Archive for November 7, 2009

Ask a stupid question, get an impatient answer

By Kate Harding

“There are several great reasons why female celebs line up to shoot Playboy,” says that magazine’s December cover girl, Joanna Krupa, over at Fox News‘ Poptarts blog. “Finally a woman gets paid more than a man for comparable work, she gets to set the rules, gets to be in a real team work with other women, as many key positions at Playboy are in fact held by women!” In light of all this female empowerment, Krupa asks, “What is feminist about discriminating a [sic] photo shoot just because it involves female (partial) nudity that happens to give men pleasure?” So glad you asked, Joanna!

Turns out lots of things are feminist about “discriminating a photo shoot,” although not all feminists will agree on all of the reasons, or even think of the same ones off the top of their heads! Actual Feminist Amanda Marcotte, for instance, makes this point:

The idea behind the “porn is empowering!” argument is that women who work in porn gain power in a pragmatic way, playing by men’s rules, and feminists should support this for pragmatic reasons, because at the end of the day, women have more real power. And that would be a legitimate argument if the women involved had more power at the end of the day. But what power do they have, exactly? Joanna Krupa cites the big paychecks you get for nude modeling in Playboy, but since those paychecks stop coming when you’re a hag of 23 or so (or possibly younger), then it’s a false form of power.

via Feminism – Salon.com.

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