Transcript BROWNMILLER’S MILIEU - Luzerne County Community College

BROWNMILLER:
REBUTTALS
BROWNMILLER:
BACKGROUND
BROWNMILLER
Subject X =
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pornography
Argument =
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against
Subject Y =
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rape
propaganda
racism
slavery
anti-Semitism, Nazis, Holocaust
BROWNMILLER
Arguments against Brownmiller
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Tone
It’s just sex
Free will/Choice
Money/Paid
Too far
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propaganda
Nazis, Holocaust
rape
BROWNMILLER:
REBUTTALS
PROPAGANDA
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lies, indoctrination, brainwashing,
disinformation, misinformation,
“information, ideas, or rumors deliberately
spread widely to help or harm a person,
group, movement, institution, nation,…”
“the organized dissemination of
information, allegations, etc, to assist or
damage the cause of a government,
movement, …”
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(dictionary.com)
PROPAGANDA
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organized dissemination
of biased information, disinformation,
misinformation
with deliberate intent
intent =
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to make one group look good
to make another look bad
PROPAGANDA
culprits, hegemony, powerful:
 power
 domination
 control
 authority
 benefit, profit
 conquest
 cultivated, spread through
propaganda, indifference,
apathy
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victims:
powerlessness
degradation
objectification
subjugation
oppression
suppression
defined by AND abused
for a single
property/aspect, trait
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religion, gender, race,…
CHOICE?
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Can one have “choice” with propaganda?
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brainwashing
indoctrination
programming
CHOICE?
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What causes to this effect?
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childhood sex abuse
drug/alcohol abuse
abusive relationships
self-esteem issues
socio-economic issues
CHOICE?
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What other options does society give them?
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poor schooling, limited education
limited intellect
only skills they have = their “assets”
what kind of living, “career” is working a
“McJob”?
CHOICE?
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“White Slavery”
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kidnapped & forced into he industry
“shipped” from Russia, Ukraine, Asia in
containers, promised new life, but instead are
hooked on drugs & forced into the industry
FREE WILL?
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Options?
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Did they have this option on “career day” in
high school?
Do little girls grow up wanting to be porn
stars/strippers/hookers?
What major does this fall under?
Most come from a childhood of sexual abuse
and/or drug abuse
FREE WILL?
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Can they leave whenever they want?
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Will the pimp/manager/porn director merely
allow his investment to walk out the door,
after paying for all those surgeries?
If the porn stars, hookers, strippers are
hooked on drugs to get them in & to keep
them in the business – how can they just leave?
FREE WILL?
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How are they truly treated? Not the TV, MTV,
Hollywood glamorization of the business, but the
true, ugly, abusive reality of life as a porn star,
hooker, stripper?
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Do you think they actually have a say in what they do,
or won’t do, with whom they do or don’t it? Maybe the
“stars” do, but what about the new girl, new guy?
Is there an analogy here to slavery, indentured
servitude?
No regulation of the industry, no sanitation laws, no
governmental oversight
DOUBLE STANDARD?
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Guy in porn = stud
Woman in porn = sl--, wh—
guys think it’d be great to be a porn star
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But what if you had to have sex with
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ugly, pregnant, old…. women
women who didn’t fit society’s or porn society’s
standard of pulchritude
other men
MONEY?
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They’re getting paid, right?
Money makes it acceptable?
Money trumps morality?
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How much are YOU worth?
MONEY?
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How much do they actually get to keep,
after managers, pimps, directors… take
their cuts?
How much do those who are not the big
names in the business earn? The average
porn star?
And high cost of living – the life style as
well as the “cost of living” in those areas
MONEY?
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And health insurance, benefits? None given; all
out-of-pocket. Who’s going to insure a porn
star?
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In 2009, news broke of 16 new infections in the
industry: multiply those 16 people by the number of
people they had unprotected sex with and then those
that they had unprotected sex with and then
by…..exponential – an “HIV outbreak” as some called
it
“The porn industry has its own scheme of HIV testing
and reporting, but it is far from perfect. HIV tests lag
behind the bug itself by as many as 60 days. A porn
performer can have a lot of high-risk sex in 60 days-with people who also have a whole lot of sex.”
MONEY?
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And health insurance, benefits? None given; all out-ofpocket. Who’s going to insure a porn star?
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“The 18-year-olds flooding into the porn industry have just about
nobody. The porn companies label them "independent
contractors," so the performers don't even have the workplace
safety protections that fry cooks at Burger King do.”
< http://www.slumdance.com/blogs/brian_flemming/archives/000873.html >
“condom optional" which is euphemistic for "you either perform
without a condom or you don't perform for this company.” <
http://classic.feministing.com/archives/016164.html >
STDs: “Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and herpes are all accepted as
hazards of the trade” <above>
Did somebody say AIDS!
PERSONALIZE?
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your girlfriend, your girl friend
your sister
your mother
your daughter
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Does the money argument “float” now?
(I know, eeuuuugh! But she’s somebody’s
girlfriend, sister, mother, daughter)
PART-TIME?
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Is indulging in porn “some of the time”
more acceptable?
Is it like fast food
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as long as you do it only infrequently, then it’s
OK, no long-term effects, it’s like a reward or
a break from routine?
PART-TIME?
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OR Is it like –
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I only cheat in school when I haven’t studied. I only cheat in
Housenick’s class.
I only drink-&-drive on the weekends.
I do heroin part-time.
Yeah, I beat my wife, but only when I’m in a bad mood.
I know I was doing 90 in a 35, officer, but I only speed when I’m
late for class.
I’m not a racist; I only tell n- jokes with my friends.
I’m not a bigot; I don’t mind the ch-, the s-, or the k-.
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By this same line of reasoning, it’s acceptable to view kiddie porn as
long as it’s some of the time.
To indulge is to condone. (as kiddie porn charges)
PART-TIME?
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To indulge is to condone.
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Child Porn charges
Blood Diamonds:
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Sierra Leone conflict diamonds/blood diamonds
we agree that to purchase these diamonds is to contribute to,
perpetuate, condone the cruelty and injustice that harvests them
and in the civil war that the money feeds
Sweat Shops:
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Are we not morally responsible when we purchase clothes and shoes
made in these places?
Are we not supporting the owners/slave laborers who make a
fortune off the abusive work of others?
Most agree that these places are morally repugnant, so how can
purchasing any – just one, just one every once in awhile – not
perpetuate this social ill?
(NIKE!!)
JUST SEX?
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hypersexualization of society
when your significant other cheats on you,
tell yourself, “It’s just sex.”
see the personalize above
sexually transmitted diseases
STDs & links to cancer
HIV, AIDS
JUST SEX?
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This isn’t just the “usual” sex here – not
just the missionary + a few traditional
positions: like a Hollywood blockbuster,
they go bigger, bolder, more shocking,
disturbing, disgusting,…
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analogy here to “horror movies” as in the
Stephen King article
escalation, desensitization, feeding the gator
WOMEN as DIRECTORS?
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Women work as directors, producers and
such in the industry, so surely no woman
would victimize another woman, right?
If they do, at least they’re used by men, so
that’s better, right?
WOMEN as DIRECTORS?
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Anyone read Animal Farm?
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“All that year the animals worked like slaves.
But they were happy in their work; they
grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that
everything they did was for the benefit of
themselves and those of their kind who would
come after them, and not for a pack of idle,
thieving human beings.” -- George Orwell,
Animal Farm, Ch. 6
WOMEN as DIRECTORS?
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Kapos were trusted inmates who supervised the prisoners in the
German concentration camps. Some of these Kapos were Jewish, and
they would treat their fellow prisoners very harshly. Kapos were
involved in all aspects of prisoner administration. They had many
responsibilities. They would have to implement commands, maintain
order, assist other Kapos, head work groups, determine the health of
various inmates and ensure that they performed their tasks properly
and meet their quotas. If an order was not fulfilled, the Kapo in
charge was directly responsible. Failure to perform these duties
would have resulted in severe punishment and even death. If you
were selected to be a Kapo you had no choice but to take the position.
It was a matter of survival and one did not deny the SS anything or
the result would be death. A kapo had better quarters, food, and
clothing. They enjoyed their own reserved section in the prison
barrack. They had enough to eat and their clothing was relatively
warm. After the war, the kapos were charged as war criminals,
particularly those who were Jewish. <Sources: Jewish Virtual Library>
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“Golden Pheasants” (spotters)
“Quislings” (collaborator, Benedict Arnold, Judas)
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WOMEN as DIRECTORS?
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“[…] the best and most cost-effective way to control
women for reproductive and other purposes was through
women themselves. For this there were many historical
precedents; in fact, no empire imposed by force or
otherwise has ever been without this feature: control of
the indigenous by members of their own group. In the
case of Gilead, there were many women willing to serve as
Aunts, either because of a genuine belief in what they
called "traditional values", or for the benefits they might
thereby acquire. When power is scarce, a little of it is
tempting. There was, too, a negative inducement: […]
shipment to the infamous Colonies […].”
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from Margaret Atwater’s The Handmaid’s Tale (p.308)
REBUTTALS:
Visual Arguments
BROWNMILLER’S MILIEU
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Times Square, NYC:
BROWNMILLER’S MILIEU
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When a piece is written
often influences How it is written –
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its tone & direction
“when” shapes “why” and “how”
So it’s important to look at the time period
in which a work was written.
BROWNMILLER’S MILIEU
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porn was ubiquitous, everywhere
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imagine going for a walk downtown
or through the mall
and seeing in the display cases sexually explicit
rape fantasies – for ALL to see
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men, women
young, old
children
BROWNMILLER’S MILIEU
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VISUAL ARGUMENTS:
BROWNMILLER’S MILIEU
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VISUAL ARGUMENTS:
BROWNMILLER’S MILIEU
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VISUAL ARGUMENTS:
BROWNMILLER’S MILIEU
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Heard above the Crowd:
NOT JUST @ WOMEN, PORN
REBUTTALS:
Words & Thoughts
LANGUAGE & THOUGHTS
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Agree or disagree with their positions or methods
And flawed as though methods may be
Both Susan Brownmiller’s “Porn: Anti-Female
Propaganda” and Langston Hughes’ “That Word
Black” raise an interesting question regarding the
relationship between LANGUAGE and
THOUGHTS:
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From where do our beliefs, attitudes, and feelings
come regarding genders, races, religions, ages, and
other groups of people? About ourselves?
LANGUAGE & THOUGHTS
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“Language”:
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More than “words”
All forms of communication (speech, music,
written words, graffiti, art)
Images (pictures, movies, ads, music videos,
video games)
Clothes, objects, possessions
LANGUAGE & THOUGHTS
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What we often see, hear, and speak greatly
affects what we think, feel, and believe.
SEXISM, RACISM, AGEISM,…
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Imagine the effect on your attitude of
constantly using or hearing derogatory
words referring to a particular gender, age,
or race.
source =
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family
friends
music
entertainment, culture, …
SELF-ESTEEM
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Consider the words we use in our “selftalk” and the words others direct at us and
how they play a significant role in the
formulation of our sense of worth,
confidence.
How smart would you feel if you were
constantly called “moron”?
VERBAL ABUSE
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Imagine that you are the son/daughter or
husband/wife
and you are the recipient of constant
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belittlement, condescension,
slurs, insults, criticisms.
THE WAR
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Imagine you are a US soldier fighting a war
and you constantly hear criticisms
regarding its handling, management,
rationale, justifications, and scandals.
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(This is why you cannot “support the troops”
and vilify the war/president.)
VISUAL PROPAGANDA
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Imagine seeing a particular demographic depicted in videos,
movies, music, and other forms of entertainment in only one
particular way.
What you see is what you get, go after, expect.
If you see women portrayed as only sex objects, would you
honestly expect to engage them in a meaningful conversation,
interested in their minds?
If you see a preponderance of commercials in which the
Caucasian male is foolish, clumsy, stupid, lazy, and castrated,
how long do you think it will be until your attitude lowers
regarding white men in general, before you’ll wink at such
sexism and racism?
How are you going to know any better?
propaganda, indoctrination, brainwashing, disinformation,
misinformation, lies
LANGUAGE & THOUGHTS
Language affects Thoughts,
Thoughts affect Language.