</ref>

Radical feminists hold the view that pornography contributes to sexism, arguing that in pornographic performances the actresses are reduced to mere receptacles—objects—for sexual use and abuse by men. They argue that the narrative is usually formed around men's pleasure as the only goal of sexual activity, and that the women are shown in a subordinate role. Some opponents believe pornographic films tend to show women as being extremely passive, or that the acts which are performed on the women are typically abusive and solely for the pleasure of their sex partner. On-face ejaculation and anal sex are increasingly popular among men, following trends in porn.<ref name="GailDines-JulieBindel-PornIndustry">Bindel, Julie (July 2, 2010). [https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/02/gail-dines-pornography "The Truth About the Porn Industry"], ''The Guardian''.</ref> MacKinnon and Dworkin defined pornography as "the graphic sexually explicit subordination of women through pictures or words that also includes women dehumanized as sexual objects, things, or commodities...."<ref name=mackinnon-fu>{{cite book|last1=MacKinnon|first1=Catharine A.|title=Feminism Unmodified: Discourses on Life and Law|date=1987|page=176|chapter=Francis Biddle's Sister: Pornography, Civil Rights, and Speech|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|isbn=0-674-29873-X|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/feminismunmodifi00mack/page/176}}</ref>

Radical feminists say that consumption of pornography is a cause of [[rape]] and other forms of [[violence against women]]. [[Robin Morgan]] summarizes this idea with her oft-quoted statement, "Pornography is the theory, and rape is the practice."<ref>Morgan, Robin. (1974). "Theory and Practice: Pornography and Rape". In: ''Going Too Far: The Personal Chronicle of a Feminist''. Random House. {{ISBN|0-394-48227-1}}</ref> They charge that pornography eroticizes the domination, humiliation, and coercion of women, and reinforces sexual and cultural attitudes that are complicit in rape and [[sexual harassment]]. In her book ''[[Only Words (book)|Only Words]]'' (1993), MacKinnon argues that pornography "deprives women of the right to express verbal refusal of an intercourse".<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|title=Schussler, Aura. "The Relation Between Feminism And Pornography"|journal=Scientific Journal of Humanistic Studies, Academic Search Complete}}</ref>

MacKinnon argued that pornography leads to an increase in sexual violence against women through fostering [[rape myth]]s. Such rape myths include the belief that women really want to be raped and that they mean yes when they say no. She held that "rape myths perpetuate sexual violence indirectly by creating distorted beliefs and attitudes about sexual assault and shift elements of blame onto the victims".<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Maxwell, Louise, and Scott. "A Review Of The Role Of Radical Feminist Theories In The Understanding Of Rape Myth Acceptance."|journal=Journal of Sexual Aggression, Academic Search Complete}}</ref> Additionally, according to MacKinnon, pornography desensitizes viewers to violence against women, and this leads to a progressive need to see more violence in order to become sexually aroused, an effect she claims is well documented.<ref name="mackinnon-guardian">{{Cite news|last1=Jeffries |first1=Stuart |title=Are women human? (interview with Catharine MacKinnon) |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/apr/12/gender.politicsphilosophyandsociety |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=12 April 2006}}</ref>

German radical feminist [[Alice Schwarzer]] is one proponent of the view that pornography offers a distorted sense of men and women's bodies, as well as the actual sexual act, often showing performers with synthetic implants or exaggerated expressions of pleasure, engaging in fetishes that are presented as popular and normal.<ref>{{Cite web |last=redaktion |date=2014-11-10 |title=Feminismus und Pornografie: PorNo, PorYes oder PorLibre? - frauenseiten bremen frauenseiten.bremen |url=https://frauenseiten.bremen.de/blog/feminismus-und-pornografie-porno-poryes-oder-porlibre/ |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=frauenseiten bremen |language=de-DE}}</ref>