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.
Pornification, Sexualization, and Society Chapter 1: Diagnoses of Transformation: "Pornification," Digital Media, and the Diversification of the Pornographic Susanna Paasonen Chapter 2: Pornography Makes the Man: The Impact of Pornography as a Component of Gender and Sexual Socialization Matthew B. Ezzell Chapter 3: Truth Claims about Porn: When Dogma and Data Collide Shira Tarrant Chapter 4: Pornographic and Pornified: Feminist and Ecological Understandings of Sexually Explicit Media Robert Jensen The Politics of Pornography Chapter 5: The Problem with the Problem of Pornography: Subordination, Sexualization, and Speech Jacob M. Held Chapter 6: "The Price We Pay"? Pornography and Harm Susan J. Brison Chapter 7: Heidegger, Feminism, and Pornography Natalie Nenadic Pornography and Speech Chapter 8: Pornography and 'Speech' Jennifer Hornsby Chapter 9: Pornography and the Philosophy of Language Louise Antony The Value of Pornography Chapter 10: Porn, Sex, and Liberty: A Dialogue Nina Hartley and Jacob M. Held Chapter 11: The Gentle Side of Pornography: A Contemporary Examination of Pornography's Depiction of Love and Friendship Lindsay Coleman Chapter 12: Undisciplining Pornography Studies Katrien Jacobs The Possibilities of Pornography Chapter 13: Sisters are Doin' It for Themselves: Black Women and the New Pornography Ariane Cruz Chapter 14: Utopic Futures of the 'Other': Pornography and the Creative Imaginary Taine Duncan Chapter 15: In the Arms of the Angel: Playfulness, Creativity and Porn's Possibilities Joy Simmons Bradley Index About the Editors and Contributors
