The Internet as a Tool for the Exchange and Creation of Power
The internet as it now stands, serves as a tool for accelerating the proliferation and diversification of special sexual knowledges, identities, and roles. Fitting perfectly into the framework of power Michel Foucault describes in The History of Sexuality, pornography and social media have transformed the internet into an unprecedentedly effective tool for surveillance, confession, and crystallization of sexual ideas.
When you visit a porn website, you are often forced to make a choice. Presented with various categories of sexuality (Anal, Asian, BDSM, Bestiality, etc.), you are prompted to choose one. This type of categorization into narrowly defined sexualities is the rule far more than it is the exception. If a sexually inexperienced child (or even an experienced adult) is confronted with this choice, they are suddenly thrust into the process of self-identification with a well-defined sexuality. Thusly, internet porn serves as a tool for promoting and furthering identification with diverse but well-articulated sexualities, as well as serving as part of an endless and largely anonymous discourse about sexuality.
The porn industry is now a multi-billion dollar industry, and is bigger than the NFL, NBA, and MLB combined. As such, the industry has become an undeniable culture-shaper and lobbying force to be reckoned with. It is not uncommon for people to describe their experience of using porn beginning with a preference for soft-core, or more “vanilla” videos, but over time escalating to more violent, fringe, or fetishistic tastes. This often precipitates a reliance on porn as a means of arousal or orgasm. I argue that this outcome is desired, and actively promoted, by the porn industry at large. Reliance on porn generates even more power for the porn industry while sapping power from the users. But it is not only viewers that relinquish power through porn.
The boundary to confessing personal sexual acts in iPhone-quality detail is getting ever lower. Anybody who has used the site ChatRoulette has a clear (perhaps too clear) picture of how common it has become for people to broadcast their sexualities. People send naked pictures of themselves from their phones, children upload pictures of themselves in their underwear on Facebook, and an increasing number of people even upload home porn movies. While these people are sometimes lauded for doing so (being featured on The Chive, friends posting compliments, fans expressing appreciation), and sometimes claim that broadcasting your sexuality can be liberating, we have seen umpteen times how disastrous it can be. Anthony Weiner lost his career by sexting, Miley Cyrus was subject to ridicule when images of her exposed midriff circulated around the internet, and young women (and some men) encounter severe social difficulties after starring in porn movies. Although we often ignore or fail to recognize the fact, the internet is the most effective mass surveillance tool in use today.
The internet also provides people with an opportunity for confession. Facebook, blogs, Twitter, and other social networks encourage people to broadcast their confessions. These are not always of a sexual nature, but it is a striking example of how deeply the practice the confession has penetrated into our present day world. Many people habitually share personal information over the internet, and inadvertently or not, waive their privacy while ceding a share of their power. I argue that this has emphasized the role of confession in our culture, and therefore facilitates power relationships that operate through confession. Whether it begins as sexual or not, it inevitably affects the ease with which people share personal sexual information.
– Eli Bierman
Tags: Foucault, Internet, porn, Power, social media
February 4th, 2013 at 5:26 am
Eli, you wrote a fantastic post and made me think about the power that the porn industry has over users. I’ve found in my experiences, that people sometimes self-identify by the specific websites, studios, and actors that exemplify their preferences. It’s eerie, but it makes me think about the limits of porn as an institution that commodifies sexuality and spreads misconception (including the one where sex is enjoyed more when prompted in ordinary situations like getting a pizza). Is the porn industry actually cognizant of its ability to convince users that pornography is sexually freeing? Is it aware of it’s limitation? I’m not sure, but because Foucault mentions that the will-to-knowledge involves announcing that we are repressed, I believe we need to consider multiple ways in which repression occurs in discourse.
February 5th, 2013 at 1:31 am
Hi Eli,
I agree with Kwame–this is an excellent discussion of current forms of the deployment of sexuality. As you indicate, the confessional imperative to disclose one’s sexual practices and desires continues and expands through digital devices. I’d like you to present this set of ideas for class and consider the ways in which these digital discourses might also transform certain features of the confessional model. For example, who/what functions in the priestly role?