My newest commentary about porn politics is the current issue of Bitch Magazine. Here’s a teaser of my thoughts on Gail Dines’ book, Pornland:
Is it wrong that I’m hot for the black stiletto boot gracing the cover of Pornland? Is it possible to blend kink and critique? Author Gail Dines doesn’t answer this question. That’s not her mission. The main goal in Pornland is to convince readers that porn has saturated our culture [and] hijacked our sexuality…
Dines is at her best in pointing out how porn plays a major role in dehumanizing oppressed groups. She emphasizes that porn passes off sexism as sexy. There’s an interesting take on the early years of Hustler, Playboy, and Penthouse, which Dines suggests were cultural fluffers paving the way for today’s more extreme, hard-core imagery. Her breakdown of Wall Street’s complicity in porn profit blows the lid off the DL money shuffle…
But Dines glosses over how [her vision of] alternative sexuality might still be down and dirty… The book emphasizes how porn constructs desire, stating that gonzo has a tight grip on men’s sexual imagination. Certainly, this can’t speak for all guys… Neglecting to grapple with competing arguments or inconvenient data means that Dines’ attempt to create an airtight argument against porn leaves crucial questions about agency, autonomy, and sexual pleasure unaddressed…
What Readers Are Saying:
Just read your review of Pornland in Bitch (one of our absolute favorite quarterly reads). Thank you for recognizing that there are many men who enjoy non-violent and non-gonzo porn or “erotica,” who don’t force their partners to watch something she or he doesn’t want to, and that many women (together with their partners) have sex lives that include “external” stimula. I support the work of people like [Gail] Dines and [Robert] Jensen, because there are, indeed, huge denigrating and oppressive influences in “pornland,” but I hope that we make some room for what can make sex so exciting for mutually consenting adults.
—Stephen McArthur
Hotline advocate and outreach worker for a domestic violence agency
Your review of Pornland in Bitch Magazine was the most spot-on take on that book I could possibly imagine. It was fair, summed up my thoughts completely, and even had a nice little extra dash of awesomeness with that “read while listening to punk rock…” part at the end. LOVED IT. Nice work.
—Brad Perry
