Materialism Breeds Unhappiness, Research Paper Example

Both females and males have come to be defined by many stereotypes that our society has established. The great gap, however, lies on the fact that males are the ones to choose these stereotypes for both males and females. Being cognizant of this issue we find the purpose that feminism has is to empower women and allow them to face these stereotypes depicted by men. Something of particular concern for feminists is to address the fact that many women take these stereotypes as true and live submissively their entire lives. As a result of all of this we must question whether the actions that women take are really reflecting their individual thoughts or rather following the stereotypes that have been brought upon by males.

The most common stereotypical roles that women are often involved in are housewife and mother. One of the roles that is not very much acknowledged yet very significant is that of a sexual object. Prostitution has very much aided in the spread of these stereotypes as it has been practiced by women since the earliest of times. Recent feministic movements have very much attempted to remove this stereotype but have been defeated with the vast content that there is already out there that makes this claim hard to argue. Recently, the sexual uprising and the invention of the camera have allowed for a much more prominent and mass approach to be made. This mass approach has come to be known as pornography which has made it acceptable for people to view prostitution and has made the stereotype of women as objects much more prominent and intensified. In this context we shall take the definition of pornography from Webster as it states “Material (as books or a photograph) that depicts erotic behavior and is intended to cause sexual excitement,” (Webster). Being cognizant of this definition we can then argue that pornography is the biggest anti-feministic and if the decision that women take to be involved in this business is self-made and rational.

Whether a woman chooses to engage freely in pornography is not a simple question as it involves a lot of variables and has a lot of in depth analysis. Therefore, one can argue that the decisions made by these women are based on various different values, morals and desires. As mentioned in the daily mail, “A woman’s desire to feel wanted, attractive and desirable to males is one of the major reasons why any woman would consider engaging in this sort of activity,” (Lawson). This desire for attention is often not recognized by these women and therefore hard to impact directly. As stated in Time magazine, “In direct correlation to whether a woman would autonomously chose to be a part of an oppressive business is whether that same woman could knowingly do so taking into account that her participation not only reinforces patriarchic traditions but also promotes the sex gender system,” (Gibbs). It would be a plausible assumption to state that any woman with in this society would not want to reinforce these movements, which repress women and devalue their status with in our society. If we are to correctly state this then a woman’s autonomy must be questioned, if she does not wish to endorse these norms of women as sex objects then why has she chosen to do so? One could argue that she has done so because since she was a little girl society has programmed her to be a submissive sexual partner to men, to please men and to feel beautiful and attractive as well as desirable to men should be her most important ambition. It is unarguable that women are bombarded with images and advertisements which are designed to create an “urge” within them to please men, be beautiful and conform to societal norms of health and beauty.

Pornography is without a doubt a form of entertainment, which promotes those same values, beauty, submissive sex and the need to be seen as desirable. Why then does she do porn? One main answer comes to mind; she does so “autonomously” but does so to satisfy a norm. It then could be argued that she does not do so autonomously because it was not her who decided to engage in pornography but the part of her who wants to conform to her role as a woman. This is evident as stated by Lauren Dubinsky, “A particular woman who participates in porn making does so to satisfy norms of sex, beauty and desire and therefore does not do so as a result of her “true” autonomy but of the desires society has told she should have,” (Dubinsky). On the other hand what of the woman who chooses to engage in this business due to the financial gain it will provide? Arguably this too addresses a social norm, which states the wealthy is better. However if we are to adhere to this nor as non-autonomous behavior then the majority of humans could be called non-autonomous entities due to their pursue of financial gain through careers and jobs. This is too radical of a theory, we must be able to give ourselves some latitude when talking about autonomy, if this is not done then one could argue that we are just persons going through life without making any autonomous decisions. For the purpose of this argument lets assume that adherence to financial norms do not deny us of autonomy. Financial gain as a reason must be taken into consideration when we speak of the sex industry and a woman’s decision to work in it. The fact is that although most women do not do so entirely for financial gain it is plausible that some women do, they work at strip clubs and make porn because it provides them and sometimes their families with the means for economic support. Is this woman then to be thought of as non-autonomous? This then creates a discrepancy, how can we know why each woman chose to reinforce norms of sex? It is impossible to analyze the case of every woman in the business however it is undeniable that we can assume most do so for the wrong reasons and therefore do not do so autonomously. As a result it becomes important to dismiss the case of the already stated non-autonomous woman since we have concluded why she has chosen pornography. Nevertheless it is also important to further explore the case of a woman engaged in the business for what she deems to be her own rational decision to further her own life thorough the opportunities given to by that same business.

In the article “Should Feminist Reject Rational Choice Theory” Elizabeth Anderson addresses various important issues, some of which address the notion that due to the nature of the female character women cannot make rational decisions independent of emotions and nurture. This theory envisions rationality in terms of “cold, instrumental, selfish, quantitative calculation and relies on a gender polarized conceptual scheme which counter poses these stereotypically masculine with stereotypically feminine qualities of emotionality, expressiveness, caring for others and sensitivity to qualitative differences.” Therefore it is correct for Anderson to argue that with such notions on the issues of rationality feminist ideology should be suspicious of what on the surface is a definition which states that female personality is neither favorable nor conducive to rational decision making. This theory then only reinforces the notions of patriarchy and further diminishes the status of women. If such a notion were to be accepted then one could say that a woman’s decision to engage herself in pornographic entertainment is one that does don’t come as a result of rational thinking. However it is undeniable that women taking into consideration both the fame and the financial gain that will come as a result of their choice of involvement in this sort of sexually explicit activity. As a result one could argue that under more than one of the dimensions of the rational choice theory discussed in Anderson’s article a woman choosing to engage in pornography could do so rationally. More specifically a woman’s consideration of fame and financial gain falls both under the definition of instrumental and deliberative theories of rational choice both of which state that a person will select means that effectively achieve their ends and perform a cost-benefit analysis of their options and chose the option that has the greatest net expected benefit. The notion that a woman’s choice to do this work comes from self-interest whether it be those mentioned above or other results, her decision to perform pornographic acts also would fall under the substantive theory of rational choice. This dimension of the theory asserts that people place options on a degree of how these options will promote their self-interest. It is also arguable that a woman may chose to enter pornography due to her enjoyment of sex and her correlation with the recording of this act with being sexually free and liberal. However one can also argue that the desire for money, fame or sexual freedom is all norms within our society. As stated by Celestine Chua, “A woman’s desire to become financially stable is rooted in our society’s infatuation and overvaluing of material goods acquired only through financial gain, (Chua). Her desire for fame may also be a function of societal norms due to the importance our society places on popularity, approval and public recognition. In relation to these wants could be a woman’s decision to engage in pornography due to he pleasures of sex. However it is undeniable that one should be weary due to the norm with in our society that places women as sexual objects and creates a need within women to feel sexually desirable to men. It is then because of all these factors difficult to absolutely designate whether women in pornography chose to rationally engage in that environment, and it becomes obvious that suspicion will arise for their true motives. Nevertheless to state that these decisions are done irrationally is to include all other women who chose a career or path in life. Arguably if this were affirmed then one could argue that women who chose to engage in any business whether it is law or motherhood or pornography do so with some influence from societal norms. As a result we cannot assert that a woman’s decision to engage in this type of work is arrived at any differently than any other career, or that due to its oppressive nature the decision to be a part of pornography is absent of the same rationality of any other decision. It is undeniable that if the woman is able to recognize that this decision will reinforce patriarchic ideas about women and sexuality, and harm the movement of feminism one must also wonder whether that woman has done so with complete autonomy. It is important to then also consider whether that particular woman recognizes the harm she is doing to her gender. If a woman decides to engage in pornography because of her urge, whether acknowledge or not to conform to the rules of our society then as discussed above she does so with out the presence of autonomy. However if she does for financial gain and has rationally decided, look this job will provide me with the kind of salary almost no other job could and this in turn will help to support me and my family, then her decision can be thought of as both autonomous and rational. Absent of significant societal pressure and present of self-exploration and self-justification her decisions to engage in pornography are arguably according to the rules of rationality presented in Andersons article satisfied. She has chosen a career that will further her wants (separate from the norms of society) she can be able to say, I want to be a porn star because it offers me economic opportunity and a job that I like doing. Just as in the case of a thin woman or for that matter a heavy woman who wants to loose weight we as a society are suspicious of her motives. However just because her desires to be skinny or participate in porn are conformist to societal norms of weigh and sex role one can not absolutely say that a coincidence exists between what those women want and what society says they should want. It is very difficult to believe such a coincidence could exists but one cannot absolutely say it could not.

It is very unlikely that the majority of women, which engage in pornography, do so for autonomous reasons. It is also very unlikely that they arrive at the decision to engage in this activity by a sequence of rational thought and exploration of ideas. But it is not impossible that either of these could be true for a particular woman, as a result one can not say all women are irrational non-autonomous women if they involved in the business of sex. Ultimately plausible suspicion can be expected when a woman chooses to do something that goes along with societal norms of the female gender, however not all women conform due to social pressure, some women do so for personal satisfaction and gain. It is important to remember that pornography as states in Edward Johnson’s article is a form of expression and like every other form of expression should be allowed an outlet and a voice, even if some members of this society deem this voice to damage ideals and reinforce negative norms that is what freedom of speech is about being able to give everyone a voice even if their voice offensive to some.