Let's face it, I signed up for SuicideGirls to look at gorgeous and naked women. I can claim that I wanted "real" beauty, that I wanted to restrict myself to empowered women, that I've supporting the subversion of popular culture ... that's a crock of shit, boobies boobies boobies.
That's something I think about from time to time when trawling through the daily SG updates.
ASIDE:Funnily enough, the regularity of new content makes it feel like a chore sometimes, especially on a night right in the middle of midterm season, when I have a backlog that spans at least two weeks into the past. An overflowing inbox is daunting no matter how sexy the content is.
But anyway, as someone who considers himself somewhat enlightened and can at least exhibit some smugness about taking a Gender Issues course, I have to ask myself: How can I claim to support female empowerment when I pay money to see women in various states of undress? Can this altaporn site even genuinely claim to support female empowerment considering what they do?
This is my memory of the night where I decided to subscribe to SG. I had just gone to a lecture dealing with language, one that discussed how our society's historical patriarchy had defined a language that naturally expressed certain values.
I don't remember if this was an aside or central to the author's argument: It was claimed that feminists were making a mistake in demanding that women stop being objectified by men, that there was nothing wrong with a man knowing what sexually pleased him. The author argued instead that it was wrong for a man to consider women as essentially sexual objects, to not recognize that women were more than just their looks or sexual viability.
That section stuck in my head all night. I'm someone who has always struggled with the compatibility of respect and sexual attraction, even today I lean towards consideriing it disrespectful to acknowledge a woman-friend's sexual appeal. And if my intention is to respect all equally, how would my sexual aspects suffer if I maintained this set of values?
The passage in class finally jarred the concept that I am not disrespecting someone when I admit (to myself or externally) that I would, under the right circumstances, bed them. But that's the rub that I realized then; the objectification of women is not on recognizing their sexual qualities, but in not recognizing that sexual relations are just those, relations given willingly between two (or more, I suppose) people and not an activity I somehow earn or win or steal from a passive thing.
That's partially why I signed onto SG that night. Staring and naked beauties, of course, is the primary payoff. But the knowledge that these women have submitted these pictures as a celebration of their own bodies and are in full control of their output (this has been contested a while ago and while the accusations were from ex-members/competitors any accusation unrefuted by concrete evidence somewhat worries me, especially as I don't want to unwittingly reinforce the objectification I struggle to avoid.)
I think this has gone on long enough for now, but notice how I haven't said anything on what I do when I'm here. For all you know, I could very well be a bitter man who stars maliciously the bodies of a gender that he feels spurns him in real life. I'll try to place my thoughts on the actual act of SG'ing at a later date.
That's something I think about from time to time when trawling through the daily SG updates.
ASIDE:Funnily enough, the regularity of new content makes it feel like a chore sometimes, especially on a night right in the middle of midterm season, when I have a backlog that spans at least two weeks into the past. An overflowing inbox is daunting no matter how sexy the content is.
But anyway, as someone who considers himself somewhat enlightened and can at least exhibit some smugness about taking a Gender Issues course, I have to ask myself: How can I claim to support female empowerment when I pay money to see women in various states of undress? Can this altaporn site even genuinely claim to support female empowerment considering what they do?
This is my memory of the night where I decided to subscribe to SG. I had just gone to a lecture dealing with language, one that discussed how our society's historical patriarchy had defined a language that naturally expressed certain values.
I don't remember if this was an aside or central to the author's argument: It was claimed that feminists were making a mistake in demanding that women stop being objectified by men, that there was nothing wrong with a man knowing what sexually pleased him. The author argued instead that it was wrong for a man to consider women as essentially sexual objects, to not recognize that women were more than just their looks or sexual viability.
That section stuck in my head all night. I'm someone who has always struggled with the compatibility of respect and sexual attraction, even today I lean towards consideriing it disrespectful to acknowledge a woman-friend's sexual appeal. And if my intention is to respect all equally, how would my sexual aspects suffer if I maintained this set of values?
The passage in class finally jarred the concept that I am not disrespecting someone when I admit (to myself or externally) that I would, under the right circumstances, bed them. But that's the rub that I realized then; the objectification of women is not on recognizing their sexual qualities, but in not recognizing that sexual relations are just those, relations given willingly between two (or more, I suppose) people and not an activity I somehow earn or win or steal from a passive thing.
That's partially why I signed onto SG that night. Staring and naked beauties, of course, is the primary payoff. But the knowledge that these women have submitted these pictures as a celebration of their own bodies and are in full control of their output (this has been contested a while ago and while the accusations were from ex-members/competitors any accusation unrefuted by concrete evidence somewhat worries me, especially as I don't want to unwittingly reinforce the objectification I struggle to avoid.)
I think this has gone on long enough for now, but notice how I haven't said anything on what I do when I'm here. For all you know, I could very well be a bitter man who stars maliciously the bodies of a gender that he feels spurns him in real life. I'll try to place my thoughts on the actual act of SG'ing at a later date.