#1 February 21st, 2024 03:52 AM

jondavid

Member

Women and Porn in Today's Edition of The Guardian

The topic of self-esteem as it can be tied into perceptions of body image is central to the article titled, "'everything is hairless':  what 100 women taught me about porn and confidence" in today's online edition of The Guardian.  Hester, one of the woman interviewed, may very well have been describing ISM:  "Partly as she was looking for pornography that she found less exploitative and more empowering, Hester also had a different experience with the impact it had on her body image. She said she had found it positive to see bodies that looked like hers; that aren’t perfect and don’t conform to an internalised ideal. And she also thought that this was missing from the public conversation: the possibility that porn could play a part in helping women understand that actually there’s no such thing as normal."

I obviously subscribe to ISM for the porn aspect, but it's because it looks and feels just as Hester describes:  less exploitative and empowering for women of all sizes and shapes.  There's also an aspect that it normalizes nudity.  All are things that I appreciate about this project.