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RE: Thoughts on Women, Oppression and Porn
Interesting post however I fail to see the link with Porn?
Also talk of "birthright evolutionary power" is a dangerous road to tread and is the kind of antiquated rhetoric that has been used in the past to justify all manners of atrocities (particularly against women). No-one has a "birthright" over the mind or body of other human beings, thankfully as a species we have evolved beyond this kind of thinking (well at least most of us!).
The link to porn is explained in the last paragraph of my original post. Porn, properly used on a platform like Steemit, can be incredibly empowering to women.
My reference to birthright was not intended at all to imply that any person has birthright control over another, or the right to dominate another against his/her will. It was simply meant to suggest that women have birthright power over their own sexuality, and that expression of that sexuality shouldn't be controlled by others (church, state, tribe, men, shaming, etc.).
Porn/ the Porn industry/ the Sex trade has very little to do with empowering women. It is more to do with subjugating people (mainly vulnerable women) for the monetary gain and pleasure of other people (mainly men).
I cannot see how Steemit will not be a vehicle to liberate women from this, any more than the internet or Instagram has.
I agree that women have a birthright over their own sexuality. However what's this got to do with porn and exercising "birthright evolutionary power over men's psyches," as asserted in your OP? The majority of women I know want a monogamous relationship with a good man (or woman) of their choosing yet feel free to look and feel good for themselves, and be respected as human beings. They want little to do with the fact that men are effectively genetic pervs that cannot control their evolutionary urges to keep it in their pants! (which seems to be one of the basic tenant of your OP)
Yes, there are some women that want to freely flash their private parts, however this is a tiny minority. Rather than being overly concerned with being seen to "empower" this minority, Steemit should be careful not to be seen as a gateway for this minority to fall into the Porn industry proper.
I'm not advocating censorship, however I think we should exercise caution in what we seek to promote.
Healthy debate to have at this stage of Steemit development though.
You pretty much made my entire point for me. Porn currently is not about empowering women because men largely control it/them. Men currently control female sexuality through religion, through tribal custom, through shame and through coercion. They allow it to be expressed only in ways that benefit men and where they control it--for instance, in marriage and in the sex trade.
Steem has the potential to liberate women from male dominance over their sexuality because they can post and make money directly--without male middle men taking their cut and controlling the expression of their sexuality. In the same way that Steem liberates authors, artists, and content creators of all types, it liberates female sexuality. Instagram is owned largely by men who currently make millions/billions off what's posted there, including expressions of female sexuality.
Women (and men) say that they want monogamy, but history, evolutionary psychology and their actions prove otherwise. In traditional cultures, 84 percent are polygynous, 16 percent monogamous and less than .5 percent polyandrous.
In virtually all species, the size of the males's testes (in relation to the rest of their body) varies with the promiscuity of species's females. Where men are competing with other men to spread their seed among multiple receptive females (who are having sex with multiple men in a short period of time), the number of sperm produced by each competing male matters. Larger testes that produce more sperm will produce more offspring on average than smaller ones that produce less, causing evolution to select for the former over time. By this measure we know, for instance, that human females have been more promiscuous historically than gorillas but substantially less promiscuous than chimps.
Though we often con ourselves otherwise, our current society is secretly and deceptively polygynous in a manner consistent with our genetic ancestry, and Alpha males continue to mate with more women and produce more offspring. We don't fully recognize this because we either lie to ourselves, deceive our partners, or hide behind fragile institutions (like marriage).
For instance, in the US, between 13 percent and 20 percent of men are unknowingly raising another man's child (and that's in the age of birth control!). These numbers are fairly consistent across countries. Pick your ten best male father friends and then realize that, statistically speaking, between one and two of them is unknowingly raising someone else's child. Evolutionary psychology has shown that the biological father is almost invariably someone who is genetically more well adapted or who has more material resources.
Wealthy and powerful men (Alpha males), even married ones, have on average far more sexual partners, and have sex far more frequently, than their non-Alpha peers, though they are no more likely to use the services of a prostitute than their poorer brethren.
In short, due to the ease and frequency of divorce, modern Western societies practice "serial monogamy". We pretend to be monogamous for a while, and then we move on to the next partner.
I'm pondering what @nanzo-scoop is saying in his last comment because I do think that, at first blush, if the average women came to Steemit and found it a raging pool of dudes beating off to women, they'd be less likely to return. At the same time, the idea that women don't like porn, that they don't enjoy it, etc, is a complete fallacy. BUT that does bring up the fact that only certain types of porn are likely to be rewarded. For example, it's demonstrable and proven that many women prefer gay porn over straight porn for various reasons (that I could make a post about but it would likely be down voted). However, a woman who uploaded some gay porn here to this predominately straight, dude-bro culture is pretty much guaranteed to have her porn preference voted down immediately by a Steem Whale. (I mean, all I posted was an essay about gay tv characters and it got down voted! I can't imagine the reaction to gay porn in this hardcore hetero male environment!) And, so, as long as the Steem Power is in heterosexual dude bro's hands, then the porn that would be valued here would be the exact same porn that is already valued everywhere else. It's a conundrum.
Your points may be valid, however they have a male skew. Your arguments against women wanting monogamy consisted entirely of examples of why men are polygamists and the practices of men!
If Steemit wants to attract and empower women, the focus should be on what women want (empirically) not on what men theorise that that women want (based on our biases). I don't think the ability to upload porn is high on the list for women.
@leta-blake
https://steemit.com/steem/@tuck-fheman/steem-life--vol-5--kill-the-smart-people
;)
Ha! As I said to the person who first introduced me to Steem when they were explaining that porn was discouraged, "Oh, it' s just a matter of time." Heh. I really don't have a problem with it.