Monday, March 23, 2009

porn stars vs. soldiers

This is a difficult comparison because there are different ways of running an army and different ways of running an erotic shoot. So, for the case of a strong argument, I'll just try to compare these two assuming everything goes on as it should. I wonder who is more objectified, soldiers or women in pornography. 

I've chosen three criteria for objectification. 

  1. Does the person have a choice in what they're doing?
    -The soldier, once they've singed up and are part of the reserves, cannot leave a mission. And is thus, in a in a sense, property of the army.
    -The actress on the other hand, is put under contracts for certain films, photo shoots etc. but not of the same length as the army and is thus still in control. 

  2. Can the person profit from their actions?
    -The war fighter in this case does profit from his actions but the real profiteers are the ones that actually sent them to war for what ever reason. Unless it's a peace keeping/making mission whereas the people profiting are more likely to be in serious need and thus the mission is charitable.
    -The pornography actress doesn't profit to the same extent as the producers. Unless that person is working for herself (example: running her own website).

  3. Is the person's sensibilities being suppressed in the goal of their body's utility?
    -The soldier is trained to kill and to be indistinguishable from their peers. This means that their emotions are not welcome leading to their being less human.
    -The porn star on the other hand, if she is not morally opposed to sexuality, isn't forced to suppress her sensibilities. In fact they are often celebrated for having unique character (and physical) traits.
In conclusion, they are both objectified because someone is profiting from their labour (just like most people in the work force). However, objectification is not a black or white dichotomy. We can clearly see that the soldier is more objectified than the porn star because of choice and sensibility. Seeing that we are all objectified, how much objectification should be accepted? 

No comments:

Post a Comment