Feminists and Pornography

 First, a little background of my own. I was raised in a pretty morally conservative household: porn was bad. All types and all forms.  We never found a stash of Playboys or a collection of videos, and I grew up before home computers.  If pornography was in my house, it was such a deep and dark and dirty secret that survived in the deep underground. Has this skewed my perspective on porn? Most certainly.
Another bit of background info: I'm not really a feminist. Not because of any philosophical or political stance: purely out of ambiguity.  I am was raised in a home with a father who treated me as an equal with my brother. I married a man who is kind, supportive, and encourages me to be autonomous. I have spent my life in a spectrum of human service kinds of job; its one place in the career market where women actually dominate (just look at the gender makeup of our cohort). I am privileged. I recognize this; but it's also part of what's shaped me.
Sometimes when I am exposed to the views of ardent feminists fighting for a better society, I am caught off guard by their position. Tiefer's view on pornography is a perfect example of my incorrect assumptions. I have always believed, as a product of my background, that pornography is damaging to the plight for equality. I assumed that it degrades women and perpetuates unrealistic stereotypes of body image and sexual response. Tiefer's stance was exactly the opposite:
"And although antipornography arguments seem to rely on scientific research or more principles, I often see just the projection of these internal feelings of shame and dirt that were taught at an early age" (p.140).
I haven't yet determined if I'm guilty: if my views of pornography are a projection of the dirt and shame surrounding pornography that I was taught as a child. Or possibly I just disagree with Tiefer on this point. I feel a bit arrogant even suggesting that I would have the audacity to disagree with the queen of feminist sexuality; she certainly has studied, researched, and lobbied her right to "know what she is talking about". This change in perspective is one that is going to take me time though. Later on the same page Tiefer suggests that "empowerment, not protection, is the route to women's sexual development" (p. 140). I suppose my view of pornography could be classified as protective. I am willing to consider empowerment instead, but it's going to take a little time to turn this ship around.