The Philosophy of Pornography: Contemporary Perspectives - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1442275618 ISBN 13: 9781442275614

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2016

Synopsis

Even as it skirts mainstream contemporary culture, pornography remains a social taboo; there still exist strong biases both in favor and against it. With chapters addressing imagination, gender, power relationships, truth claims, aesthetics, and both pro and anti-porn slants, this book presents a balanced view of pornography in modern society.

About this title

About the Author

Lindsay Coleman is an academic and independent film producer based in Melbourne, Australia.

Jacob M. Held is associate professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Central Arkansas. He is the editor of Dr. Seuss and Philosophy (2011) and Roald Dahl and Philosophy (2014), both published by Rowman & Littlefield.

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)

The Philosophy of Pornography: Contemporary Perspectives...offers a wide range of articles on differing views on pornography as it reflects some of today's discussions of the topic.... Two must read chapters...are the second chapter, ‘Pornography Makes the Man’ by Matthew Ezzell, and chapter four, ‘Pornographic and Pornified’ by Robert Jensen. Ezzell discusses how pornography use...affects men's view of women and of sexual relationships. Jensen speaks about what types of expectations stereotypical pornography places on men and women, for example that men are naturally dominant and that women are naturally submissive, that all women always want sex from men and that women like all the sexual acts that men perform or demand.... The topic is surely a difficult one and this book really caused me to think, analyze and be critical of the arguments proposed in the book. (Metapsychology Online)

Even as it skirts the mainstream of contemporary culture, pornography remains a social taboo, and there still exist strong biases both in favor and in opposition to it. This anthology strenuously seeks to present a balance of perspectives on the phenomena of pornography in modern society, presenting chapters both pro- and anti-porn. Themes dealt with include the imagination, gender, power relationships in pornography, truth claims, and aesthetics, among others.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1442275618
• ISBN 13: 9781442275614
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 302
• Editor: Coleman Lindsay, Held Jacob M.