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the other kind of female internet porn

Walrus Magazine article: The Other Porn Addiction: Why are ordinary women exposing themselves online? and The Porn Identity: Stacey May Fowles in conversation with Hal Niedzviecki on privacy and internet pornography. (Link via Andrew Sullivan)

The "Porn Addiction" they're talking about is, "adult women of all ages, shapes, and sizes, from across the world, to post erotic images of themselves for viewing by thousands, if not millions, of people online."

It's the opposite of the fandom. We fans focus on characters or actors and tend to objectify them, rather than becoming the objects of attention. This is especially true for fanfiction of the porny variety, where we denigrate authorial self-inserts as Mary Sues. And once you get to m/m slash fic... Maybe slashers are on the extreme side of a backlash, as far from the female body-revealing kind of porn as possible, focusing away from ourselves and onto men. Hot sexy men.

I'm not sure what it all means, these wild extremes, and I wonder what's going on. Do straight men do anything in these extremes? Where does the lesbian porn come in? What about gay men, they seem more straightforward but what am I missing? Thoughts?
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Comments

Mar. 22nd, 2009 10:55 am (UTC)
Well, I think a fair number of fangirls actually do become objects of (sexual and not-so-sexual) attention by writing porn, either when it's expressed through sexualized communications with others or sometimes through a fan's habit of posting pictures of herself.

I dunno if queer men are more straightforward... I mean, they also run the gamut from the gaping asshole shots on Manhunt to focusing away on other sexy men, though perhaps it's more of a continuum than an either/or proposition. Honestly, I tend to think that straight men are the aberrations here. They're the only ones who tend to see themselves as only capable of identification with some categories: yes, I will look at porn, but no one really expects me to post my own naked pictures (and usually when a straight guy does, it's played off as humorous). Whereas even the most anti-porn separatist lesbian cliche moves from a place of identification with the women in the porn -- they can *see* themselves there.
Mar. 25th, 2009 10:44 pm (UTC)
That's what I was groping towards, yes! I see the straight guy aberration there now. That's kinda why I asked about gay guys, because I know there are different cultural norms, across a spectrum as you point out. *thinks a lot*