Feminism and Pornography

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

On the question of pornography, people do not present a united front on either the legal and political remedies they propose, or definitions of sexuality and appropriate standards representing it. This study treats pornography within the context of the debate among feminists and also examines non-feminist views as they are embodied in popular opinion and social policy. It explores influential feminist ideologies as well as those that are only beginning to be voiced. Divisions over questions of sexuality, censorship and sexual roles and lifestyle are highlighted in an analysis of radical and libertarian feminist viewpoints and liberal, Marxist, socialist and black approaches to feminism are also evaluated. The book examines the male perspective on pornography also, and draws in the way men respond to the feminist debate on the subject. The final chapters assess this debate in terms of empirical research on pornography and legal and non-legal strategies for regulating pornography.

Reviews

.,."useful information and up-to-date references make this an accessible introduction to a complex topic. All levels."-Choice
...useful information and up-to-date references make this an accessible introduction to a complex topic. All levels.-Choice
This book is not an antipornography discourse nor an anticensorship one. It is a, rather, an elegant effort to acknowledge the range of ideology and to find the common elements of various feminist perspectives. As a work of social policy analysis, it is a tool to help to draw the connections between pornography and other social institutions that may harm women.-Affilia
..."useful information and up-to-date references make this an accessible introduction to a complex topic. All levels."-Choice
"This book is not an antipornography discourse nor an anticensorship one. It is a, rather, an elegant effort to acknowledge the range of ideology and to find the common elements of various feminist perspectives. As a work of social policy analysis, it is a tool to help to draw the connections between pornography and other social institutions that may harm women."-Affilia

Author Bio

RONALD J. BERGER is Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he teaches courses in criminology and the sociology of law. He edited The Sociology of Juvenile Delinquency. PATRICIA SEARLES is Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where she teaches courses in gender roles, the family, and violence against women. CHARLES E. COTTLE is Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he teaches courses in political theory, public opinion, and research methods. The authors, together or separately, have published on a number of gender-related topics, including: sexual assault, rape law reform, women's self-defense, female delinquency, media images of women, and pornography.