katrinky's review
3.0
Jane Ward for president.
Nina Hartley : if we didn't have porn, someone would make it as art. there could never not be porn, even if it didn't exist, and had never existed, as of today.
did not like the essay about ftm bodies, presented as always already incoherent sexual beings.
Nina Hartley : if we didn't have porn, someone would make it as art. there could never not be porn, even if it didn't exist, and had never existed, as of today.
did not like the essay about ftm bodies, presented as always already incoherent sexual beings.
andipants's review
4.0
Excellent and mostly very accessible collection of essays. A few of them veer into pretty dry or heady academic territory, but those are well balanced by several very direct and personal pieces. The book does a good job of digging into complex issues from several points of view, and raises many essential points for discussion without appearing to harp on any one specific conclusion. The essays are also mostly short, averaging around 8-12 pages, meaning it's easy to pick up and read two or three at a time without feeling overwhelmed or zoning out and missing bits. I would absolutely recommend this collection to anyone with a serious interest in the world of feminist porn.
bookishlytaylor's review
4.0
used this book as a reference for my final project on ethical porn for my human sexuality class this past semester. sparked a lot of ideas and critical thinking; overall very interesting, but not something i would’ve picked up if it weren’t for my project
annsantori's review
5.0
A mix of hard academic analysis and personal essays that together spark enormous insight into a range of feminist porn topics. Each small glimpse makes you want to learn more about the sub-topic covered. The final essay, by Loree Erickson, on disability and sexuality, was a personal favorite.
jeffreyp's review
5.0
Working my way through it. Love it.
More here: http://feministallies.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Feminist%20Porn%20Book
More here: http://feministallies.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Feminist%20Porn%20Book
garberdog's review
3.0
A real mixed bag. This anthology of feminist scholarship and writing by academics, pornographers, porn performers, and others contributes an important body of knowledge and perspectives, but ultimately is limited by a "pro-sex" or apologist framework. My favorite pieces were those which were most academic, critical, and unapologetically feminist/political. Too many of the pieces felt like marketing blubs for the respective authors' films, and while I understand that feminist pornography often exists within a commodity framework, this anthology didn't sufficiently account for this; there was not enough of a distance/critical stance. That said, when the pieces were good, they were REALLY good. The book is worth a read if you can get your hands on it, and it's an important first foray into a more complex discourse on pornography within feminist scholarship. However, I am concerned by the separation of pornography from other forms of sex work enacted by this text.
One final thought: it seems to me that some of the most compelling pieces overcame some of the false dichotomies of the "sex war" paradigm not by repudiating the "sex as painful/traumatic" framework (versus the "sex as pleasure/liberation" framework), but by hopelessly spilling the former into the latter. I think this recognition that sex (at least under the conditions of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy) is always going to be (at least somewhat) traumatic (for at least some people), that it can never pure clean fun, is a necessary recognition for the future of queer feminist sexual politics. The failure of this recognition contributed the only real moment in the book the book that I thought was profoundly anti-feminist. (Not so) surprisingly, this was in Betty Dodson's chapter, where she states that she kicked a woman out of her Bodysex workshop for speaking about sexual trauma. This to me is an appalling failure of feminist politics. This is why we need the framework of theorists like Lynne Huffer (Are the Lips a Grave?), who attempt to theorize a queer feminism.
Summary:
Read it for the critical/academic/feminist political pieces, be prepared to roll your eyes at endless references to "authenticity" and "choice," and be thankful that there's finally an emerging (if still extremely limited) discourse on pornography in feminist that's moving beyond the good/bad binary
One final thought: it seems to me that some of the most compelling pieces overcame some of the false dichotomies of the "sex war" paradigm not by repudiating the "sex as painful/traumatic" framework (versus the "sex as pleasure/liberation" framework), but by hopelessly spilling the former into the latter. I think this recognition that sex (at least under the conditions of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy) is always going to be (at least somewhat) traumatic (for at least some people), that it can never pure clean fun, is a necessary recognition for the future of queer feminist sexual politics. The failure of this recognition contributed the only real moment in the book the book that I thought was profoundly anti-feminist. (Not so) surprisingly, this was in Betty Dodson's chapter, where she states that she kicked a woman out of her Bodysex workshop for speaking about sexual trauma. This to me is an appalling failure of feminist politics. This is why we need the framework of theorists like Lynne Huffer (Are the Lips a Grave?), who attempt to theorize a queer feminism.
Summary:
Read it for the critical/academic/feminist political pieces, be prepared to roll your eyes at endless references to "authenticity" and "choice," and be thankful that there's finally an emerging (if still extremely limited) discourse on pornography in feminist that's moving beyond the good/bad binary
junkyard's review
Pretty good collection of essays covering a variety of topics. Sex positivity is absolutely essential
morgandhu's review
4.0
Tristan Taormino, Celine Parreñas Shimizu, Constance Penley, and Mireille Miller-Young, editors of The Feminist Porn Book: The Politics of Producing Pleasure, is a collections of essays about the making, enjoying and understanding of feminist porn.
Anyone familiar with the history of the "sex wars" knows that pornography is one of several divisive issues in the area of sexuality that has been, and continues to be, hotly debated among feminists. (Personal disclosure: my own positions during the wars were, and continue to be, primarily what has been labeled as "sex-positive.)
In their introduction, the editors state that "The Feminist Porn Book offers arguments, facts, and histories that cannot be summarily rejected, by providing on-the-ground and well-researched accounts of the politics of producing pleasure. Our agenda is twofold: to explore the emergence and significance of a thriving feminist porn movement, and to gather some of the best new feminist scholarship on pornography. By putting our voices into conversation, this book sparks new thinking about the richness and complexity of porn as a genre and an industry in a way that helps us to appreciate the work that feminists in the porn industry are doing, both in the mainstream and on its countercultural edges."
The introduction goes on to discuss the concept of feminist porn and the editors' framework for examining it. "Feminist porn is a genre and a political vision. And like other genres of film and media, feminist porn shares common themes, aesthetics, and goals even though its parameters are not clearly demarcated. Because it is born out of a feminism that is not one thing but a living, breathing, moving creation, it is necessarily contested—an argument, a polemic, and a debate. Because it is both genre and practice, we must engage it as both: by reading and analyzing its cultural texts and examining the ideals, intentions, and experiences of its producers. In doing so, we offer an alternative to unsubstantiated oversimplifications and patronizing rhetoric. We acknowledge the complexities of watching, creating, and analyzing pornographies. And we believe in the radical potential of feminist porn to transform sexual representation and the way we live our sexualities."
Contributors to the collection include such stalwart defenders of women's right to experience sexual pleasure as Betty Dodson and Suzie Bright, and pioneering creators of women-identified pornography such as Nina Hartley and Candida Royalle, as well as a range of other pornographers, academics and feminist thinkers. The politics of porn as it exists in the mainstream porn industry and the ways in which feminist porn aims at creating new power dynamics in the production and distribution of porn, and a new feminist aesthetic in the product itself, are examined from various standpoints. The authors of these essays and personal narratives look at such issues as gender expectations, race, means of production and distribution, body image politics, authenticity in representation of sexuality, queer, genderqueer and trangender images and representations, and more.
While problematic aspects of porn, even feminist porn, are acknowledged and discussed, the focus here is on porn as a medium and a message of positive sexual pleasure in which sexuality of all kinds, not just the male and heteronormative, is celebrated. As Nina Hartley points out in her essay, "Unlike Hollywood tropes, in which the “transgressive” woman must meet a horrible fate for crossing some invisible line, at the end of a porn movie the woman has had orgasms and lives to tell the tale. There are no Anna Kareninas or Emma Bovarys in porn."