For all the second-wave feminism I read at university, nothing brought the systemic disadvantage to women and the embedded power structures of the patriarchy home to me like my first sight of Ron Jeremy.
This would have been in the late 80s, the beginning of the porn star’s heyday, and he already looked revolting. That was kind of the point of him, I understood. He was there so that every man, no matter how unprepossessing, could inch his erection a little closer to the dream of being able to shag all the desirable women that came into his orbit. He was there to assure them all that there was no standard too low.
