Fjeldsted
Melissa Fjeldsted
English 1010
MW 5:30 pm- 6:50 pm
October 24, 2015
Violent Pornography within our Society
In response to “Pornography” by Margaret Atwood
Most are oblivious, but it’s extremely addicting. Pornography is more radical
than some know. I’m not just talking about taking your clothes off and having sex. I’m
talking violent pornography, where people are hurt, or possibly killed in the act of
constructing pornography. While I find fault in Margaret Atwood’s writing style of using
graphic images to make her point, I agree with her that men don’t enjoy seeing powerful
woman but “exploit them with the use of degrading images.” I also strongly agree that
pornography needs to be regulated.
Margaret Atwood uses a very vivid approach to her writing. Using pathos to
persuade her audience, the author notes that, “By pornography, I meant woman getting
their nipples snipped off with garden shears, having meat hooks stuck into their vaginas,
being disemboweled, little girls being raped; men being smashed into a pulp and forcibly
sodomized.” (Pornography by Margaret Atwood, p. 30) Her goal for this approach was to
make you feel emotions for these people experiencing the atrocities of violent
pornography. While her vivid details convey her point, I don’t think it is necessary to
prove her argument. A more effective approach would have been the use facts or
statistics, rather than awful imagery.
Fjeldsted
Although I don’t agree with that aspect of her writing style, I did really enjoy her
use of sarcasm. The sarcasm shows that she is so advanced and sophisticated on this
topic, she can utilize sarcasm in her writing to lighten the mood, all the while still making
the audiences understand her point. For example, Margaret Atwood states “We’re used to
thinking of these things as part of the ‘entertainment industry,’ and we’re used to thinking
of ourselves as free adult people who ought to be able to see any kind of ‘entertainment’
we want too. That was what the First Choice pay-TV debate was all about. After all, it’s
only entertainment, right?” (Pornography by Margaret Atwood, p. 32) Her last statement
is her using sarcasm; she’s essentially saying it’s only TV right? What’s the big
deal/harm? When in all reality, she knows there’s harm attached to pornography.
Margaret Atwood further states “Men who are threatened by uppity female
behavior in real life, so like to fantasize about women done up like outsize parcels, being
turned into hamburger, kneeling at their feet in slave like adoration or sucking off guns?”
(Pornography by Margaret Atwood, p. 31) I wholly agree with this statement. In my
personal experiences, men are generally turned off or intimidated by strong, opinionated
woman. I had once dated a guy who wasn’t pleased with my independence. Me not
needing him to hold my doors and lend me a jacket lead to the fault in our relationship.
Men enjoy fantasizing of woman in such a vulnerable state, where they have control over
them, and that is where the violent pornography comes into play. But as the domino
effect takes place and one thing leads to another, pornography got more and more
explicit, leading us to the violent pornography that exists today.
I agree strongly with Margaret Atwood that pornography/violent pornography is
something that needs to be regulated more. There should be laws in place, which come
Fjeldsted
with fines for such actions to take place. This is unquestionably a topic that should be
comprehensively researched, and their needs to be consequences for the actions taken. As
we know, laws will be broken if they are put in place, but I also see a dramatic shrinkage
in violent pornography if there were regulations in place.
Margaret Atwood makes very respectable testimonies throughout her article.
While I disagree with her writing style of using such striking images to portray her point,
I agree with her use of sarcasm to lighten the mood. I enjoyed her declarations of men
disliking seeing powerful woman in real life, and also the regulation on pornography that
needs to be taken. Margaret Atwood took this matter into her hands, writing a beautiful,
magnificent piece stating the reasoning for her being on behalf of banning violent
pornography.