To what extent do you agree with radical feminists' notion of "pornography is the theory, and rape is the practice"?

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To what extent do you agree with radical feminists' notion of "pornography is the theory, and rape is the practice"?

"Radical Feminism creates a new political and social theory of women's oppression, and strategies for the end of that oppression, which comes from women's lived experiences." (Rowland and Klein, 1990)  Radical feminism is a branch of feminism which is popular in 1970s.  "Radical" refers "to the root".  Radical feminists look at the root of women's oppression.  Their discourses on gender inequality and sexuality have arisen great debate within the feminist circle.  In the following, I will discuss why some radical feminists see pornography and rape as ways that perpetuate men's oppression of women and the relations of them in the process.

Pornography has been under great attacks by radical feminists.  Andrea Dworkin (1994) argues that, "pornography is a prime means by which men assert their power over women…. porn is more about domination and violence than about sex."  Some radical feminists even argue that pornography is the root of virtually all forms of exploitation and discrimination against women.  Pornography is violent and promotes violence against women.  Dworkin also argues that, "the major theme of pornography as a genre is male power, its nature, its magnitude, its use, its meanings."  It eroticizes male supremacy and defines the meaning of sexuality in the ways that women enjoy submission and even to be raped. In pornography, gender identity, violence and romance are tied together.  Women are defined by their desirability by men.  The value of women is defined by whether they can attract men to have sex with them but not other individuality.

Catherine Mackinnon (1992) had conducted studies on pornography and showed how women's bodies are portrayed in particular ways.  She argues that women's bodies are objectified, fragmented and portrayed in a submissive role in pornography.  In pornography, women are depicted as "commodities" or a "thing" for male consumption.  They do not have their own characteristics or individualities.  Women are fragmentized by the way that particular parts of the women's bodies are zoomed.  Finally, women are presented in a submissive role by lying down, opening their mouth or leaning on something to represent the desire to be conquered and waiting for penetration.  These claims are not difficult to understand.  If you buy a pornographic magazine from a bookstore nearby, no matter which kind of pornography you buy you can easily understand Mackinnon's claim.  From a research done in Hong Kong in 1986, it showed that women's naked bodies exist 32 times in average and focus on the breast exist 64.9 times in average.  Also, there are 27.8 times in average that the women have their legs wide opened and 18.1 times in average that they are lying down.

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Mackinnon (1992) argues that these ways of portrayal made women as second-class citizen.  It would cause physical violence to women since men would be under pressure after reading pornography.  It is claimed that there is a direct relation between images and behaviour.  This is why it is argued that "pornography is the theory, and rape is the practice."  It is argued that rape and porn is a continuum in compulsory heterosexuality.  The images in pornography trigger men into action.  The images also socialize men to act in sexist or violent ways by making this behaviour seem commonplace and more ...

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