SEXIS WRONG

foreground sex, not violence. No reputable researcher has
concluded that there is a causal relationship between exposure
to garden-variety pornography and antisocial behavior.
The jury is still out on whether pornography that does contain
violence is harmful, but the issue, to say the least, is clouded.
The conflation of sex and violence, however, endows some
genres with semi-criminal status, poises them on margins
from whence they can refresh cultural discourse, and enables
them to retain subversive energies.
But caution seems advisable: If federal and state governments
could suppress pornography in the past because a majority
of citizens tacitly agreed, popular opinion could scapegoat
sex again if opinions change, in the sort of cycle that
might be assisted by the bin Ladens and Falwells of our time.
Fewer than four decades ago pornographers
were despised, artists went to jail, performers
suffered mistreatment by producers and
police, and consumers (the case of the literary
critic Newton Arvin comes to mind 31 ) lost
reputations and careers to the zeal of censors.
Worse to think, some degree of repression may ultimately
be essential if pornography is to retain its power to enrich
culture.
Perhaps the best strategy is to admit that sex and, as a consequence,
its representations, resist research. Despite hundreds
of quantitative and qualitative studies of many genres
of pornography, we know for certain only that some sexual
expressions and some images inflame the fantasies of some
people, under some circumstances, some of the time. 32 Although
we can outline the economics of pornography and
guess at its cultural significance, we know very little else. To
me it seems wise to remember that pornography is profoundly
human: If sexual representation involves exploitation and
degradation, it also enshrines love and longing. Human sexuality
itself remains mysterious, try as pornographers might to
plumb libidos, and pornography itself remains scarcely less
so. The inability to explain pornography’s attractions and effects,
of course, ensures our continued fascination with it,
and its power as a cultural force.
Endnotes
1. Preciado, Beatriz. “Pornotopia.” In Cold War Hothouses, ed. Beatriz
Colomina, Annmarie Brennan, and Jeannie Kim. Princeton Architectural
Press, 2004: 216-53. 2. Trebay, Guy. “Want to See a Hot Runway Show?”
New York Times, 11 Mar 2002: A20. 3. Bloom, Amy. “Conservative Men
in Conservative Dresses.” The Atlantic Monthly, 289.4 (Apr 2002): 94-102.
4. Amis, Martin, with photos by Oliviero Toscani. “To Millions of American
Men and Women, These Women Are Movie Stars.” Talk, 2:5 (Feb 2001):
98-103, 133-5. 5. “Museum Guide.” New York Times, 8 Mar 2002: B38. 6.
Glueck, Grace. “E.V. Day: ‘G-Force.’” New York Times, 7 Dec 2001: E31. 7.
Descriptions of these and other shows can be found in the New York Times, 12
Apr 2002: B34, 36. 8. Plummer, Ken. Telling Sexual Stories. Routledge, 1995.
9. Preston, John (ed.). Flesh and the Word, 2 vols. Plume, 1992, 1993: II, 2.
10. For example, see [www.voyeurweb.com]. 11. Legman quoted by Dudar,
Helen. “Love and Death (and Schmutz): G. Legman’s Second Thoughts.”
Village Voice, 1 May 1984: 42. 12. Legman, Gershon. “Erotic Folksongs
and Ballads: An International Bibliography.” Journal of American Folklore,
103 (Oct/Dec 1990): 417. 13. Hume, Alison. “Fear of Porn: What’s Really
Behind It? An Interview with Carol S. Vance.” Vogue, 175 (Sep 1985): 679;
see also Kipnis, Laura. Bound and Gagged. Grove Press, 1996. 14. Bright,
Worse to think, some degree of
repression may ultimately be
essential if pornography is to retain
its power to enrich culture.
Susie. “Introduction.” Herotica, ed. Susie Bright. Burlingame CA: Down There
Press, 1988: 3. 15. Van Scoy, Kayte. “Sex Sells, So Learn a Thing or Two From
It.” PC Computing, 13:1 (Jan 2000): 64. 16. See Tierney, John. “Porn, the
Low-Slung Engine of Progress.” New York Times, 9 Jan 1994: sec. 2, pp. 1,
18. 17. Op cit., Van Scoy. 18. Rose, Frank. “Sex Sells: Young Ambitious Seth
Warshavsky is the Bob Guccione of the 1990s.” Wired, 12 Dec 1997: 5. 19.
Dibbell, Julian. “The Body Electric.” Time Digital, 12 Apr 1999: 24-7. 20. AVN,
Dec 2001. [www.avn.com]. 21. “Words of Love.” New York Times Magazine,
7 Feb 1999: 21. 22. Lubow, Arthur. “Steal This Burger.” New York Times
Magazine, 19 Apr 1998: 38-43. 23. Holson, Laura M. “For $38,000, Get the
Cake, and Mickey, Too,” New York Times, 24 May 2003: A1, B2. 24. Egan,
Timothy. “Technology Sent Wall Street Into Market for Pornography.” New
York Times, 23 Oct 2000: A1, A20; “American Porn” episode of Frontline,
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), 7 Feb 2002. 25. “Ticker.” Brill’s Content,
2.1 (Feb 1999): 128. 26. Fried, Joseph P. “AT&T’s Decision to Withdraw From
Billing for ‘900’ Lines Leaves Call-in Industry in a Bind.” New York Times,
25 Mar 2002: C4. 27. “Neighborhood Porn Wars.” Newsweek, 18 Apr 1993:
39. 28. Cummings, John, and Ernest Volkman. Goombata. Boston: Little,
Brown and Co., 1990: pp. 60-1. 29. Ford, Luke. The History of X. Amherst NY:
Prometheus Books, 1999: 141. 30. Goldberg, Jeffrey. “The Don Is Done.”
New York Times Magazine, 31 Jan 1999: 71. 31. See Werth, Barry. The
Scarlet Professor: Newton Arvin: A Literary Life Shattered by Scandal. Nan
Talese/Doubleday, 2001. 32. See the chapter “Research on Pornography in
the Medical and Social Sciences” in volume 3 of my Pornography and Sexual
Representation: A Reference Guide, 3 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
2001.
MARGINS TO MAINSTREAM 147