CAPTIVE DAUGHTERS: Conference on Pornography and International Sex Trafficking

Off Our Backs, Jul/Aug 2005 by Mantilla, Karla

Perhaps the most prevalent stereotype of African American women is that they are "wild animals, ready for sex at any time with anybody." Carter cited pornography in which Black women were in cages with their legs spread and their mouths taped shut. Pornographers perpetuate such demeaning images in countless videos with names like "Chocolate Pleasure," "Black on Black" and "Bound Black Beauties." Prostitution capitalizes on the subordination of Black women and girls who then become convinced of their "worthlessness" in a racist and sexist society. Carter concluded by saying that prostitution is not the oldest profession, but rather the "oldest oppression."

Stark began by lamenting, "I am very sad that Andrea Dworkin isn't here." [Dworkin died less than one month after the conference, on April 9.] Stark built upon Carter and Enrile's critiques of racist stereotypes to explain the sexual exploitation of American Indian women in the United States. She identified many modern examples of the racist misogyny of white men including the prevalent stereotype of American Indians as "unclean" and the video game "Custer's Revenge" in which players score points for raping American Indian women.

According to Stark, American Indian women endure higher rates of sexual violence than any other group of women in the United States, as evidenced by the fact that 75% of them have been sexually assaulted. She identified the European destruction of American Indian culture with the dismissal of American Indian women's power. Today, American Indian women are five times more likely than women of other races to die as a result of violence. American Indian women in prostitution are even more susceptible to male violence. The recent and largely ignored example of Canadian serial murderer Robert Pickton who murdered prostituted women and buried them on his infamous pig farm illustrates this point. Many of the murdered women were First Nation women. Stark concluded with a demand for more culturally sensitive services for American Indian women and the end to all violence against Indian people.

Reel Pornography: Making a Documentary

Presenter:

Chyng Sun teaches Media Studies at New York University. She has produced videos titled Mickey Mouse Monopoly: Disney, Childhood and Corporate Power and Beyond Good and Evil: Children, Media and Violent Times.

Chyng Sun spoke briefly about a new film she is in the process of making titled Fantasies' Matter: Pornography, Sexuality, and Relationships, about the production, distribution and consumption of pornography, with a focus on how pornography affects the everyday lives of the men and women.

Presenter:

Robert Jensen, associate professor in the School of Journalism of the University of Texas at Austin, and co-author, with Gail Dines and Ann Russo, of Pornography: The Production and Consumption of Inequality

Main Points:

* The amount of cruelty and degradation in pornography is increasing, not just in the fringe material, but it is in mainstream material. There is also increased mainstream acceptance of pornography. The short answer in the short term is that pornographers won.