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A graphic collage featuring a computer screen  with a close up picture of lips with shiny lip gloss. Hands reach towards the screen and three eyes surround the collage.

Is it Time to Rethink Porn?

with Chanel Contos, moderated by Jess Hill

10 March 2024

In the Drama Theatre

Sydney Opera House Presents

Talks and Ideas

In theatre and livestreamed

If we really are serious about women being sexually liberated - and in control of their own bodies - shouldn’t we examine the power of porn to shape expectations about sex - sometimes in pretty violent and degrading ways? 

If we give up now, younger generations of women will be told porn is good for them and they will believe it.

Andrea Dworkin

Is porn patriarchy by stealth?

Turbo-charged by the internet, porn today is ubiquitous, accepted and, for a lot of people, cool. It even has its own cute “corn” emoji on the socials. And in the name of sexual liberation, many embraced it in the name of celebrating their body and desires and taking charge of their participation in it. 

But the “patriarchy has outwitted feminists”, says Chanel Contos, making it socially acceptable for men to watch women be exposed to objectification and violence. How much control do you really have when a mighty capitalist culture production machine like the porn industry is feeding your partner degrading images and violent scenarios designed to shock and push the envelope (and give them that addictive dopamine hit)? Join Contos, creator of Teach Us Consent and author of Consent Laid Bare as she draws the connection between the “corn” we watch and the IRL sex we didn’t bargain for. 

Presented by Sydney Opera House

 

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