The Philosophy Of Pornography

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Description

For many individuals, pornography is a troubling and problematic issue. Regardless of how the public views this topic, one thing is clear: Pornography is as prevalent and accessible as smartphones and laptop computers. Indeed, beyond traditional hardcore material, a pornographic sensibility permeates many aspects of culture-from tween and young teen fashions to television and commercially successful films.

In fact, pornography is so widespread that more often than not it is taken as a given in our modern social space. However, the thought of engaging in intellectual discussions about the topic strikes many-particularly scholars-as beneath them. And yet something this impactful, this definitive of modern culture, needs to be laid open to scrutiny.

In The Philosophy of Pornography: Contemporary Perspectives, Lindsay Coleman and Jacob M. Held offer a collection of essays covering a wide range of viewpoints-from issues of free speech and porn's role in discrimination to the impact of porn on sexuality. These essays investigate the philosophical implications of pornography as a part of how we now seek to conceive and express our sexuality in contemporary life.

Contributors to this volume discuss: opornography as a component of gender and sexual socialization oecological understandings of sexually explicit media osubordination, sexualization, and speech ofeminism and pornography opornography's depiction of love and friendship oblack women and pornography oplayfulness and creativity in porn Because its subject matter-sex, gender, interpersonal relationships, and even love-is reflective of who we are and what kind of society we want to create, pornography demands serious treatment.

So whether one chooses to accept pornography as a fact of modern culture or not, this collection of timely essays represents a variety of voices in the ongoing debate. As such, The Philosophy of Pornography will be of interest to not only those who are engaged in porn studies but also to an audience educated in and conversant with recent trends in philosophy.

Review: One allegation leveled against pornography is that it harms women in a variety of ways, including through degradation, silencing, and outright violence. These harms occur in the context of how individual women are treated in their personal relationships and in how society treats women as a group.

Against this, some scholars have argued that pornography can be a liberating form of self-expression, especially for underrepresented or misrepresented minorities, or at least that pornography is properly protected by free speech considerations. This engaging anthology assembles contemporary scholarship on the moral, psychological, and social causes and effects of pornography.

Readers familiar with Andrea Dworkin and Catherine MacKinnon will recognize the influence of these anti-porn feminists in some of the entries, but the anthology strikes a nice balance between arguments in favor of and those opposed to pornography...[T]he overall tone of the book is a welcoming but serious analysis of the issues.

It is aimed at readers who have different levels of training and various theoretical backgrounds. This would be an excellent text for an advanced undergraduate or graduate-level course. The associated bibliographies will facilitate further exploration of this provocative topic. Summing Up: Recommended.

Upper-division undergraduates and above. CHOICE