I don't disagree with the premise. I think the damage done in general media is so severe because it's so casual about it, so as to never really be a thing someone who mindlessly consumes media thinks about. You don't consider the roles women and minorities in media are being relegated to because their being relegated to those roles is just taken as written. That's what makes it super dangerous. You have a world of heightened fictional reality, but those aspects aren't written as if they are a part of the heightened reality. They're the aspects used to 'ground' the media. The damage is done in that its 'realistic' aspects consist of stereotypes and objectification.I mean, if most of us on this board can agree that sexist or misogynistic depictions of women in a game contribute to a greater problem of misogyny in the gaming community, then it should be clear that pornography, which on the whole is far more misogynistic and sexist than any video game, would also contribute to that same problem.
Watching porn doesnt turn you into a misogynist or force you to demean women, but it absolutely reinforces those mindsets in people who are already inclined that way, or subconsciously cultivates such mindsets, especially in the developing mind of a teenager. Most people can distinguish between fiction and reality, but at some level that consumption is still affecting you.
I want to make it clear that I'm not being holier than thou when saying this; I'm a recovering porn addict. Maybe that makes me biased, but I also know that for some people porn can be extremely damaging.
The difference with pornographic content is that the heightened reality is the objectification and stereotypes. And I certainly agree that it is highly damaging to folks already in, or predisposed to, a certain mindset. The circle I'm trying to square is the people I know who have a stronger grasp on feminism as a subject than I do and can talk at lengths with me on the subject of race in America, who also willingly and shamelessly admit to getting off on cuckold fiction. Kind of like how the BDSM community has, on average, a stronger grasp on the nature of enthusiastic consent than most people outside of it.
I'm more questioning whether it is a catalyst in and of itself, or if it's something that exacerbates a mental state that already exists in a particular viewer's mind.