Porn - Philosophy for Everyone E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: Philosophy for Everyone
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 497

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

This anthology takes the ever-controversial discussion of pornography out of solely academic circles; it expands the questions about porn that academics might tackle and opens the conversation to those who know it best—the creators and users of porn.

• Features essays on non-traditional issues in porn, including celebrity sex tapes, virtual sex, S&M, homosexual porn, and technology’s impact on the porn industry
• Features fascinating insights from psychologists, a lawyer, and an English professor, as well as industry insiders such as Dylan Ryder
• A fun, entertaining, and philosophically provocative approach to pornography, written for the general reader

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Foreword: Filling in the CaveGram Ponante

AcknowledgmentsDave Monroe

Dirty Mindedness: An Introduction to Porn – Philosophy for EveryoneDave Monroe

PART I LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!SUNDRY SEXY THOUGHTS

1 The Jizz Biz and Quality of LifeDylan Ryder and Dave Monroe

2 Strange Bedfellows: The Interpenetrationof Philosophy and PornographyAndrew Aberdein

PART II THE PORNOGRAPHIC MIND: Psychology and Porn

3 Yes. Yes! Yes!! What Do Mona’s Moans RevealAbout Her Sexual Pleasure?Anne K. Gordon and Shane W. Kraus

4 Pornography as Simulation Theodore Bach

5 Brothers’ Milk: The Erotic and theLethal in Bareback PornographyCasey McKittrick

PART III BETWEEN THE SHEETS:Porn Ethics and Personal Relationships

6 Strange Love, or: How I Learnedto Stop Worrying and Love Porn Tait Szabo

7 Cheating with Jenna: Monogamy,Pornography, and Erotica Fiona Woollard

8 Celebrity Sex Tapes: A ContemporaryCautionary Tale Darci Doll

PART IV TALKING DIRTY: Legal Issues and Free Speech

9 One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Pleasure:Obscenity, Pornography, and the Law Jacob M. Held

10 What’s Wrong with Porn? Mimi Marinucci

11 Bumper Stickers and Boobs: Why theFree Speech Argument for Porn FailsJ. K. Miles

PART V THE ART OF DIRTY: Porn and Aesthetic Value

12 The “Fine Art” of Pornography?The Conflict Between Artistic Valueand Pornographic Value Christopher Bartel

13 An Unholy Trinity: The Beautiful,the Romantic, and the Vulgar Lawrence Howe

14 The Problem with the Problem with Pornography David Rose

PART VI PORN AND TECHNOLOGY

15 Something for Everyone: Busty LatinAnal Nurses in Leather and Glasses Roger T. Pipe

16 Sex, Lies, and Virtual Reality Matthew Brophy

PART VII KINK: Alternative Porn and BDSM

17 What Do Heterosexual Men Get Outof Consuming Girl–Girl Pornography? Chad Parkhill

18 Hit Me With Your Best Shot: The “Violent”Controversy Surrounding SM Porn Ummni Khan

19 Ruminations of a Dominatrix:An Interview with Mz. BerlinMz. Berlin and Dave Monroe

Notes on Contributors

VOLUME EDITOR

DAVE MONROE is an instructor at the Applied Ethics Institute of St. Petersburg College, Florida, and adjunct instructor of philosophy at the University of Tampa. He is the co-editor of Food& Philosophy,with Fritz Allhoff (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007).

SERIES EDITOR

FRITZ ALLHOFF is an Assistant Professor in the PhilosophyDepartment at Western Michigan University, as well as a SeniorResearch Fellow at the Australian National University’s Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics. In addition to editing thePhilosophy for Everyone series, Allhoff is the volume editor or co-editorfor several titles, including Wine &Philosophy (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007),Whiskey & Philosophy (with Marcus P. Adams, Wiley, 2009), and Food & Philosophy (with Dave Monroe, Wiley-Blackwell, 2007).

PHILOSOPHY FOR EVERYONE

Series editor: Fritz Allhoff

Not so much a subject matter, philosophy is a way of thinking. Thinking not just about the Big Questions, but about little ones too. This series invites everyone to ponder things they care about, big or small, significant, serious … or just curious.

Running & Philosophy: A Marathon for the MindEdited by Michael W. Austin

Wine & Philosophy: A Symposium on Thinking and Drinking Edited by Fritz Allhoff

Food & Philosophy: Eat, Think and Be Merry Edited by Fritz Allhoff and Dave Monroe

Beer & Philosophy: The Unexamined Beer Isn’t Worth Drinking Edited by Steven D. Hales

Whiskey & Philosophy: A Small Batch of Spirited Ideas Edited by Fritz Allhoff and Marcus P. Adams

College Sex – Philosophy for Everyone: Philosophers With Benefits Edited by Michael Bruceand Robert M. Stewart

Cycling – Philosophy for Everyone: A Philosophical Tour de Force Edited by Jesús Ilundáin-Agurruza and Michael W. Austin

Climbing – Philosophy for Everyone: Because It’s There Edited by Stephen E. Schmid

Hunting – Philosophy for Everyone: In Search of the Wild Life Edited by Nathan Kowalsky

Christmas – Philosophy for Everyone: Better Than a Lump of Coal Edited by Scott C. Lowe

Cannabis – Philosophy for Everyone: What Were We Just Talking About? Edited by Dale Jacquette

Porn – Philosophy for Everyone: How to Think With Kink Edited by Dave Monroe

Serial Killers – Philosophy for Everyone: Being and Killing Edited by S. Waller

Dating – Philosophy for Everyone: Flirting With Big Ideas Edited by Kristie Miller and Marlene Clark

Gardening – Philosophy for Everyone: Cultivating WisdomEdited by Dan O’Brien

Motherhood – Philosophy for Everyone: The Birth of Wisdom Edited by Sheila Lintott

Fatherhood – Philosophy for Everyone: The Dao of Daddy Edited by Lon S. Nease and Michael W. Austin

Forthcoming books in the series:Fashion – Philosophy for Everyone Edited by Jessica Wolfendale and Jeanette Kennett

Coffee – Philosophy for Everyone Edited by Scott Parker and Michael W. Austin

Blues – Philosophy for Everyone Edited by Abrol Fairweather and Jesse Steinberg

This edition first published 2010© 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd except for editorial material and organization © 2010 Dave Monroe

Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s publishing program has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business to form Wiley-Blackwell.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Porn – Philosophy for Everyone: how to think with kink / edited by Dave Monroe; foreword by Gram Ponante.

p. cm —(Philosophy for everyone)

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-4051-9962-9 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Pornography. 2. Philosophy.I. Monroe, Dave. II. Title: Porn – Philosophy for Everyone.

HQ471.P585 2010

176′.7—dc22

2010004891

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

For Rhonda,my loudest cheerleaderand constant inspiration

GRAM PONANTE

FOREWORD

Filling in the Cave

In Plato’s Myth of the Cave, the philosopher attributes to his mentor, Socrates, the spinning of a pleasing allegory about a group of prisoners sitting manacled in a subterranean cave, forced to look at the shadows projected on a wall by a group of actors, let us say, parading on an elevated walkway between the prisoners’ backs and a roaring fire.

Socrates asks, “Isn’t it reasonable to assume that the prisoners believe the shadows to be real, the echoes to be learned discourse, and the ability to predict what shadow comes next as a skill worthy of the highest reward of the prisoners’ society?” In other words, look at what we can get up to in the absence of the “real.”

This is a searing (depending on the proximity of the fire to the prisoners) indictment of blind, spoon-fed cultures then and now, to be sure. But, while we willingly accept the idea of a proto-Skinnerian world in which a group of prisoners has for no discernible reason been chained in an upright position since childhood and forced to gaze at flickering projections, as told by a man who thought it best to put his words in the mouth of someone else having a discussion with yet a third party (Plato’s older brother, Glaucon), we might be allowed to speculate on some of the questions that might have popped up in that ancient Athenian peanut gallery, such as, “Were they at least naked shadows?”

In my several years covering the business, lifestyles, and ethics (that last one contains the fewest billable hours) of the porn industry, I often doubt the reality of a job whose hazards include slipping on milk that has just been shot out of an oiled 19-year-old’s ass. I keep turning around to look for the fire.

But if we are tempted to think of porn (derived from the Greek word for prostitute) as those images on the wall, and ourselves as the prisoners forced to watch and believe it, then we would have to accept that the parties that lit the fire, erected the walkway, and hired the actors were smarter than us, or at least had some plan for our lives.

My friends, I have met the people who make the Dirtpipe Milkshakes series, and I can assure you that they will not be contesting your spelling bee title. Nor do they care where you go once you push the offending DVD or computer away from you. No, I think porn is the wall, and the images change depending on how we choose to look at them.

You might have noticed that porn has the quality of becoming less satisfying the more complicated it gets. Throw in a plot (or even – shudder – a B story) and the pornographer increases his chances of breaking something that previously hummed along like some shaved steampunk perpetual motion machine; for millennia we have been aware that one simply can’t go wrong with people having sex, and that modern pornography’s success has not been in presenting variations of the sexual act but in providing the media for its presentation to be more accessible.

We can argue about what is the “right” kind of porn and how something with that elusive description should appeal to women, couples, minorities, sensitive Caucasian men, the aged, and beings yet to appear, but no one says that watching other people (or oneself) fuck is not intriguing in a marrow-level, continuance-of-the-species kind of way.

It is when elements are added to stimulate the newer neighbors of our monkey brains that porn becomes less “real.” It is then we notice the boom dipping into the frame, then we realize the performers just got the script that morning, that in any case they never expected to be performing Medea when they got bra-busting saline injections, and then we scoff at a dolly shot when a simple close-up will do.

Early texts of Plato’s Republic, in which the Myth of the Cave appeared, used the word gaze to describe how its audience regarded the pictures on the wall. The reason we gaze at pornography, rather than be engaged by it, is because the very basic and elemental strivings and exertions depicted therein are ours to interpret. We gaze because porn becomes what we want it to be; it is a cave to be filled in.

That is why we spare porn the rigorous character breakdowns we would require of Dude, Where’s My Car? This is why we forgive porn for labeling as MILF the 23-year-old who has never borne children, as Asian a Swede, as a naughty schoolgirl someone who is not and never was. But the uniform is all they – and you, the viewer – need to begin the crazy joyride of projection. So porn is the wall and the viewer is both the prisoner and the fire; the actors are whoever you want them to be, because I can tell you they are not in “real life” what you have made them.

Porn as a phenomenon seems to have generated a perfect ratio of content to comment. For as many issues of Barely Legal, Screw My Wife, Please, and Dirty Debutantes generated annually, there are scholarly treatises about Why We Like Porn; or Is It OK That We Like Porn? or; Are We Bad People for Encouraging Other People To Like Porn?

I would like to throw my hat in the ring and say that porn is not real, but you are, and that porn serves the same purpose that monster trucks, professional wrestling, TMZ, and eating candy do: they are all fixed points at which existing thoughts can coalesce. It helps, then, that those entertainments are fairly thought-agnostic on their own.

Maybe Plato projected his own allegory of the cave onto Socrates because he thought the name “Socrates” might make the theory sexier – less Platonic. In the adult business we understand this, hence Linda Hopkins became Tera Patrick and Jenna Massoli became Jenna Jameson. What is porn if not the thoughtful practice of projecting something onto the most attractive surface?

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First, I would like to thank all of the contributors; they are the true authors of this anthology. Many of these people I have only communicated with by phone or email, but they already seem like friends. I deeply appreciate the quality of their writing and their good spirits in working with me on crafting this volume. Sometimes it may have seemed that I was the source of unending questions, feedback, suggestions, and perhaps, irritation. Nevertheless, the authors were, without exception, diligent, patient, and a pleasure to work with; I am grateful for their excellent essays. It is noteworthy to recognize their background diversity, too; they come from various academic professions, law, and even inside the porn industry itself, which had the effect of extending my own knowledge. I am grateful for that, as well!

Second, I would like to thank those who have directly or indirectly helped me throughout the production of this book, including my mother, Mary Turfe, and my brothers, Chris and Andrew Monroe; my cousin Ian Verhine; Nathan Bunker-Otto, my dear friend, and Jason at Vegas Showgirls in Saint Petersburg; Tom Brommage, Eric Berling, and Joe Ellin, for stepping in to help with other academic obligations; my students and colleagues at Saint Petersburg College and University of Tampa; and, especially, my wife Rhonda. I cannot imagine what life would be like without her loving support and willingness to promote my various projects, including a book about porn! Precious few wives would be willing to indulge their husbands’ spending long hours talking to porn stars, watching porn, and devoting weekends editing papers and writing about the jizz biz. I am fortunate to be so lucky.

Third, I would like to thank my publisher. Wiley-Blackwell has been behind this project from its inception, and shown remarkable enthusiasm for a project about an admittedly controversial topic. In particular, I recognize the efforts of Fritz Allhoff, Jeff Dean, and Tiffany Mok. Fritz, the series editor of the Philosophy for Everyone line, has shown unflagging confidence in this volume, the series, and in me. I especially appreciate his ardent desire to produce excellent books, and I thank him for his constant guidance, suggestions, and feedback in helping me attain that end. Jeff, the acquisitions editor for philosophy at Wiley-Blackwell, has also been a great source of help, enthusiasm, and ideas. Tiffany helped guide me through the business side of putting together an anthology, something about which I was woefully ignorant, and I could not have done it without her. Any editor should be grateful for such wise guidance!

Finally, I thank you, the reader: enjoy the volume! The next time you engage with porn, think about it!

Dave MonroeSaint Petersburg, FL

DAVE MONROE

DIRTY MINDEDNESS

An Introduction to Porn – Philosophy for Everyone

In the pages of this anthology, the reader will find a tantalizing spread of essays about pornography. Like “gonzo” videos, the essays within are broadly arranged by topic; this allows you to “fast forward” or “rewind” to the issues that turn you on. I am confident, however, that you will find each section stimulating, as every essay is uniquely delightful and intellectually arousing.

Some may wonder whether the world needs more writing about pornography; after all, there is no dearth of academic literature on the subject. Porn has been a topic in feminist, legal, and general ethical discussions since at least the 1970s. So what is the motive for producing this anthology? The answer is simple. We have, as a culture, become more dirty minded. Yet discussions of the porn industry and its attendant issues seem largely to be limited to academic or legal contexts, locker rooms or bedchambers. In other words, the ubiquity of the subject appears to outrun the scope of the discourse. This anthology seeks to broaden the conversation about pornography, both by expanding the range of questions about porn that academics might address and by opening the conversation to those who are most familiar with it – the creators and users of porn.

The contemporary porn industry and the hordes of porn consumers have never been larger. The explosion of porn on the Internet has expanded the industry in previously undreamt ways. Nude busty women, lesbian sex, and money shots are a mere Google search away; access to porn no longer involves skulking into the shady parts of town to visit the adult theatre or video store. What’s more, porn’s relationship to pop culture has changed since the “Golden Age” of the 1970s. Porn has lampooned or perverted Hollywood story lines since then (one thinks of memorable titles like Edward Penishands), but it is evident that the dynamic has shifted. Hollywood films, television, popular magazines, and literature are now frequently giving homage to the porn industry. There is scarcely a reality show on TV that does not feature some current or former Playboy model. Movies like Zach and Miri Make a Porno celebrate, rather than denigrate, porn. “Crossovers” are surprisingly common, as well. Once, having acted in porn was equivalent to branding oneself with a scarlet letter. Actresses like Traci Lords worked tirelessly to transition into doing mainstream films and TV. Now, however, there seem to be no such stigmas. The crossover runs the other direction, as well; Kelly McCarty, Miss USA 1991 and soap opera star, signed a contract with Vivid Video in 2008.

Furthermore, celebrity sex tapes are increasingly available to the libidinous celebrity obsessed public. Non-industry performers are getting in on the act, too. Popular, and controversial, videos like the Girls Gone Wild series feature not adult actresses, but rambunctious college-aged girls willing to flash for cash. Similarly, “amateur” porn is an emerging trend on the internet – couples film their coitus and broadcast it for others to see. The rest of us, in startling numbers, are tuning in to watch.

With porn’s new dimensions come new issues to discuss. What are the ramifications of this pornographic proliferation? What moral dimensions are there to the explosion of technology and the availability of porn? How does porn potentially affect our relationships with others? Are there special ethical concerns that present themselves when amateurs act like porn professionals? How does the virtual bombardment of pornographic images affect our psychology? Does porn offer any social benefits? Do old legal concepts about porn hold up under a new cultural paradigm of dirty mindedness? What are some contemporary issues in gay porn? These and other novel issues are discussed within.

That is not to say, however, that this volume fails to address the classic issues constellated around porn. Concerns about the nature of free speech and whether porn falls under that concept, the putative artistic value of porn, gender issues, discussions of possible harms related to porn, are all covered. Thus, the reader interested in standing academic debates about porn will not be left feeling as if they have taken a cold shower.

Porn – Philosophy for Everyone is also a “crossover” book. Inside, you will find essays written not just by academic philosophers, but lawyers, psychologists, and other scholars. Our contributors come from around the world; we have Canadian, British, and Australian writers as well as American. The jewels in our crossover crown, though, are essays written or contributed to by porn industry insiders like Dylan Ryder, the Fabulous Mz. Berlin, and Roger T. Pipe. Their provocative first-hand insights about the porn business are not to be missed!

So, we who have created this anthology invite you to go behind the green door, get a little dirty minded, and think with kink! We have no doubt that you will be seduced by the tantalizing topics thrown under hot light by our authors, and be intellectually aroused. Enjoy!

In the second part of this introduction, I offer you a tour of this volume, and briefly discuss some of the issues addressed therein. I hope that you are satisfied with the spread, but of course would not object if at the end you yearn for more!

We start with a foreword by Gram Ponante, who is “America’s Beloved Porn Journalist.” I am delighted that Gram wrote the foreword, as I did not want just anyone to kick off the volume. Gram is well connected in the industry, and thus has an insider’s view of the porn business. Moreover, he is known for his critical observations and sometimes trenchant commentary regarding what he sees. He takes a philosophical approach to his work, in other words, and thus is naturally sympathetic to this anthology. As such, he is the perfect person to write the foreword.

After the foreword, we move into our first unit, a kind of foreplay to prime us for the rest of the book. I have subtitled the section Sundry Sexy Thoughts because, unlike the forthcoming units, there is no shared underlying philosophical context. Nevertheless, the essays within are alluring on their own. We start with an essay by Dylan Ryder, a contemporary porn dynamo, and yours truly. Our offering takes up the prudential question of whether a porn performer’s individual life is necessarily worse off by virtue of being in the porn industry. We argue that it is not, and that there is no essential connection between the Jizz Biz and the quality of one’s life. In making our case, we draw distinctions between various ways of valuing human lives, and argue that the common-sense view that porn stars have worse lives than “normal” folks conflates, or confuses, moral value with welfare; i.e., quality of life. Next is an essay by Andrew Aberdein, a lighthearted chapter exploring the historical connection between pornographic and philosophical literature. There is a history of porno-philosophical writing and imagery, he shows us, mostly aiming to contrast rational versus irrational forms of persuasion. He offers us a shocking, and hilarious, example of femdom representations of Aristotle and Phyllis. His essay ends with an argument attempting to show that the porno-philosophical connection raises problems for contemporary arguments against pornography.

The next unit, The Pornographic Mind, consists of essays focusing on psychological considerations relating to pornography, especially those regarding the audience. This seems a natural starting point; porn appeals to something within our psychology, or else it would lack the massive popularity it enjoys. What happens to our mind when we are porn spectators? Are our beliefs about the mental states of porn performers veridical? Is there a kind of rebelliousness against social norms going on in our minds when we view certain kinds of porn? These fascinating questions frame the issues in this section. The unit starts with a delightfully irreverent and entertaining essay by Anne K. Gordon and Shane W. Kraus, evolutionary psychologists. They performed empirical studies about the scope of belief in porn audiences about the genuineness of female orgasms in porn films. Their study reveals that men are more likely than women to believe that girls in porn actually get off, and conclude that, among its other putative negative effects, porn makes men bad lovers! Next is an essay by Theodore Bach, who explains the scope of porn consumption on the model of psychological simulation. Briefly, we use our own mind to model that of another individual, like an engineer would use a model airplane to simulate its activity. According to Bach, it is likely that the porn viewer engages in this kind of mental modeling; one thinks and feels as if he or she is actually experiencing the depicted sex acts. The upshots of this fact, he argues, are some potentially negative social implications. The final essay in this unit is written by Casey McKittrick. He addresses some of the psychological issues present in the gay “barebacking” video subgenre. “Barebacking” is an erotic celebration of condomless anal sex, and represents a substantial minority seeking to reclaim a loss of intimacy resulting from the AIDS epidemic in the gay community. The exchange of semen in gay sex is labeled as paradigmatically “risky” behavior, which results in a taboo in gay porn against condomless sex scenes. McKittrick explores Freudian psychological bases for the motive to produce, participate, and view bareback videos, while remaining neutral with respect to attendant moral implications. I am excited to include his essay, as precious little philosophical literature addresses male homosexual pornography.

The next section, Between the Sheets, deals with ethical issues relating to porn. While some consideration is given to the classical arguments about the exploitation, objectification, and harms that seem attached to the adult entertainment business, the focus of this section is on unusual topics, such as whether masturbating to porn constitutes cheating in a monogamous relationship. That being said, the first essay, by Tait Szabo, is a defense of the porn viewer’s freedom to watch porn without moral guilt. He argues for his thesis on the basis of John Stuart Mill’s Harm Principle, which roughly states that unless our actions result in genuine harm to others, we are free to pursue and enjoy whatever we wish. Szabo attempts to show that porn does not result in the sorts of harms anti-porn arguments generally posit; thus, we have no basis to condemn it, and are free to guiltlessly enjoy it. Next is an essay by Fiona Woollard. Her arguments focus on the question of whether self-gratification via porn constitutes a breach of monogamy norms. Is the moral outrage or feeling of betrayal that commonly accompanies catching your partner masturbating to Jenna reasonable? Woollard considers two possible grounds for that outrage; she categorically rejects that solo use of porn is a kind of infidelity, while conceding that some porn is damaging to relationships because it reinforces harmful attitudes that undermine loving partnerships. However, she notes, this is not true of all pornography. Darci Doll, in the unit’s final essay, offers us a cautionary tale drawn from celebrity sex tapes. Doll argues that there are benefits of taping one’ sex life, particularly in the case of celebrities who use it as a vehicle to fame, but that associated pitfalls ought to give us pause before consenting to make “private” porn. Doll is careful to distinguish morally legitimate ways of producing and distributing private sex tapes, and warns that the benefits of releasing sex tapes frequently accrue to the wrong people, if anyone.

As we hope the law follows morality, our next section centers on legal questions and philosophy of law and pornography. The authors of these essays take issue with some classic questions, such as the nature and definition of “obscenity” and the limits of free speech. If “obscenity” is not protected by our right to free speech, just what counts as “obscene”? Is there some objective way of defining it, or does the term merely denote a subjective kind of judgment or response? The first essay in the Talking Dirty section takes up this issue. Jacob M. Held argues that the concept of obscenity is insufficiently defined to ground legislation limiting our freedom of expression. This obscurity results in the inability to take interpretation out of the hands of individual judges, who are forced to rule on cases with no clear standard of the obscene. As a result, we citizens cannot have fair warning of what obscenity laws prescribe, and thus such laws fail to realize the form of law that being subject to rule of law requires. Following Held, Mimi Marinucci argues that we ought not to cave in to censorship laws, not because there is nothing wrong or harmful with porn as it stands, but because allowing more expansive censorship laws threatens other avenues of expression. Censorship serves the interests of the dominant culture (male, in this case) and so should be avoided. Rather than worrying about censoring porn, she suggests, we ought to support the production of more socially responsible kinds of pornography, including feminist porn. Lastly, J. K. Miles advances the claim that defending porn on the grounds of free speech or free expression is a failed cause. He argues that certain relevant differences between political or religious speech and porn suffice to distinguish the cases enough that porn is disqualified from protection by constitutional rights to free speech. One difference is that public displays of porn, unlike public speeches about politics or sermons, would coerce the audience into behaving in a way they may not want to – that is, watching porn. Speeches and sermons do not force you into an act against your will, whereas public displays of porn would. Therefore, porn would attempt to persuade without rational consent. This fact, Miles argues, takes porn out of the sphere of protected speech. However, he suggests that the freedom to use porn could be defended on other grounds.

The Art of Dirty unit concerns the question whether porn has artistic merit. Porn and art share media: print, film, photography, painting, and so forth. Can porn be elevated to the status of fine art? Are artworks ever also pornographic, or is art necessarily non-pornographic? Christopher Bartel, Lawrence Howe, and David Rose address these questions, and others, in the scope of this section. Bartel argues that the distinction between what is pornographic and what is artistic is not a function of the work in question, but is given by a distinction in ways of valuing that thing. We can take an artistic interest in a piece, e.g., appreciating its formal qualities, or a pornographic interest in it, e.g., getting turned on by the content of the work. These attitudes, he argues, are mutually exclusive; one cannot take an artistic interest in a painting, say, while one takes a pornographic interest in it. Bartel also wonders whether it is possible to gain an artistic attitude for an artwork via having a pornographic interest in it, and concludes that this is impossible on the basis of the exclusivity of our interests. Howe, on the other hand, works to sharpen distinctions between fine art, erotica, and pornography, and considers whether the categories overlap. Howe argues that what shows or supports the distinction is the aesthetic attitude, i.e., contemplative distance, or disinterestedness in the object of one’s appreciation. Pornography does not allow us to enter the aesthetic attitude, partly due to its apparent lack of other aesthetic qualities; e.g., proportion, unity in diversity, and so on. Porn differs from erotica, on the other hand, in that erotica promotes a sympathetic relation between the viewer and represented objects, which is missing in porn. The distinction between erotica and fine art is harder to draw, he concedes, but he ultimately concludes that erotica is closer to fine art than to porn. David Rose, in the unit’s last essay, considers reasons generally given to treat pornographic works as different from other aesthetic objects. Rose argues that standard moral reasons, e.g., that porn is exploitative, coercive, harmful to women, and so on, are insufficient to ground legislation against porn because they neither identify a characteristic wrongness unique to porn nor ensure consensus. However, Rose argues that there is such a ground for legislation because proper artistic objects play a special role in the promotion of societal values, relationships, and a culture’s self-identity, whereas porn degrades them.

The next unit is about the interpenetration of technology and porn. Clearly, improvements in technology have opened new horizons for the porn industry; its product is easier than ever to obtain and use, is cheaper to produce and distribute via Internet sites, and digital interactivity expands rapidly. Roger T. Pipe, a porn critic, offers an insider’s perspective on the affects of this technological explosion. He takes us through the history of the contemporary adult film industry, from the raincoater days of XXX theatres to the current Internet era, and wonders whether or not these “advances” have been for the better. Matthew Brophy recognizes new moral problems emerging with innovative porn technologies, and prognosticates further issues as more advanced virtual realities arise. If porn becomes qualitatively indistinguishable from normal sex, and we can determine the precise characteristics of our ideal lovers with a click of a button, Brophy argues this will undermine traditional virtues requisite for human flourishing, and promote moral vice.

Our final unit, Kink, takes up special issues in “alternative” or “fringe” porn. With McKittrick’s essay being the sole exception, our earlier essays have dealt with “mainstream” porn. Defining mainstream porn is difficult, but I think the standard form is the sort of porn that is found on most websites and adult videos; i.e., heterosexual porn, usually with some oral sex and a few positions thrown in for spice, culminating in “the money shot.” Alternative or fringe porn deviates from that model. The first essay in this section, by Chad Parkhill, investigates the seeming oddity of heterosexual men enjoying girl-girl pornography; since male sexuality is excluded in lesbian porn, why do men find it so attractive? Appealing to Lacanian psychoanalysis, Parkhill distinguishes between kinds of pleasure men can have in watching lesbian porn, plaisir and jouissance, arguing that the latter involves an “ego shattering” pleasure that precludes male “intrusion.” For that reason, he concludes that jouissance is the morally preferable kind of pleasure for men to feel when watching girl-girl porn. In the next essay, Ummni Khan argues against the rough legal treatment of sadomasochistic porn. Khan argues that in the case of SM porn, legal systems have systematically ignored the role of consent in mitigating “violence” in SM contexts, and as a result have propagated violence against the SM community. The violence comes in three forms: physical, phenomenological, and epistemic. Physical violence consists in disproportionate legal punishments and imprisonment in violation of the principle of proportionality of punishment. Phenomenological violence consists in enforcing a stipulated “true” sexuality that is likely not consonant with an individual’s experiences, and epistemic violence restricts the freedom of individuals on the basis of judgments that are false or obscure, or lacking in sufficient justification. Thus, governments systematically wrong those who are into SM porn. The final essay in this section, and indeed, the anthology itself, is an interview with the Fabulous Mz. Berlin. Berlin is a popular dominatrix who acts in, directs, and produces BDSM films. Additionally, she works as an actress in “vanilla” XXX. In the interview, Berlin answers questions about the porn industry in general, as well as her experiences as a dominatrix. She discusses the nature of informed consent, the role that concept plays in determining acceptable contexts for filming dirty movies, the nature of torture, fluid gender roles, and various other exciting topics. Her thoughts are fittingly the last – ruminations from an educated woman both on the inside and at the boundaries of the porn industry.

In closing, I hope that you enjoy this volume as much as I enjoyed working on it. I also hope that it helps you think philosophically about porn. Enjoy!

PART I

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! SUNDRY SEXY THOUGHTS

DYLAN RYDER AND DAVE MONROE

CHAPTER 1

THE JIZZ BIZ AND QUALITY OF LIFE

Dylan Ryder, co-author of this essay, is a contemporary porn star. Her job involves having sex with various men and women, and having that sex recorded for the voyeuristic enjoyment of others. It goes without saying that this job is unlike most of ours; we spend time in offices daydreaming at water coolers, slaving away on factory floors, cooking and serving food, teaching classes, or at sundry other occupations. She gets paid to have sex on camera, to bare what most of us would not dare – our naked bodies and sexual activities. Dylan’s job is not a “normal” occupation, at least in the sense that it is unusual. But what do you think of when you think about a porn star leads? Some of you may romanticize about the sexual pleasure they seem to enjoy, or perhaps think that the “rock star” lifestyle many porn stars, like Jenna Jameson, lead is attractive and fun. Being a porn star holds a taboo allure, one might think, a way of life that is more “exciting,” and better than, the life one currently lives. Dylan and Dave suspect that those beliefs are held by a small minority. More likely, the majority opinion is that the life of a porn star is than average.