This is not merely an epistemic claim: that a woman’s saying something about her own experience gives us strong, if not indefeasible, reason to think it true.” And questions of belief and consent-especially those involving abuse-are where Pornhub’s current troubles began. And the current feminist perspective on the porn debate might best be summarized by Oxford philosopher Amia Srinivasan in her new book, The Right to Sex: Feminism in the 21st Century: “If a woman says she enjoys working in porn, or being paid to have sex with men, or engaging in rape fantasies, or wearing stilettos-and even that she doesn’t just enjoy these things but finds them emancipatory, part of her feminist praxis-then we are required, many feminists think, to trust her. Then again, Cosmo contended that “As we all know, women enjoy porn just as much as guys do.” In fact, an estimated one third of Pornhub’s users are women. This fall, the Times published an op-ed by Michelle Goldberg-“Why Sex-Positive Feminism Is Falling Out of Fashion”-citing a TikTok-based “Cancel Porn” movement. The argument remains as contentious as it is unresolved.
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The phrase “pornography is violence against women,” wrote Ellen Willis, an influential pro-sex feminist, “was code for the neo-Victorian idea that men want sex and women endure it.”
A vocal faction argued for an erotic-positive approach to rejecting sexual repression. But not all second-wave feminists agreed.
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Activist Andrea Dworkin famously argued that porn was detrimental to women, full stop. As society grapples with the implications, Pornhub has found itself at the center of a vitriolic global conversation.įorty years ago, debates about porn focused on the idea that the sex industry was inherently dehumanizing and rife with abuse. Beyond the masses watching porn, many at home also make it-and they make money doing so, through sites like Antoon’s. This shift in carnal consumption has had far-reaching effects, transforming sexual norms, implicating underage viewers-and victims-and creating new forms of cyber-capitalist sex work. Today, hard-core sex is instantly accessible on mobile devices, social media feeds, and VR headsets. It represented not just bad juju befalling the XXX site, but an overheated, inflammatory political climate in the ongoing war against online porn.īefore the internet, portrayals of sex acts were the purview of adult magazines and movies. Whatever the cause, Antoon’s inferno was searingly symbolic. Or, given the precision of the firebombing, wasn’t it a signature mob job? Months later, Montreal police issued a bulletin about a citywide arson spree, though there was no mention of the Pornhub blaze. Still another faction pointed to Q-minded anti-pornography crusaders. Others were persuaded that the livid father of an underage victim had the place burned down as revenge for homemade MPEGs uploaded onto Pornhub. Some suggested Antoon had set it up to collect the insurance money-an allegation he dismissed. To this day, it protrudes from the rubble like a headstone-or some telltale sex toy.Įveryone had a theory. All that remained was charred concrete, twisted metal, and a rusty two-story archway where the front door would have been. Antoon’s entire crib, however, was pyro’d. Whoever set the fire was a professional: Nobody was injured, the surrounding homes were barely damaged. As her shift ended around 6:30 a.m., the fire department was still extinguishing flare-ups. “It took a while to control because it was a big place,” explained Caroline Chèvrefils, a police officer on-site that evening. Arriving at the scene, he recalled, “I was devastated.” The conflagration raged all night. Neighbors were being evacuated in their pajamas. In reality, it took up to 80 firefighters to battle the blaze. Driving over, he told me, he kept hoping it would turn out to be something small-maybe just some teenagers messing around. By the time police showed up, the Pornhub Palace was in flames.Īntoon finally woke up when his brother got through on the landline. That said, he can’t help recounting how he lay in bed that night, powerless, two miles from the still-unfinished building, asleep at home with his wife and children, as the company’s security officer alerted 911.