The article by Alice Walker on pornography was very intense and graphic, and Walker made her point very strongly. I liked the article; I thought Walker did a fantastic job of incorporating the views of black feminists and showing, through a narrative, the experience of black women in a world of degrading pornography.
At times, it was definitely a hard article to read; I’m sure that for many women it is a story that strikes close to home. The debate over pornography is incredibly complex, and an important thing to remember is that not all arguments for pornography are sexist. But a lot of popular pornography – Playboy, Maxim, etc., stereotype women, degrade them, and exalt males. They also further rape culture in many ways, I believe, by implying that women deserve what men do to them sexually, whether it is rape or sexual assault. Not all pornography does this, of course, but I’d say that a majority of mainstream pornographic magazines do carry a heavy tone of sexism.
Walker also touched upon women’s body identity and self-esteem, and I thought she did it in a way that was touching and realistic. It’s hard for all women to look at images in Playboy and feel good about themselves – some studies have shown that women do more poorly on tests than men do after seeing images of fashion models and porn stars. Though I don’t have the experience of being a woman of color, this article makes it clear that being not just a woman, but a black woman in a culture where blonde and light-skinned is beautiful, can be very damaging.
The article definitely highlighted an experience that I’m sure is more common than we as a society would hope for it to be. Though the article was written a few decades ago, the experience holds true still today. Walker handled the subject beautifully, and used rawness and graphic imagery to make her point powerfully, and she did.
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