Teaching Pornography: Scholarly Articles

This discussion of scholarly articles dealing with the teaching of pornography
took place on WMST-L in April 2006; two messages from September 2006
have been included as well.  Several other WMST-L files may also be relevant:
Teaching About Pornography,  Feminist Views of Pornography,
Dealing with Sensitive Subject Matter in Class,  and 
Dealing with Sensitive Subjects II.  For additional WMST-L files now available
on the Web, see the WMST-L File Collection.

I had hoped to find a couple of such articles by, say, Linda Williams, Laura 
Kipnis, or Chris Straayer, but no such luck.   Does anyone know of one?

Thanks, 

Anne D'Arcy, Ph.D.
Coonhollow  AT  aol.com

I did a quick search of the ERIC database and found this article, which
focuses on high school classes:

Brooker, Gerard T.; And Others  
"Dealing with Sexually Explicit Language or Subject Matter in Literature
(The Round Table)." 
Source: English Journal v82 n4 p83-85 April 1993 
Standard No: ISSN: 0013-8274 
Abstract: Presents four responses from practicing teachers and four
responses from high school students to the question, "What principles do
you apply in selecting, discussing, and recommending contemporary
literature that has sexually explicit language or subject matter?" 
 
 SUBJECT(S)  
Controversial Issues (Course Content) 
English Instruction 
Sexuality 
English Curriculum 
Pornography 
Secondary Education  

__
fyi,
Betty
________________________________________

Betty J. Glass
Resource Analysis & Support Librarian
Getchell Library/322
University of Nevada, Reno
1664 N. Virginia St.
Reno, NV 89557-0044

glass  AT  unr.edu

Selections from Hard Core by Linda Williams?

--
Judith Kegan Gardiner
Director, Gender and Women's Studies Program
Professor of English and of Gender and Women's Studies
Gender and Women's Studies Program (mc 360)
University of Illinois at Chicago
601 S. Morgan Street
Chicago IL 60607-7107

At 01:18 PM 4/13/2006, Anne D'Arcy wrote:
>I had hoped to find a couple of such articles by, say, Linda Williams, Laura
>Kipnis, or Chris Straayer, but no such luck.   Does anyone know of one?

PBS did a Frontline special on it. It includes an essay from Kipinis which 
basically summarizes her approach to reading porn as a genre:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/porn/

Additionally, Lingua Franca devoted an issue to the growth of porn studies. 
It's offline now, but it should be easy to find the hard copies. (I'd say 
it was '96/96)

_At Home With Pornography: Women, Sex, and Everyday Life_ by Jane Juffer 
(from a cultural studies POV, she references Kipinis and Michael Berube)

For historical context to the sex/porn/dildo/BDSM wars, both of these are 
quite interesting:

_Bad Girls and Dirty Pictures: Challenge to Reclaim Feminism_, Alison 
Assiter and Avedon Carol, Eds.

_Sex Exposed: Sexuality and the Pornography Debate_, Lynne Segal and Mary 
McIntosh

Haven't reviewed the whole thing, but this recent study came out:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2372/is_4_42/ai_n15929172/print
The objectification of women in mainstream pornographic videos in Australia
Alan McKee


While a journalistic account from a feminist perspective I don't agree 
with, Wendy McElroy's _XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography_ was interesting 
and was far better than Ariel Levy's book, _Female Chauvinist Pigs_. 
McElroy at least seemed interested in listening to women and never 
pretended to speak for all women. Levy, on the other hand, only spoke to 
about a dozen so-called Female Chauvinist Pigs, two of whom were dubious 
candidates for the label. Make sweeping claims like that about an unknown 
quantity of women. It just violated one of the desiderata of feminist 
theory: listening to the voices of women.

There are more, I just happen to be on the road so I don't have access to 
all the books, but these should get you started.


Kate

kate  AT  pulpculture.org

http://blog.pulpculture.org  

All the articles suggested are from a "pro-porn" stance that fails, in
my opinion, to explore the politics of pornography production and
consumption from a materialist/cultural perspective. I would like to
suggest some articles/books that I have written with Bob Jensen.
 
"Pornography and Media: Toward a More Critical Analysis," in Michael
S. Kimmel and Rebecca F. Plante, eds., Sexualities: Identities,
Behaviors, and Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004),
pp. 369-380.

"Pornography in a Pornographic Culture: Eroticizing Domination and
Subordination," in Rebecca Ann Lind, ed., Race/Gender/Media:
Considering Diversity Across Audiences, Content, and Producers
(Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2004), pp. 274-281

Pornography: the Production and Consumption of Inequality. NY:
Routledge (with Ann Russo) 1998

In addition, this spring I have an article coming out in the Yale
Journal of Law and Feminism called "The White Man's Burden: Gonzo
Pornography and the Construction of Black Masculinity." This article
specifically deals with what the industry terms "Interracial
Pornography" which is really black men and white women. These films
now account for one quarter of all new films released to the market
and are the most bootlegged of all porn today. The producers and
consumers of these movies are mainly white men and function, I argue,
as present day Minstrel Shows

Gail

 
 
Gail Dines
Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies
Chair of American Studies
Wheelock College
35 Pilgrim Road
Boston, MA 02215
gdines  AT  wheelock.edu

On Apr 13, 2006, at 1:18 PM, Anne D'Arcy wrote:

> I had hoped to find a couple of such articles by, say, Linda Williams, 
> Laura
> Kipnis, or Chris Straayer, but no such luck.   Does anyone know of one?

Though somewhat dated, there is an article at

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~n51ls801/hrosqwsh.html

which cites directly relevant papers by Williams and by Constance 
Penley (UCSB).

Williams incorporates material from her paper in her introduction to

Linda Williams, ed., _Porn Studies_ (Duke UP, 2004) HQ471.P59 2004

I think that Penley's paper was not published.

  penley  AT  filmstudies.ucsb.edu

http://www.filmstudies.ucsb.edu/people/professors/penley/

It might also be helpful to contact Kipnis

http://www.communication.northwestern.edu/rtf/faculty/Laura_Kipnis/

  and Straayer

http://cinema.tisch.nyu.edu/object/StraayerC.html

  to see if they have any unpublished material that could be useful and 
to find out if they have other articles to suggest.

Another reference:

"Teaching Sexual Images," Special Section of _Jump Cut _n40 (March, 
1996)

Hope this helps.

David.
-- 
David F. Austin
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~n51ls801/homepage.html
http://vista.ncsu.edu/
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Department of Philosophy and Religion
Box 8103
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC  27695-8103
Winston Hall 006
david_austin  AT  ncsu.edu

Below are a few more scholarly articles, that I have been planning to
include in my addendum to the "pornification of culture" book list I
posted a while back.  With that initial list I just wanted to mention
recent books that came out--it is terrific that both the discussion
and the book list have expanded in scope and have definitely improved
in the quality of erudition as well as critique. I would especially
like to recommend Bob Jensen's article, "Blow Bags and Cluster Bombs:
The Cruelty of Men and Americans," which was originally written before
the release of the Abu Graib photos (see his website) yet makes
connections between warfare and pornography that the Abu Graib photos
demonstrated.


 Caputi, Jane. The Pornography of Everyday Life," in Mediated Women:
Representations in Popular Culture. Marian Meyers, Ed., Hampton Press, 1999,
57-80.

---. "Everyday Pornography," in Gail Dines and Jean Humez, eds.  Race,
Class & Gender in the Media, 2nd Edition: Sage Publications, 2002, pp. 434-50.  

---. "Cuntspeak: Words from the Heart of Darkness." In Whisnant,
Rebecca & Stark, Christine (eds). Not For Sale: Feminists Resisting
Prostitution and Pornography. Melbourne: Spinifex, 2004. 362-385.

---. Goddesses and Monsters. (2004).

Dines, Gail. "King Kong and the White Woman: Hustler Magazine and the
Demonization of Black Masculinity." In Whisnant, Rebecca & Stark,
Christine (eds). Not For Sale: Feminists Resisting Prostitution and
Pornography. Melbourne: Spinifex, 2004. 89-101.

Jensen, Robert.  See his website:
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/%7Erjensen/articles_gender.html

---. "Blow Bags and Cluster Bombs: The Cruelty of Men and Americans."
In Whisnant, Rebecca & Stark, Christine (eds). Not For Sale: Feminists
Resisting Prostitution and Pornography. Melbourne: Spinifex,
2004. 28-37.

Whisnant, Rebecca & Stark, Christine (eds). Not For Sale: Feminists
Resisting Prostitution and Pornography. Melbourne: Spinifex, 2004.

My apologies if any of the above have been already posted to the list.

Tanya Augsburg

Tanya Augsburg, Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer
School of Interdisciplinary Studies
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-3801

E-mail: tanya.augsburg  AT  asu.edu

At 01:18 PM 4/13/2006, Anne D'Arcy wrote:
>I had hoped to find a couple of such articles by, say, Linda Williams, Laura
>Kipnis, or Chris Straayer, but no such luck.   Does anyone know of one?

Another book I'd add to the list I sent yesterday and which I consider 
indispensable to thinking through the debates is the section on 
sex/sexuality in _Women, Class, and the Feminist Imagination: A 
Socialist-Feminist Reader'_. Eds Karen V. Hansen and Ilene J Philipson. In 
general, I found this book an excellent read for someone, like me, more 
steeped in a socialist feminism than most.


Kate

kate  AT  pulpculture.org
http://blog.pulpculture.org

Hello, I have made a short film that can be used in women's studies
classrooms.  

The Pornography of Everyday Life

A 33-minute film written by Jane Caputi

 "Pornography" (sexualized domination and objectification of women and
others put in the role of women) is really a mainstream worldview, one
supporting not only sexism, but also racism, militarism and environmental
destruction.  Pornography as such appears not only in overt, but also in
everyday forms like ads and other forms of pop culture. While pornographic
imagery is usually thought to be the opposite of religion, it actually is a
form of patriarchal religion and works by appropriating previously sacred
icons and images of women, sex, and the feminine principle and then
profaning and defaming them.  To resist, visionary artists and thinkers
re-imagine female sexuality and/or the female divine, restoring respect to
the feminine principle, and calling for new understandings of sex, mystery,
connection, eroticism, and ecstasy.   

A DVD is available for $25.00.  That sum covers costs of duplication,
shipping and handling; part of each payment will be donated to the Feminist
Scholarship Fund, Boca Raton, Florida.  If you are interested, please send a
check made out to Jane Caputi, LLC, to Prof. Jane Caputi, Women's Studies,
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431.   

Jane Caputi

jcaputi@adelphia.net

Here's an article that just came out, relevant to this and some other
threads:

Kathleen Lubey.  2006.  "Spectacular Sex: Thought and Pleasure in the
Encounter with Pornography."  differences -- a Journal of Feminist Cultural
Studies.  17(2): 113-131 (2006)

(Duke U Press)