Sometimes I wonder what a world without degradation and objectification would be like. Would the children of the next generation have more balanced and equal relationships with each other? Would women truly be judged on their abilities rather than the way they look? Would girl children run free, not restricted by “manners” or shoes not made for running in? Would the symptoms of our repression be considered amusing cultural artifacts kept in museums, parents and grandparents telling their children “this is what it was like back then…before we were free..”?

I don’t really know what the future will be like. But I now consider our world to be some dystopian, oppressive nightmare, where the world doesn’t respect the planet, where pole dancing and stripping is somehow the height of ‘empowerment’ and we live in a climate of terror and globalisation. A place where, if I try to criticise things that are truly sexist, racist or homophobic, I am told it is “ironic”. I am told to ‘lighten up’ and this makes me feel truly angry and disempowered. Told that there are more important things to be angry about. Is it not powerful to be aware and passionate and angry? Is it not powerful to be aware of oppression and to criticise it and try to change it?

I feel that we are living in a world where men’s voices are always more important. Where if there is a man in the room, people will talk me down or talk over me before I have finished talking. We’re not post-patriarchy yet and still our era is considered ‘post-feminist’.

So the real agenda has stepped out and we’re confronted with porn, and raunch culture, and paedophilia and rape and violence, all that was simmering below the surface when feminism was more visible. The backlash is still happening, and I feel really sad when I’m confronted with people who truly think they are in the right when they can’t see the reality that is happening out there.

History denies Herstory – entire sections of women’s history is glossed over, warped and damaged by misinformation and cultural suppositions. The Suffragettes are now considered ‘female terrorists’ (yes, there are some articles around) and the second wave are thought of as ‘man-hating, bra-burning, hairy feminists’.

Why? Is our society so woman-hating that it considers the justified rage of women just impotent screaming? Anything done for women is now considered HIStory and in the past. Apparently, we can move on now, we’re equal, we can do whatever we want. This is the only ironic ‘joke’ I know.

Our climate is all about male sexuality and porn. It denies that women’s sexuality isn’t an extension of male sexuality. Apparently, Porn is now Sex: where teenagers get their education, and believe that all women will act like porn stars. That it’s acceptable to rape a woman and film it and distribute it around to your classmates. No, porn is not the cause but it is an effect of Patriarchy, that perpetuates myths about human sexuality.

The people that defend heterosexual, violent, misogynist porn so vehemently conveniently forget that it is the context that matters, not the act. That by making, distributing, and viewing porn, you are, in effect, participating in a major tenet of women’s oppression. Mainstream porn is racist, sexist and homophobic.

Lets not forget the whole “lesbian porn for men” thing, the “black man does white woman” thing, the “women being raped by a group of men” porn. And this is mainstream. 90% of men (and some women) have seen some porn in their lifetime.

No matter how much I rail against porn, there is always going to be people that say I’m wrong, that I’m a prude, that feminists have no sense of humour. Well, sorry, but the truth of the matter is that porn is a symptom of oppression, simple as.