*Trigger Warning*
This picture above via pornhub.com/insights shows the porn categroies viewed more often in each state compared to other states. Why are statistics on porn relevant? Well, they actually say a lot about what (or who) people in different regions in the U.S. choose to sexualize. For example, a lot of Southern states have a much larger percentage of gay porn viewers compared to Northern states. This is important to point out, especially considering that Mississippi and North Carolina (two southern states notorious for both their anti-gay and anti-black agendas) have some of the highest percentages of searches for black gay pornography. These states just proved that they would like the people they sexualize for entertainment (black people, gay people, black people who are also gay, etc.) to have no human rights outside of the computer screen. This is the perfect embodiment of the sexualization of discrimination. Oppressed people are fine as long as they serve the purpose of sexual entertainment, but once they ask for basic human rights (to not be murdered, to be able to marry) it’s too much. Society tells us that once oppressed people no longer serve the agenda of others, they equate to nothing. The deep south, historically known for their repression of such marginalized people, views the most gay and black porn. The irony is almost too much to handle here.
The sexualization of discrimination also specifically affects women. Think of a guy bombarding a bisexual woman with stigmatic incentives like “threesomes”. Women’s rights have come a long way, yet we are still dealing with constant oversexualization. Whether it be via the media or the guy next door, women are impacted by the sexualization of discrimination too. We are too inept to be in STEM careers, yet you’ll find men drooling over the idea of a “hot naughty nurse”. We are nothing if we are not pleasing a man, that is what society tells us.
The will to control discriminated people (black people, gay people, women) is seen in our laws, our media, and our crime. The policing of who can marry who and how short a women’s skirt should be are just examples of this. The sexual abuse of young girls because of the way males sexualize their bodies and the exclusive way that these males will get away with it free of jail time are examples of this (rape has always been regarded as a crime due to control and power complexes). The murdering of a black person simply because they are black and the murdering of a trans person simply because they are trans are ever more striking examples of this.
All of these things are interconnected; the societal habit of control leads to stigmas which leads to laws which leads to people breaking those laws which leads to media popularity which feeds society. For example: the societal habit of controlling trans people’s freedom leads to stigmas surrounding trans people which leads to the implementation of discriminatory laws which leads to trans people fighting against those laws which leads to trans people being killed which leads to media attention which fuels the societal habit of control. If you don’t think trans people are oversexualized, just go read some comments on Caitlyn Jenner’s instagram and you’ll see exactly how people judge a trans person off of their sexual appeal and how much they are able to pass for their gender. People want to control others in ways they know how; making laws against them, killing them, and using them for sexual entertainment. These are all ways to take power over people and put to use those good ol’ American bred superiority complexes. This is the sexualization of discrimination, and it is running rampant in our society. You will see it during the day in the streets and also late at night on your neighbor’s computer screen.
