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

nature, that this right to own is so natural and basic that it can betaken entirely for granted, that is, expressed as play or sport.Wealth is implicit in owning. The woman is likened to food (adead animal), the hunter’s most immediate form of wealth. As atrophy, she is wealth displayed. She is a commodity, part of themeasure of male wealth. Man as hunter owns the earth, the thingsof it, its natural resources. She is part of the wildlife to beplundered for profit and pleasure, collected, used. T hat they“bagged their lim it, ” then used what they had caught, is congruentwith the idea of economy as a sign of mature masculinity.T he fact of the photograph signifies the wealth of men as a class.One class simply does not so use another class unless that usage ismaintained in the distribution of wealth. The female model’s job isthe job of one who is economically imperiled, a sign of economicdegradation. T he relationship of the men to the woman in thephotograph is not fantasy; it is symbol, meaningful because it isrooted in reality. T he photograph shows a relationship of rich topoor that is actual in the larger society. T he fact of the photographin relation to its context—an industry that generates wealth byproducing images of women abjectly used, a society in whichwomen cannot adequately earn money because women are valuedprecisely as the woman in the photograph is valued— both provesand perpetuates the real connection between masculinity andwealth. T he sexual-economic significance of the photograph is sosimple that it is easily overlooked: the photograph could not exist asa type of photograph that produces wealth without the wealth ofmen to produce and consume it.Sex as power is the most explicit meaning of the photograph.T he power of sex unambiguously resides in the male, thoughthe characterization of the female as a wild animal suggeststhat the sexuality of the untamed female is dangerous to men. Butthe trium ph of the hunters is the nearly universal trium ph of menover women, a trium ph ultimately expressed in the stuffing andmounting. T he hunters are figures of virility. T heir penises arehidden but their guns are emphasized. T he car, beloved ally of men