Social Media, Soft Porn, And The Dehumanization of Women

A man who unlocks his phone opens Instagram and is welcomed by dozen half-naked women has turned into normality.

A man who consumes porn on a regular basis, single, in a relationship or married is an ordinary thing.

It’s no novelty a huge majority of men watch porn.

With the incessantly rapid digitalization of media we’ve been experiencing, it’s now easier than ever to access pornographic material within barely a few minutes.

In the recent years we’ve seen the fast increase of ‘soft’ pornographic content on social media: Instagram, TikTok, Twitter. OnlyFans and various other platforms created to cater to all sorts of preferences and fetishes.

These directly contribute to the objectification and dehumanization of women.

In contrast with more traditional forms such as magazines and DVDs, which have always been harder to purchase. And factors like poverty, shame and guilt intervene. They’re outdated anyway. Technology is responsible for this increase in accessible pornographic content. Capitalism too.

However, I plan to discuss about these topics on a different occasion.

Naked women. Luxury. Airbrushed, impeccable skin and hairless bodies. Huge breasts, plump asses, small noses, big smiles and white teeth.

That’s perfection in the eyes of the of an average Instagram and TikTok user.

There’s a certain feeling forming inside your stomach — repulsion. You feel sick and anxious, m aybe it’s the end of the world, that’s how it feels, though it’s not — when you go through a man’s Instagram following and all those women show up. You’re left with a bitter taste.

Not this again.

You know he’s not the only one. You’ve been through this before. No matter how hard you try, it seems like all men want the same thing. It’s becoming more and more frequent.

Barely three men I know are different from what I just exemplified.

No matter how sweet he is, that man’s kindness means nothing when you come to realization he’s a man. It’s a horrible realization. You doubt he’s any different, but deep down you hope he is. And then he isn’t.

To me, this man is cruel. Selfish.

In some cases it comes from lack of awareness, but it’s more likely it comes from lack of empathy. There’s plenty of causes for that too.

To him, the act of watching porn, looking at half naked women is barely a habit he does for self pleasure. He doesn’t ask any questions, why is she doing that?

He doesn’t have enough compassion for women to ask himself those questions in the first place.

And the answers may vary from man to man.

She’s a whore! She loves sex! She’s a broke bitch who doesn’t like to work! Followed by other derogatory terms that are supposed to justify his hatred from women, although he’s the one consuming her content.

Women have it so easy nowadays!

Women stop being humans in those very moments. When a man follows an instagram model she become an object, a temporary tools to satisfy sexual and visual urges, she exists solely for the sexual gratification of men.

It’s a dehumanizing process and its effects are very damaging.

Men will argue this isn’t as deep as I’m making it sound. Everyone benefits out of this trade. You create content, they engage and eventually pay. At what cost, though?

The woman becomes the product and the lines between women as a human beings and women as a products become blurred.

Moreover it gives birth to some sort of entitlement to a woman’s existence. To assume a woman’s life is merely a show put on display for you is a privilege.

They become unsatisfied with our current reality — most women can’t attain social media grotesque beauty standards and they resent us for it. They hate it so much.

By spending so much time looking at those women, the more disillusioned you become with our reality.

And suddenly we’re not humans and we don’t exist for ourselves anymore.

To be a woman is synonymous to a performance, because, essentially we are persuaded into performing; Wearing make-up, shaving our bodies, being feminine.

They want us to be to be fit, to wear make-up, but, wait! Don’t wear too much make-up, he likes natural women. ( And it’s a well known fact women who wear too much make-up hide something. You’re a catfish. Definitely. )

Unless you’re fat and ugly, no make-up could ever save you from his harsh critique.

He and his friends dissect you like a poor frog in biology class. Too much cellulite, your stretch marks make him nauseous. Your vagina is too loose. Your breasts are saggy. How dare you have body hair?

I wish to be in their position. No remorse.

It wouldn’t affect me because I’m a man. This women’s career is built on what I desire.

Am I not powerful? To have such an effect on a woman’s body and life. To dictate what, when and how because it sells.

I look at these women from a place of superiority, me, the man, am above them because they exist for me. I’m the customer, hence why I should get what I want from them.

A quick note, I genuinely don’t care about your opinion if you’re a man and I won’t argue with you.

There’s plenty of topics I want to discuss about, such as the one I mentioned in the beginning, but I’ll be writing more about porn and beauty standards.