Porn, Prison, and the Myth of Male Weakness

First of all, let me state that I have no opinion on porn. I have tried to generate an opinion about it, and I have repeatedly failed. I just have no idea whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, or both, or in what circumstances it can be good or bad. You're on your own there.

But I do have opinions about this Feministing post about a Michigan prisoner suing for the right to access porn in prison. We are supposed to be opposed to the use of cruel and unusual punishment in this country -- though we often fall short of that ideal -- and censorship seems to me to be cruel indeed. If pornography is legal and acceptable reading material for the rest of the country, I think it should be for prisoners as well.

There is also one little part of the above post that really bugs me, and it's this bit: "I’d assume that a sexually satisfied prisoner would probably be more well-behaved in prison than a sexually frustrated one."

This is buying into the concept that people, especially men (and this prisoner is a man), are not in control of their own sexual urges. It is what Hugo Schwyzer calls "the myth of male weakness" and boils down to the assumption that any little amount of sexual frustration can push a guy over the edge and cause him to do horrible things. Which is absurd. (Schwyzer has a whole series of posts on the topic and they're pretty great reading.) Adults of any gender should be able to handle not getting everything they want all the time. And yes, that applies to adults in jail, too. If we make porn available to prisoners, it should be because we consider it ethical to do so, not to pacify them like they're animals.