Pornography: Men Possessing Women, by: Andrea ... - Feminish

falling off a log for her. It is easier. It is as easy as being the logitself. "Does one (female) prefer to be perhaps a violin or definitely a log?This is the range of choice. It is also the range of political differencein the sexual philosophies of “profeminist” and antifeminist psychologists:one side insists that in the physical act of love a womanis an unspecified stringed instrument; the other side insists that inthe copulatory process a woman is a log. Male-defined discourse isfull of such knotty and poignant disputes.Note too that the male commits an objective act. Men are able tobe objective, an exalted capacity, precisely because they are notobjects. To be objective means that one knows the world, sees it asit is, acts on the objects in it appropriately. Objectivity bydefinition requires a capacity to know, an ability to see. Women,the logs at issue, cannot be objective or act objectively becauseobjects do not see or know. A log does not cognize. A log is what itis—a log. A log that resists being rolled is a log that does not knowits nature or its place. A log that resists being rolled by definition isnot a log. A woman who resists being a log is by definition not awoman.Is it any wonder, then, that a hypothetical freshman conjured upby Becker in The Revolution in Psychiatry is somewhat confused. Heis courting “the attractive blonde in his English class”; he is havingtrouble responding to her “as a total organismic behavioral object”;it is likely “that Playboy magazine had provided him with a sufficientvocabulary and imagery of what girls ‘are like’ (if his red-bloodedAmerican interests were along these lines)”; even though Playboyhas given him an accurate idea “of what a girl is like, ” only his “owndependable response pattern. . . can convey the real meaning of‘girl. ’” 12 And if Playboy has given him a sufficient and accuratevocabulary and imagery of what a girl (sic) is like, when he conquershis trouble in responding to her as a total organismic behavioralobject, what will he do and what will she be? Hannah Tillich gavethe emblematic answer:In Paris, Paulus took me to a street that had what looked atfirst like the window displays in one of the big Fifth Avenue