John Stoltenberg, Pornography and Male Supremacy - the Forbidden Language of Sex, Refusing ... Essays on Sex and Justice.
Here's a woman, which you probably wouldn't even think to call a woman, doing whatever the said man in the movie wants her to do, on film, for others to derive pleasure from. Now in general, when men or even women look at her, they don't wonder about her intellect, her personality, even the sound of her voice. You don't even wonder if she's a good cook. When it comes to the viewers of this woman, all they're thinking about is sex - her body parts and what she does with them. That's all you're supposed to be thinking about when you watch it - that's the whole point of porn.
Okay, so now you're looking at this woman and you're thinking of her as, well, not even as a human being as much as some sort of object with legs and tits and other things. You're not thinking of her on any other terms, you don't want to think of her on any other terms. Her express purpose is your sexual satisfaction. You begin to objectify this woman - you don't even know her name, and you are shown to think of her as and object derived to fulfill your needs.
Now, you watch a porn more than once, you see different porn movies, you see these naked women more than once, you see them in magazines as well as in movies. For your purposes, they could even be all the same person - they're just legs and tits anyway, right? For all you know, you could have been looking at the same woman on numerous occasions without even knowing it. They have no personality to you in this form, in pornography. And you may even become accustomed to seeing them this way - seeing the women in these videos and pictures as objects of pleasure for the male viewer.
Now tell me, who is to say that on some levels there aren't men who don't begin to look at women in general in terms of the images they're seeing of women - as objects, as sexual creatures? Do men begin to think of all porn stars as women whose personality doesn't matter to the male, then think of all naked women as objects without feelings, then think of all women in general as tools for men's satisfaction?
Michael Betzold, How Pornography Shackles Men and Oppresses Women, Male Bag, March, 1976
Besides reinforcing destructive fantasies toward women, porn promotes self-destructive attitudes in men. By providing substitute gratification, it provides an excuse for men to avoid relating to women as people. It encourages unrealistic expectations: that all women will look and act like Playboy bunnies, that good sex can be obtained anywhere, quickly, easily, and without the hassle of expending energy on a relationship.
Michael Betzold, How Pornography Shackles Men and Oppresses Women, Male Bag, March, 1976
Robin Morgan, Pornography: Who Benefits
Do you have any idea how sick it makes me feel when I see some guy leering at me in the street? But you have no idea why. No, the typical male response of She just doesn't want to be flattered doesn't make sense, because you're not flattering me by reducing me to something you can abuse. To tits and legs. To something like an object in a porn magazine or movie, someone who wants to solely be a vehicle for the man's pleasure. No, I don't think finding someone attractive is a bad thing, in fact, it's a very good thing. But that isn't all there is to a human being, and that surely isn't all there is to me. If someone is going to stereotype me into one category, I would rather be thought of as smart, or hard working, than a potential fuck.
Every time I see a pornography magazine, I wonder if the owner, or the men looking through it, expect me to look like that, or expect me to perform like that for them. Or if they think I like the submission and degradation. I don't. Most women don't.
Janet Kuypers, How Pornography Affects Me, 1994.