Pornography: Men Possessing Women, by: Andrea ... - Feminish

pornography he uses it to name her slut: a lewd, dissolute, brazenthing, a whore always soliciting—begging or demanding to be usedfor what she is. Women, for centuries not having access topornography and now unable to bear looking at the muck on thesupermarket shelves, are astonished. Women do not believe thatmen believe what pornography says about women. But they do.From the worst to the best of them, they do.Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille was originally published inFrance in 1928. Jean-Paul Sartre, Michel Foucault, Peter Brook,and Susan Sontag among others have proclaimed it profound. Somecall it “erotic” to distinguish it from the general pornographicsludge. O thers, Sontag foremost among them, use it to argue thatpornography of high quality—gracefully conceived and written— isart. This book—like Story of 0, The Image, and the works of Sade—has the weight of intellectual adulation behind it.T he story is told by a narrator in the first person. He grew upalone and was frightened of the sexual. When he was sixteen he metSimone, the same age. T hree days after they met they were alone ather villa. Simone was wearing a black pinafore. They were bothanxious. He wanted her to be naked under her pinafore. She woreblack silk stockings. He wanted to pick up her pinafore from behindto see her cunt, the word he considers the most beautiful one forvagina. T here was a saucer of milk in a hallway for the cat. Simoneput the saucer on a bench and sat down on it. He was transfixed.H e was erect. He lay down at her feet. She stayed still. He saw hercunt in the milk. They were both overwhelmed. She stood up. Hesaw the milk dripping. She wiped herself with a handkerchief. H emasturbated and writhed on the floor. They had simultaneousorgasm without touching each other. When Simone’s m other camehome and Simone was snuggled in her m other’s arm, he lifted herpinafore from behind and thrust his hand between her legs. Hehurried home to jerk off more. T he next day he was so tired fromm asturbating that Simone told him not to masturbate without heranymore. T hey were intimate and driven. They never talked aboutit. T hey were in a car speeding and they crashed into a very youngand very pretty girl on a bicycle, which nearly severed the girl’s