Does porn affect society’s view of women?

It doesn’t take a feminist scholar to realize a lot of women portrayed in the media, from sitcoms to pornography, are a fantasy rather than a realistic representation. But with a new trend of web communities celebrating the sexiness of the unconventional female, like Suicide Girls, FatalBeauty.com and BurningAngel.com, media standards for women may be expanding, if not changing.

“We get mad at society for setting standards for women,” fourth-year women’s studies student Alexandra Monzon said. “We say, ‘Why do you have to get botox and fake boobs and implants to be pretty?’ Now Suicide Girls is being like ‘I’m going to dress the way I want to, and I’m going to act the way I want to, and I’m going to do the same things that those (traditional models) are doing.’”

With its promotion of the blond, busty and passive model as the trademark female, and its sometimes questionable management practices, the pornography industry is often accused of demeaning and exploiting women for profit. But by giving models and other females control of the process of creating the photos or videos, and encouraging diversity of body types and styles represented, Suicide Girls may be proving that pornography may be a positive environment for females to assert their sexuality.

“I could certainly see of all the options regarding pornography that (Suicide Girls) is more empowered,” women’s studies lecturer Barrie Levy said. “As long as what they depict is a more empowered vision of women.”

How women are represented in pornography is almost more controversial than the industry itself. Some studies have indicated that violent pornography may lead to sexual abuse and battery. By visually portraying females as in charge of their environment, pornography like Suicide Girls may have the reverse effect.

But at the same time, even students working to combat sexual violence, such as Gelareh Nikpour who was involved in the UCLA Clothesline Project that displayed T-shirts painted by sexual abuse victims in Schoenberg Courtyard last week, deny that pornography is responsible for these sorts of crimes.

“It’s inaccurate to say that sexual violence is something that arises from porn,” said third-year women’s studies and international development studies student Nikpour, who is also co-chair of the Take Back the Night Committee under the Clothesline Project. “Sexual violence exists regardless of porn. Porn is just an imitation of what exists in society.”

Even if pornography could be pinpointed as a definite cause of abuse, matters get increasingly complicated when discussing possible solutions. With the current efforts of the Justice Department under the Bush administration to criminalize and censor Internet pornography, the enforcement of obscenity laws subject to wide interpretation quickly become worrisome for civil rights activists.

This can be a difficult spot to be in for many feminists who acknowledge the possible negative impacts of certain types of pornography, but fear censoring it would only open doors for potentially more dangerous forms of censorship.

“If I’m going to be anti-censorship then that’s how it has to be,” Monzon said. “If I’m going to let one thing go, then I’m going to have to let a lot of things go. I also think the way breasts are not seen on television and how everything is so hidden makes the female body this crazy, secret thing. If it was more out in the open, it wouldn’t be such a big deal.”

As women’s studies lecturer Alice Echols said, “it’s impossible to assign a good or bad designation to pornography.” The debate regarding the industry brings a wealth of religious, feminist, social and political aspects to it. But perhaps what the debate best illustrates is the importance of individuals being able to decide their take on the issue for themselves.

“I’m a firm believer in choice, that’s what it’s all about – a woman’s choice and a woman’s right to do whatever she wants to do,” Monzon said. “It’s her body. Whether or not the person is capable of making that decision, and whether or not it’s bad for them, that’s not my place to decide.”