Thursday entry (for 9/3/09): Feminism

While I meant to or not, looking back over my previous work, I can see subtle hints of a feminist perspective. It wasn't until Fall of 2008 that I fully explored the topic of feminism for my Concepts of Photography project. The main theme of my project was to show the standpoints of both second wave feminists versus third wave feminists on the topic of pornography. Second wave feminists are against pornography while the third wave not only supports pornography but embraces it as well. My intent with my project was to demonstrate the merits of third wave feminism ideology and the hypocritical extremism of second wave feminists’ behavior in response to third wave theory. By exhibiting positive photographs of women and couples embracing both pornography and sex in a healthy and fulfilling manner within the setting of a constructed adult sex store installation, I placed my concept within its context. Destroying the installation served to convey the stance second wave feminists have taken on the issue of both pornography and of feminists who enjoy pornography.

Quotes on topic by an expert:

“Many anti-pornography arguments have perpetuated the conflation of penetrative acts and power, and the corollary; that to be penetrated is disempowering. This thinking clearly contributes to ideologies that feminize receptive gay men, naturalise feminine powerlessness, and heterosexualise gay male sexual practices (assumptions about fixed top/bottom partners).” -- Wendy O'Brien

“Third-wave feminists see their sexual freedom as a fundamental right, much like the right to vote. As Paula Kamen chronicles in her study of this generation’s sexual attitudes, young women today ‘feel more comfortable than did earlier generations in aggressively and unapologetically pursuing their own interests in sexual relationships.” --Astrid Henry

Annotated bibliography:

Strossen, Nadine. "The Perils of Pornophobia." Humanist 55.3 (May 1995): 7-9. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. VCU Cabell Library, Richmond, VA. 1 Oct. 2008 .

Nadine Strossen was the most recent president of the American Civil Liberties Union. She is a professor at New York Law School and also sits on the Council of Foreign Realtions. She attended Harvard College as well as Harvard Law School.

In this article Strossen brings up the topic of pro-censorship feminist who are taking drastic measures to censor art amongst other things that deal with sexual themes. She brings up the point that they are working against what the founders of second wave feminism fought for, which was equality in not only the workforce and the classroom but in the bedroom as well. The article focuses on the topic of pornophobic feminists who view sex in and of itself as degrading to women, regardless of whether it is consensual and non-violent. Strossen stresses that these ideas are a reincarnation of disempowering Victorian notions.

“The pro-censorship feminist base their efforts on the largely unexamined assumption that riding society of pornography would reduce sexism and violence against women. If there were any evidence that this were true, anti-censorship feminist – myself included – would be compelled at least to reexamine our opposition to censorship. But there is no such evidence to be found.” p.8, paragraph 14.

Strossen is stating that abolishing pornography is not going to rid the world of either sexism or violence against women. Sexism and violence against women have existed for far longer than pornography, therefore simply getting rid of pornography all together is not going to change that.

How this topic relates to my work:

As a whole, this topic only relates to one project that I've completed but can be felt in the essence of several past photographs I've taken. I've often thought about continuing with this subject matter in future projects but am not sure whether I want to for this class.


This is a photograph of the installation I created for the project I mentioned earlier in this post.