Japanese pron

[Caer]

Having access to numerous academic databases, I can search for studies on this subject. However, right now the waters are so muddy I wouldn't even know where to begin. There's...
... the consequences of objectification,
whether it leads to increased violence against women (as a specific consequence),
whether pornography - as a specific type of objectification (and far from the only type) - is a major factor in this association,
whether women truly experience equality with men (either in opportunities or in actual status),
whether objectification and women's purported equal status with men are related in any way,
whether women and men are objectified in equal amounts and ways,
and so on.

These issues constitute a wide of gender studies, and aren't neccessarily issues that can be mixed in the casual way they are being thrown about here. That is not to say that the issues are not intertwined in some manner, but that the issue at hand is far more complex than an assertion that "women have it better than ever before and porn is everywhere, so obviously objectification has no effect" (assuming that I really caught the argument people are making here).

Last time I posted academic studies, it was primarily evidence that legalization of prostitution led to some reductions in violence, health risks, and stigmas for prostitutes specifically. However, this benefit went to the prostitutes themselves, not women in general, and here is an important point to be made: the issue is not that a specific woman who is objectified (the stripper example mentioned repeatedly in this thread) will experience some disadvantage as a result, but rather that the widespread objectification of women (overt or subtle, sexual or otherwise) results in women occupying a lower status relative to men, and associated with that status are a variety of disadvantages. But even this statement does not mean that all women will experience disadvantage (else we commit ecological fallacy ). The "actual-world" results (as opposed to those observed/predicted in studies) will vary by a huge range of factors, from race to education, social network, age, and so forth.

I could go on and on about various issues to consider in the social sciences, but I'll try to refrain. To reiterate, I could easily find out what some of the academic studies on this subject say (unfortunately, I haven't had much study in this specific area of gender issues yet), but someone will need to clarify very specifically what the issue at hand is. And hopefully every can be careful about the argument that they make in this and other debates - it's hard to respond to arguments when they continually wander around from issue to issue with no continuity from person to person and frequently confuse trends with individual issues.