Quote Originally Posted by SilentMelody View Post
Thanks for your replies!
The thing is though, what is also argued, is that it fuels sexism. Is it in any of your experience that Doms also see women outside of the scene as inferior? Does pornography that displays violence against women effect all women, even though they do not themselves participate, in that they are then treated differently by men who watch it?
There is pornography based on violence against women, and porn based on violence against men. The fact that one is considered normal and displayed in mass media, and the other considered weird and kinky, is a product of society's attitudes. If the existence of porn created those attitudes, both or neither of them would be widely displayed.

Take an example that nobody considers "porn": you can make a whole archive of Hollywood films where a woman gets spanked by a man. (These days, you can find such lists on BDSM sites.) But to find scenes where a woman spanks a man you have to go to explicitly "kinky" productions. Society created that distinction, the films didn't create it.

But of course these things work both ways, and once created, the films reinforce the attitudes that created them.

The fact that dominatrix images are becoming more common in the mainstream - even if usually used jokingly - I see as a healthy sign of the gradual retreat of male-dominated sexism.

And as Snark said, anyone can blame their crimes on pornography. People have blamed comic books, video nasties and the Internet for their crimes, anything to avoid taking responsibility. Some people also blame their crimes on the Bible, but nobody takes that as proof it shoudl be banned.