Rival and Ally: An Analysis of the Feminist Movements Multiple Perspectives Influences on the Evolution of the Porn Industry

Abstract

While recognizing the tremendous economic and cultural impact of today's porn industry and pornographic culture in the digital age, pornography has rarely been the subject of analysis by social movements and some progressives. This paper then reviews the sex debate, the attitudes and influence of different feminist schools of thought on the porn industry since its boom in the 1960s. It examines how anti-pornography feminism brought attention to the porn industry and what regulation and transformation it brought to this industry. It also illustrates how pro-sex feminism brought a new discourse and space for development in the porn industry. However, different schools of feminism did have some influence on the construction of the porn industry, while lacking substantial and prominent achievements. The polarized tension caused the absence of critical perspectives on the porn industry, thence the less effective strategy toward it.