The Feminist Porn Book: The Politics Of Producing Pleasure

the term “moral panic” is described as “upwardly mobile,” one that “operates politically to do the work of neoliberal tolerance by governing the public gaze and erasing feminist critiques.

defending pornography as free speech does little to challenge the presentation of porn as a singular form in which the degradation or subordination of women is played out or as irredeemably harmful to children who see it “too early.”

“This thrilling anthology brings together scholars, producers, and fans of feminist pornography to define an emerging movement of gender and sexual visionaries, working at the radically inclusive and egalitarian edges of sexual representation.

It brings together academics, activists, and porn entrepreneurs who have a startling array of interactions with pornography as an experience, a business, and a field of inquiry.

we still live in a culture that avidly consumes porn while judging and marginalizing the women who perform in it

Rhetoric rather than reason is the preferred mode of debate, similar in style to the testimonies used in Christian religious revivals, though couched in the language of health. It is a type of speech that fits with a particular form of knowing, one rooted in the bones and a kind of common sense that does not need theory or evidence to support it.

Antiporn feminism has proved incredibly resistant to the academic practices of theory and evidence, preferring to counter opposition with appeals to emotional truths

This presentational style is indicative of the scenarios constructed by conservative groups in the creation of sex panics more generally. Understanding this style is important because it demonstrates how antiporn feminism operates as a particular form of knowledge and how sex panic style is central to its appeal, and suggests why, despite having no credible intellectual position or evidence base, antiporn feminism is compelling for some.

the possibility of any position that does not proceed from morality and feeling is dismissed

mass media generally present debates about pornography as battles between opposing sides where what is most important is the disagreement rather than the detail of evidence offered.