“Pornography is definitely not a reflection of real life. Accepted or rejected, it will always be at odds. However, sexual expression in pornography is a celebration of the denial of women's dignity. For a man, it is an affirmation of the myth of masculinity to dominate, to rule and to show his might. Conversely, for a woman, sex must be accepted as a form of willingness to be submissive, to submit to the destruction of her own dignity. In pornography there is no love, no passion or drama. There is only manipulation of the body, the mind and the lowly human desire to be satisfied. That humans cannot be separated from animalistic lust.”

Last update Nov. 30, 2023. History

Related quotes

Andrea Dworkin photo
Andrea Dworkin photo
Erica Jong photo
Andrea Dworkin photo
Andrea Dworkin photo

“Pornography is the essential sexuality of male power: of hate, of ownership, of hierarchy; of sadism, of dominance.”

Andrea Dworkin (1946–2005) Feminist writer

Pornography, Men Possessing Women (1979)

Andrea Dworkin photo
Gloria Steinem photo

“Erotica is as different from pornography as love is from rape, as dignity is from humiliation, as partnership is from slavery, as pleasure is from pain.”

Gloria Steinem (1934) American feminist and journalist

Erotica and Pornography: A Clear and Present Difference. Ms. November 1978, p. 53. & Pornography—Not Sex but the Obscene Use of Power. Ms. August 1977, p. 43. Both retrieved November 16, 2014.

Jonathan Haidt photo

“Sports is to war as pornography is to sex.”

Jonathan Haidt (1963) American psychologist

TED Talk http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html (March 2008).

Andrea Dworkin photo

“Any violation of a woman's body can become sex for men; this is the essential truth of pornography.”

Source: Intercourse (1987), Chapter 7
Context: But the hatred of women is a source of sexual pleasure for men in its own right. Intercourse appears to be the expression of that contempt in pure form, in the form of a sexed hierarchy; it requires no passion or heart because it is power without invention articulating the arrogance of those who do the fucking. Intercourse is the pure, sterile, formal expression of men's contempt for women; but that contempt can turn gothic and express itself in many sexual and sadistic practices that eschew intercourse per se. Any violation of a woman's body can become sex for men; this is the essential truth of pornography.

Camille Paglia photo

Related topics