Escaping The Pornographers Gaze
Since the introduction of the first porn film, the “pornstar” has been viewed with equal parts revulsion and perverse admiration. For men, the pornstar is a subject of endless fascination; they dissect her body, her performance, her enthusiasm for being in porn. Women, we are told by men, should both fear and emulate the pornstar.
Fear, because he can “just” go watch a pornstar, and emulate because you have to at least try and be as pretty, eager-to-please, and sexually adventurous as she is. Women have been told by mainstream media that imitating the pornstar is necessary, it’s actually owning your sexuality to act out porn films with your (male) partner. We’re told to wear “sex-proof” makeup, dress “sexy” like pornstars do, perform the way they do to compete with the millions of real pornstars just a click away.
At some point pretending to be a pornstar wasn’t enough and women were encouraged to simply watch porn with their (male) partners during sex, just let him look at the pornstar he really wants. What’s always missing from the cultural discussion about pornstars is the pornographer’s hand, directing women into becoming pornstars. The pornstar is just a regular woman, made up and told to perform in accordance with the pornographer’s gaze. When men tell women to look and perform like pornstars, it is the pornographer’s gaze permeating into everyday life, the porn set extending into our bedrooms.
Here are a few of the beauty standards and sexual practices women engage in which were first demanded of the pornstar, and are now accepted as the norm for women across the United States.
1. Genital Waxing
American women continue to remove their pubic hair, with reasons typically boiling down to a preference for the look. In actuality, genital hair removal has its history in pornography and less with women innately preferring bare pubic areas. (Male) porn consumers preferred hairless pornstars so they could, as an Atlantic writer aptly put it, “look deeper into the women performing on screen.”¹
Combined with existing myths about women’s pubic hair being unhygienic and fashion trends that rely on a hairless pubic area, women are guided into fulfilling the pornographer’s gaze, convincing ourselves that the painful and expensive process of genital hair removal is anything other than pornifying ourselves to be the perfect pornstar for our male partner’s pleasure. A “full bush” is a porn trend unto itself, a sexual perversion or fetish for (male) porn consumers. Erotic only because it normally elicits disgust. The pornographer’s gaze allows (male) porn consumers to sexualize all aspects of the female form.
2. Deep-Throating
As a sex act, has become a standard expectation of women since Linda Boreman was raped on camera in the first porn film Deep Throat (1972). The man who was pimping her saw an Asian prostitute perform the trick at a sex party, then forced Linda Boreman to replicate the act on camera at gunpoint.
Nearly fifty years later and for both the pornographer and (male) porn consumer, deep-throating isn’t extreme enough. Men “face-fuck” women till their eye makeup runs or they vomit. “Can’t bust a load if it’s not a deep-throat”² the boys in high school would joke. When women learn blowjob tips, buy throat numbing spray, and practice their deep-throating skills it is for the pornographer we are performing for.
3. The Cum Shot
We have Deep Throat to thank for eroticizing a man ejaculating on Linda Boreman’s face. After the success of the film pornographers became obsessed with depicting a man’s visible orgasm. Why do heterosexual men enjoy watching other men orgasm? It’s never been about the man’s orgasm, it’s about him orgasming on a woman’s face, marking her as used porn goods. Bill Marigold, a veteran porn director has this to say about the infamous money shot, “the most violent we can get is the cum shot in the face.”³ Women endure this sex act for their partners to try and be sexy like a pornstar. The ultimate adventurous, cool girl. A woman who enjoys pleasing her man. The pornographer’s gaze is degradation painted as sexiness, telling women that the pornstar not only did it, but loved it the whole time.
In Summary
None of these looks or sexual practices are innate to human sexuality, women are not inherently more submissive or accepting of degradation. Girls are brought up to acquiesce to male demands for a waxed pubic area, violent oral sex, and degrading sexual acts as if they were natural parts of her own sexual desire. The pornographer tells us that there is a mythical breed of woman we have to compete with, the pornstar, who waltzes onto a porn set ready to have sex with multiple men, complete with a smokey eye. The pornstar doesn’t exist, she’s made up of regular women acting out the pornographer’s gaze, she is us every time we make our bedrooms into porn sets for our male partners.
It’s 2021 and the pornstar is fragmented across society, dominating social media, the entertainment industry and seeping into everyday life more than ever. Female musicians pole dance while extolling the virtues of sucking dick, bragging about their sexual prowess and skill in pleasing men. The media tells us female empowerment looks like nude women posing sexily for male photographers. Every other female influencer promotes their OnlyFans links, cashing in on the referral money earned through other women’s sign-ups. Selling feet pics, used underwear or even engaging in “sex work” is championed by liberals as empowerment. Prostitution has successfully been marketed to women and teenagers as edgy, cool, sexy.
The pornographer’s work is complete. Every woman a pornstar, not just for her boyfriend or husband but for any man who wants a link. Who even needs the pornstars? We’re all pornstars now.
G.P. Sharma
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