Assignment2-ComparisonContrastEssay Atwood-Pornography Steinem-EroticaandPornographyAClearandPresentDifference
Compare and Contrast
Comparison/Contrast Essay
ENG 1100 AD
Due by the end-of-day on July 19, 2020
Write a comparison/contrast essay, 1250-1500 words in length, focused on one of the pairs of
readings below. To be successful, your essay must focus on the content of the readings (your
essay must substantially be about the essays, and not merely their topic) and you must have an
argumentative thesis.
Successful arguments for this assignment tend to argue for productive connections between the
two sources. You may find it helpful to ask yourself this: how does reading these two sources
together help us to understand the relevant issue in a way that reading one essay alone would
not?
If you wish feedback on your thesis, please email it to your DGD leader well in advance of the
due-date. You will need to quote from both essays, and you will need to analyze the elements of
the essays upon which you are focusing. Each of the essays is available on Brightspace in a
module labeled “Sources.”
1. Matthew Mendelsohn, “Birth of a New Ethnicity”
and
Northrop Frye, “Preface to The Bush Garden”
2. Tim Bowling, “Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye”
and
Jay Teitel, “Shorter, Slower, Weaker: And That’s a Good Thing”
3. Margaret Atwood, “Pornography”
and
Gloria Steinem, “Erotica and Pornography: A Clear and Present Difference”
Once again, your essay will be marked based on the following criteria: the quality of your thesis,
the organization of your essay, the relevance of your evidence, the coherency and detail of your
analysis, and the technical quality of your writing. In addition, you will be required to quote,
cite, and provide a Works Cited following MLA or APA guidelines. Proper citation information
for all of the sources will be provided on Brightspace prior to the due date.
Your essay must be submitted in Brightspace as a Word or PDF document with the following
formatting, adhering to MLA or APA style guidelines:
– Font: Times New Roman
– Font Size: 12 pt.
– Margins: 1 inch
– Spacing: Double
ouses,barns,sheds
– his favorite outdoor
with him.”
c: connection with golf.
‘ ‘hich nobody even
m eans “strong emo-
02:et comes up with
or, mania, torment,
::eem crazy, but there’s
– that his self-esteem
: 311Tgeon whose family
– iigure his golf game
-d th e world, know h Care: The History p any. How good it as it slaps the air in nly a dream? These
is good. I’viaybe the – lf and with nature. rhy thm of the game. y not about judg- d . Accept it. This is – e game encourage a
NE L PORNOGRAPHY 317
This is what the late George Knudson, Canada’s deeply intro- 11 Perhaps that sounds too much like Zen golf. But we will risk 12 If we play sensibly, we can discover the sensuality that lurks 13 Knudson’s comment can be a code for the game. Spring has 14 Pornography One of Canada’s best-known writers, Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa W hen I was in Finland a few years ago for an international writers’ conference, I had occasion to say a few para-graphs in public on the subject of pornography. The con- NEL 318 UNIT EIGHT• FURTHER READING
the possibility of a link between the two. The immediate result was , and what was
the harm in that?
2 Not until then did it strike me that the male journalist and I had 3 Some time after that I was in Saskatchewan, where, because of 4 For me, these two experiences illustrate the two poles of the NEL
easy to say But even perversion, w out howling as movement b, NE L ediate result was – fr o m an Anglo- , and what was mrrnalist and I had ~ ently been doing ap hy,” I meant a disemboweled; imple old copu- this to the nice ·tted on television · ca, which earlier • -hich later studies
w h ere, because of F “·” Almost no one -·t seen it. Some of d sex of any kind, — :an a suspicion that NEL PORNOGRAPHY 319
issue. They also underline the desirability and even the necessity of But even sensible people tend to lose their cool when they start s The camp in favor of total “freedom of expression” often comes 6 Meanwhile, theoreticians theorize and speculators speculate. Is 7 NE L Alicia Andres-Pucci Alicia Andres-Pucci 320 UNIT EIGHT • FURTHER READING Alicia Andres-Pucci Alicia Andres-Pucci sive promotion by Alicia Andres-Pucci Alicia Andres-Pucci Alicia Andres-Pucci Alicia Andres-Pucci Alicia Andres-Pucci 322 UNIT EIGHT • FURTHER READING Alicia Andres-Pucci Alicia Andres-Pucci Alicia Andres-Pucci -‘ such addictive “TI. ~ e .;i”beral “‘-‘””””- A Clea,r and Present (;Joria SteineID
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Perhaps one of the greatest debates about pornography is the question -1 111-1111 -11 11 -11u-11u – 1111 – 1111-11u-1111 -1111 -1111-1111-11n-nu-1111-1111-1111-1111-n11-1111-1 111 -1111- 1111 – 1111-n11 -1111-1111-
Human beings are the only animals that experience the same sex Just as we developed uniquely human capacities for language, We developed this and other human gifts through our ability to The separation of “play” from “work,” for instance, is a problem 35 Alicia Andres-Pucci 36 TAKE BACK THE NIGHT ‘nl”but 38 TAKE BACK THE NIGHT some Turnitin Report Formatting Title Page Citation Outline
—
– .:: Relating to Various
– fraught with prob-
e simple pleasure of
~ : ead. The white flag
green, and perhaps
ce, for reflection. A
· – -ay nowadays. I’viost
—;:::;. People accuse one
– ~ ad d up their scores
;.__ are too concerned
liability of golf, the
£ the game is that a
· vay and lands in a
— n ot possible to con-
spective and mightily gifted golfer, alluded to when he suggested
that the golfer “give up control to gain control.” That is, the player
ought to stop thinking about what to do with the golf club at every
segment of its route away from and back to the ball. Said Knudson:
“Let yourself swing.”
any accusation of limp thinking because we know that we find
almost an altered state when we bounce on the rolling turf, and
when we are aware of the high grass swaying in the rough and
when we wrap our fingers around a velvety grip and when we
swing the club to and fro and when we fall into the grace of the
game, an outing that sends us inward.
everywhere on the course. Thinking about slow play, Knudson
once said: “I don’t know what all the concern is about. Slow play
just means that you’re going to spend a longer time in a nice place.”
Take a book along on the course, then. Read a poem. Chat with
your companions. Swing, swing, swing. Walk in the woods.
been here for weeks, but the season still feels fresh, and we are
renewed. As for me, I have scratched the itch long enough. I want
grass clippings stuck to the soles of my shoes, mud on my golf ball,
dirt on my club face, the club in my hand while I turn it round and
round until it feels right. Care to join me?
I’v1ARGARET ATWOOD
in 1939. She has published more than twenty books , including novels,
short stories, poetry, and criticism. Among her most recent works are The
Robber Bride (1993), Morning in the Burned House (1995), and Alias
Grace (1996). In 2000, Atwood won the prestigious Booker Prize for her
novel The Blind Assassin.
text was a discussion of political repression, and I was suggesting
that a male journalist took several large bites out of me . Prudery
and pornography are two halves of the same coin, said he, and I
was clearly a prude . What could you expect from an Anglo-
Canadian? Afterward, a couple of pleasant Scandinavian men
asked me what I had been so worked up about. All “pornography”
means, they said, is graphic depictions of whores
two entirely different things in mind. By “pornography,” he meant
naked bodies and sex. I, on the other hand, had recently been doing
the research for my novel Bodily Harm , and was still in a state of
shock from some of the material I had seen, including the Ontario
Board of Film Censors’ “outtakes.” By “pornography,” I meant
women getting their nipples snip p ed off with garden shears,
having meat hooks stuck into their vaginas, being disemboweled;
little girls being raped; men (yes, there are some men) being
smashed to a pulp and forcibly sodomized. The cutting edge of
pornography, as far as I could see, was no longer simple old copu-
lation, hanging from the chandelier or otherwise: it was death,
messy, explicit and highly sadistic. I explained this to the nice
Scandinavian men. “Oh, but that ‘ s just the United States,” they
said . “Everyone knows they’re sick.” In their country, they said,
violent “pornography” of that kind was not permitted on television
or in movies; indeed, excessive violence of any kin d was not per-
mitted. They had drawn a clear line between erotica, which earlier
studies had shown did not incite men to more aggressive and
brutal behavior toward women, and violence, which later studies
indicated did.
the scenes in Bodily Harm, I found myself on an open-line radio
show answering questions about “pornography.” Almost no one
who phoned in was in fav or of it, but again they weren’t talking
about the same stuff I was, because they hadn’t seen it. Some of
them were all set to stamp out bathing suits and negligees, and, if
possible, any depictions of the female body whatsoever. God, it was
implied, did not approve of female bodies, and sex of any kind,
including that practised by bumblebees, should be shoved back
into the dark, where it belonged. I had more than a suspicion that
Lady Chatterl ey ‘s Lo ver, Margaret Laurence’s The Di viners, and
indeed most books by most serious modern authors would have
ended up as confetti if left in the hands of these callers.
emotionally heated debate that is now thundering around this
nately, opinio
talking ab out —
and the n ame
may include cr
such as some 5
others of exp· –
contributing
eral climate o
The camp ·
longer have·
may include
lows: th ose -.:-
including the£.
chicken p orn
beaten, m ay be
sible liberals ” -::
in real life, so
parcels, being
like adoration
tence, of a geni
but have to ma_~::-
– .._ of me. Prudery
in, said he, and I
– -andinavian men
~ “p ornography”
aphy,” he meant
– still in a state of
-ading the Ontario
— g arden shears,
:ome men) being
_ e cutting edge of
. e : it was death,
rited States,” they
;:ountry, they said,
lCind was not per-
re ag gressive and
an open-line radio
-ey w eren’t talking
— negligees, and, if
-50ever. God, it was
d b e shoved back
. = The Diviners, and
authors would have
callers.
e two poles of the
ering around this
defining the terms. “Pornography” is now one of those catchalls,
like “Marxism” and “feminism,” that have become so broad they
can mean almost anything, ranging from certain verses in the Bible,
ads for skin lotion and sex tests for children to the contents of
Penthouse, Naughty ’90s postcards and films with titles containing
the word Nazi that show vicious scenes of torture and killing. It’s
easy to say that sensible people can tell the difference. Unfortu-
nately, opinions on what constitutes a sensible person vary ..
talking about this subject. They soon stop talking and start yelling,
and the name calling begins. Those in favor of censorship (which
may include groups not noticeably in agreement on other issues,
such as some feminists and religious fundamentalists) accuse the
others of exploiting women through the use of degrading images,
contributing to the corruption of children, and adding to the gen-
eral climate of violence and threat in which both women and chil-
dren live in this society; or, though they may not give much of a
hoot about actual women and children, they invoke moral stan-
dards and God’s supposed aversion to “filth,” “smut” and deviated
perversion, which may mean ankles.
out howling as loud as the Romans would have if told they could no
longer have innocent fun watching the lions eat up Christians. It too
may include segments of the population who are not natural bedfel-
lows: those who proclaim their God-given r ight to freedom,
including the freedom to tote guns, d rive when drunk, drool over
chicken porn and get off on videotapes of women being raped and
beaten, may be waving the same anticensorship banner as respon-
sible liberals who fear the return of Mrs. Grundy, or gay groups for
whom sexual emancipation involves the concept of “sexual theatre.”
Whatever turns you on is a handy motto, as is A man’s home is his castle
(and if it includes a dungeon with beautiful maidens strung up in
chains and bleeding from every pore, that’s his business).
today’s pornography yet another indication of the hatred of the
body, the deep mind-body split, which is supposed to pervade
Western Christian society? Is it a backlash against the women’s
movement by men who are threatened by uppity female behavior
in real life, so like to fantasize about women done up like outsize
parcels, being turned into hamburger, kneeling at their feet in slave-
like adoration or sucking off guns? Is it a sign of collective impo-
tence, of a generation of men who can’t relate to real women at all
but have to make do with bits of celluloid and paper? Is the current
flood just a result of smart marketing and aggressive promotion by
the money men in what has now become a multibillion-dollar
industry? If they were selling movies about men getting their testi-
cles stuck full of knitting needles by women with swastikas on their
sleeves, would they do as well, or is this penchant somehow pecu-
liarly male? If so, why? Is pornography a power trip rather than a
sex one? Some say that those ropes, chains, muzzles and other
restraining devices are an argument for the immense power female
sexuality still wields in the male imagination: you don’t put these
things on dogs unless you’re afraid of them. Others, more literary,
wonder about the shift from the 19th-century Magic Woman or
Femme Fatale image to the lollipop-licker, airhead or turkey-carcass
treatment of women in porn today. The proporners don’t care much
about theory; they merely demand product. Th e antiporners don’t
care about it in the final analysis either; there’s dirt on the street,
and they want it cleaned up, now.
s It seems to me that this conversation, with its You’re -a-prude/
You’re-a-pervert dialectic, will never get anywhere as long as we
continue to think of this material as just “entertainment. ” Possibly
we ‘ re deluded by the packaging, the format: magazine, book,
mov ie, theatrical presentation. We’re used to thinking of these
things as part of the “entertainment industry,” and we’re used to
thinking of ourselves as free adult people who ought to be able to
see any kind of “entertainment” we want to. That was what the
First Choice pay-TV debate was all about. After all, it’s only enter-
tainment, right? Entertainment means fun, and only a killjoy would
be antifun. What’s the harm?
9 This is obviously the central question: What’s the harm? If there
isn’t any real harm to any real people, then th e antiporners can tsk-
tsk and/or throw up as much as they like, but they can’t rightfully
expect more legal controls or sanctions. However, the no harm posi-
tion is far from being proven.
10 (For instance, there ‘s a clear-cut case for banning- as the fed-
eral gov ernment has proposed- movies, photos and videos that
depict children engaging in sex with adults: real children are used
to make the movies, and hardly anybody thinks this is ethical. The
possibilities for coercion are too great.)
11 To shift the viewpoint, I’d like to suggest three other models for
looking at “pornography” – and here I mean the violent kind.
12 Those who find the idea of regulating pornographic materials
repugnant because they think it’s Fascist or Communist or other-
wise not in accordance with the principles of an open democratic
society should consider that Canada has made it illegal to dissemi-
nate material that may lead to hatred toward any group because of
NEL
race or religion. : _
depicted these aas
to Catholics, it’ –
sent laws. Why is …
law thought that_
awful things to
extent a comp uter:
extreme cases (like
which pornograi _
of women and, ‘o::
factor involved !:i
upped the ante b:’
social acceptabili~
this stuff is haYir.g
Studies ha,-e –
of porn, soft and
tion of young mer.
Italy, according
genteel surround.~~
time, in school, :rr.
education in the s–
been passed, and
to be raped and ~ –
digestive tracts.
Boys learn thet:-
what most men ,.-~~
NEL
a m ultibillion-dollar
;.chant somehow pecu-
-er trip rather than a
– . m uzzles and other
ense power female
:·ou don’t put these
Others, more literary,
_ · M agic Woman or
:.ead or turkey-carcass
~ ers don’t care much
:he antiporners don’t
– dirt on the street,
m its You’re-a-prude/
·here as long as we
~ent.” Possibly
t: ma gazine, book,
-o thinking of these
– .. and we’re used to
ought to be able to
. That was what the
all, it’s only enter-
only a killjoy would
~ ~ ‘ the harm? If there
antip orners can tsk-
– they can’t rightfully
er, the no harm posi-
_anning-as the fed-
os and videos that
:eal children are used
– · this is ethical. The
ographic materials
Communist or other-
– an open democratic
-e it illegal to dissemi-
any group because of
NEL
PORNOGRAPHY 321
race or religion. I suggest that if pornography of the violent kind
depicted these acts being done predominantly to Chinese, to blacks,
to Catholics, it would be off the market immediately, under the pre-
sent laws. Why is hate literature illegal? Because whoever made the
law thought that such material might incite real people to do real
awful things to other real people. The human brain is to a certain
extent a computer: garbage in, garbage out. We only hear about the
extreme cases (like that of American multimurderer Ted Bundy) in
which pornography has contributed to the death and/or mutilation
of women and/ or men. Although pornography is not the only
factor involved in the creation of such deviance, it certainly has
upped the ante by suggesting both a variety of techniques and the
social acceptability of such actions. Nobody knows yet what effect
this stuff is having on the less psychotic.
Studies have shown that a large part of the market for all kinds 13
of porn, soft and hard, is drawn from the 16-to-21-year-old popula-
tion of young men. Boys used to learn about sex on the street, or (in
Italy, according to Fellini movies) from friendly whores, or, in more
genteel surroundings, from girls, their parents, or, once upon a
time, in school, more or less . Now porn has been added, and sex
education in the schools is rapidly being phased out. The buck has
been passed, and boys are being taught that all women secretly like
to be raped and that real men get high on scooping out women’s
digestive tracts .
Boys learn their concept of masculinity from other men: is this 14
what most men want them to be learning? If word gets around that
rapists are “normal” and even admirable men, will boys feel that in
order to be normal, admirable and masculine they will have to be
rapists? Human beings are enormously flexible, and how they turn
out depends a lot on how they’re educated, by the society in which
they’re immersed as well as by their teachers. In a society that
advertises and glorifies rape or even implicitly condones it, more
women get raped. It becomes socially acceptable. And at a time
when men and the traditional male role have taken a lot of flak and
men are confused and casting around for an acceptable way of
being male (and, in some cases, not getting much comfort from
women on that score), this must be at times a pleasing thought.
It would be naive to think of violent pornography as just harm- 1s
less entertainment. It’s also an educational tool and a powerful pro-
paganda device. What happens when boy educated on porn meets
girl brought up on Harlequin romances? The clash of expectations
can be heard around the block. She wants him to get down on his
knees with a ring, he wants her to get down on all fours with a ring
in her nose. Can this marriage be saved?
NEL
16 Pornography has certain things in common with such addictive
substances as alcohol and drugs; for some, though by no means for
all, it induces chemical changes in the body, which the user finds
exciting and pleasurable. It also appears to attract a “hard core” of
habitual users and a penumbra of those who use it occasionally but
aren’t dependent on it in any way. There are also significant num-
bers of men who aren’t much interested in it, not because they’re
undersexed but because real life is satisfying their needs, which
may not require as many appliances as those of users.
17 For the “hard core,” pornography may function as alcohol does
for the alcoholic: tolerance develops, and a little is no longer
enough. This may account for the short viewing time and fast
turnover in porn theatres. Mary Brown, chairwoman of the Ontario
Board of Film Censors, estimates that for every one mainstream
movie requesting entrance to Ontario, there is one porno flick. Not
only the quantity consumed but the quality of explicitness must
escalate, which may account for the growing violence: once the big
deal was breasts, then it was genitals, then copulation, then that
was no longer enough and the hard users had to have more. The
ultimate kick is death, and after that, as the Marquis de Sade so bor-
ingly demonstrated, multiple death.
1s The existence of alcoholism has not led us to ban social
drinking. On the other hand, we do have laws about drinking and
driving, excessive drunkenness and other abuses of alcohol that
may result in injury or death to others.
19 This leads us back to the key question: what’s the harm?
Nobody knows, but this society should find out fast, before the sat-
uration point is reached. The Scandinavian studies that showed a
connection between depictions of sexual violence and increased
impulse toward it on the part of male viewers would be a starting
point, but many more questions remain to be raised as well as
answered. What, for instance, is the crucial difference between men
who are users and men who are not? Does using affect a man’s rela-
tionship with actual women, and, if so, adversely? Is there a clear
line . between erotica and violent pornography, or are they on an
escalating continuum? Is this a “men versus women” issue, with all
men secretly siding with the proporners and all women secretly
siding against? (I think not; there are lots of men who don’t think
that running their true love through the Cuisinart is the best way
they can think of to spend a Saturday night, and they’re just as nau-
seated by films of someone else doing it as women are.) Is pornog-
raphy merely an expression of the sexual confusion of this age or an
active contributor to it?
NEL
Nobodv
even piano !eR
taloons to be d
Orwell’s 19…,_
keep the prol1
the approved:
ered joyful
glop, if ev~-.
people’s li>e::
be now, p om
is obviously –
Hunger
MAGGIE I-IE.!
Maggie Helv.’i..,
include Where
Building in the =
C
onsider
have~
starva
obsessive paikJ_
ordinary thirr;:
ening rate to
classes that ” ~
gest that 80 :
campus have
almost imp o::s
threatening;
ered a problerr:
of anorexia, ar
my weight d
tries in the \”
NEL
DY n o means for
— the user finds
a “hard core” of
– e is no longer
time and fast
” of the Ontario
n e mainstream
porno flick. Not
e:xplicitness must
e: once the big
‘ ation, then that
have more. The
– d e Sade so bor-
s t o ban socia l
ut d rinking and
– of alcohol that
~ a t ‘ s the harm?
e and increased
ould be a starting
.:-aise d as well as
ce between men
affect a man’s rela-
E: • Is there a clear
r are they on an
en” issue, with all
w omen secretly
w h o don’t think
is the best way
– ey’re just as nau-
are.) Is pornog-
of this age or an
NEL
HUNGER 323
Nobody wants to go back to the age of official repression, when 20
even piano legs were referred to as “limbs” and had to wear pan-
taloons to be decent. Neither do we want to end up in George
Orwell’s 1984, in which pornography is turned out by the State to
keep the proles in a state of torpor, sex itself is considered dirty and
the approved practice is only for reproduction. But Rome under the
emperors isn’t such a good model either.
If all men and women respected each other, if sex were consid- 21
ered joyful and life-enhancing instead of a wallow in gern;i-filled
glop, if everyone were in love all the time, if, in other words, many
people’s lives were more satisfactory for them than they appear to
be now, pornography might just go away on its own. But since this
is obviously not happening, we as a society are going to have to
make some informed and responsible decisions.
Hunger
MAGGIE HELWIG
Maggie Helwig (b. 1961) is a Canadian writer living in Toronto. Her books
include Where She Was Standing (2001 ), Real Bodies (2002), and One
Building in the Earth: New and Selected Poems (2002).
C
onsider that it is now normal for North American women to
have eating disorders. Consider that anorexia-deliberate
starvation- and bulimia-self-induced vomiting-and
obsessive patterns for weight-controlling exercise are now the
ordinary thing for young women, and are spreading at a fright-
ening rate to older women, to men, to ethnic groups and social
classes that were once “immune.” Consider that some surveys sug-
gest that 80 per cent of the women on an average university
campus have borderline-to-severe eating disorders; that it is
almost impossible to get treatment unless the problem is life-
threatening; that, in fact, if it is not life-threatening it is not consid-
ered a problem at all. I once sat in a seminar on nutritional aspects
of anorexia, and ended up listening to people tell me how to keep
my weight down. All this is happening in one of the richest coun-
tries in the world, a society devoted to consumption. Amazing as it
may seem, we have normalized anorexia and bulimia, even turned
them into an industry.
NEL
ged, for
Difference
of how to distinguish pornography from erotica. Here, in an article first
printed in Ms. magazine, Gloria Steinem provides a practical test for
making a distinction between the two.
drive at times when we can and cannot conceive.
planning, memory, and invention along our evolutionary path, we
also developed sexuality as a form of expression; a way of commu-
nicating that is separable from our need for sex as a way of perpetu-
ating ourselves. For humans alone, sexuality can be and often is
primarily a way of bonding, of giving and receiving pleasure, bridging
differentness, discovering sameness, and communicating emotion.
change our environment, adapt physically, and, in the long run, af-
fect our own evolution. But as an emotional result of this spiraling
path away from other animals, we seem to alternate between periods
of exploring our unique abilities to forge new boundaries, and feel-
ings of loneliness in the unknown that we ourselves have created; a
fear that sometimes sends us back to the comfort of the animal world
by encouraging us to exaggerate our sameness with it.
only in the human world. So is the difference between art and nature,
or an intellectual accomplishment and a physical one. As a result,
we celebrate play, art, and invention as leaps into the unknown; but
any imbalance can send us back to nostalgia for our primate past and
the conviction that the basics of work, nature, and physical labor are
somehow more worthwhile or even more moral.
In the same way, we have explored our sexuality as separable from
conception : a pleasurable, empathetic bridge to strangers of the same
species. We have even invented contraception-a skill that has prob-
ably existed in some form since our ancestors figured out the process
of birth-in order to extend this uniquely human difference. Yet we
also have times of atavistic suspicion that sex is not complete-or
even legal or intended-by-god-if it cannot end in conception.
~ No wonder the concepts of “erotica” and “pornography” can be
so crucially different, and yet so confused . Both assume that sexuality
can be separated from conception, and therefore can be used to carry
a personal message. That’s a major reason why, even in our current
culture, both may be called equally “shocking” or legally “obscene,”
a word whose Latin derivative means “dirty, containing filth .” This
gross condemnation of all sexuality that isn’t harnessed to childbirth
and marriage has been increased by the current backlash against
women’s progress. Out of fear that the whole patriarchal structure
might be upset if women really had the autonomous power to decide
our reproductive futures (that is, if we controlled the most basic
means of production-the production of human beings), right-wing
groups are not only denouncing pro-choice abortion literature as
“pornographic,” but are trying to stop the sending of all contraceptive
information through the mails by invoking obscenity laws. In fact,
Phyllis Schlafiy recently denounced the entire Women’s Movement as
“obscene.”
Not surprisingly, this religious, visceral backlash has a secular, in-
tellectual counterpart that relies heavily on applying the “natural”
behavior of the animal world to humans. That application is ques-
tionable in itself, but these Lionel Tiger-ish studies make their po-
litical purpose even more clear in the particular animals they select
and the habits they choose to emphasize. For example, some male
primates (marmosets, titi monkeys, night monkeys) carry and/ or
generally “mother” their infants. Tiger types prefer to discuss chimps
and bab~ons, whose behavior is very “male chauvinist.” The message
is that females should accept their “destiny” of being sexually depen-
dent and devote themselves to bearing and rearing their young.
Defending against such reaction in turn leads to another tempta-
tion : merely to reverse the terms, and declare that all nonprocreative
sex is good. In fact, however, this human activity can be as construe-
— ——-
is not mutual lo.~
women. (Thong’
this violence b; .::
of,” which p
replaces a sp01::.•””””i
voyeurism. The ~
so by example.
Look at an; .: –
is always a SF’~ j?.-.~
want to be,
Now loo·-
very unequal
the other is cir.-~ – –
or equal power.
The first is
tween people
It may or may ~ —
enough to make –‘9
identify with a
give us a contag:i
· The second is
and conquest. 1- :,_
create one, or r- –
else’s) are reaL..y –
must identify
experience pl1
ble from
– ~ e process
~ce. Yet we
plete–or
_ _ ~;-” can be
~ – – sexuality
to carry
current
– er tempta-
~ “””i rocreative
as construe-
What Is Pornography? 37
tive or destructive, moral or immoral, as any other. Sex as communi-
cation can send messages as different as life and death; even the
origins of “erotica” and “pornography” reflect that fact. After all,
“erotica” is rooted in “eros” or passionate love, and thus in the idea
of positive choice, free will, the yearning for a particular person.
(Interestingly, the definition of erotica leaves open the question of
gender.) “Pornography” begins with a root “porno,” meaning “pros-
tiiution” or “female captives,” thus letting us know .that the subject
is not mutual love, or love at all, but domination and violence against
women. (Though, of course, homosexual pornography may imitate
this violence by putting a man in the “feminine” role of victim.) It
ends with a root “graphos,” meaning “writing about” or “description
of,” which puts still more distance between subject and object, and
replaces a spontaneous -yearning for closeness with ob)ectification and
voyeurism. The difference is clear in the words . It becomes even more
so by example.
Look at any photo or film of people making love; really making
love. The images may be diverse, but there is usually a sensuality and
touch and warmth, an acceptance of bodies and nerve endings. There
is always a spontaneous sense of people who are there because they
want to be, out of shared pleasure.
Now look at any depiction of sex in which there is clear force, or
an unequal power that spells coercion. It may be very blatant, with
weapons of torture or bondage, wounds and bruises, some clear hu-
miliation, or an adult’s sexual power being used over a child. It may
be much more subtle: a physical attitude of conqueror and victim,
the use of race or class difference to imply the same thing, perhaps a
very unequal nudity, with one person exposed and vulnerable while
the other is clothed . In either case, there is no sense of equal choice
or equal power.
The first is erotic: a mutually pleasurable, sexual expression be- f
tween people who have enough power to be there by positive choice. \
It may or may not strike a sense-memory in the viewer, or be creative
enough to make the unknown seem real; but it doesn’t require us to
identify with a conqueror or a victim. It is truly sensuous, and may
give us a contagion of pleasure.
The second is pornographic: its message is violence, dominance,
and conquest. It is sex being used to reinforce some inequality, or to
create one, or to tell us that pain and humiliation (ours or someone
else’s) are really the same as pleasure. If we are to feel anything, we
must identify with conqueror or victim. That means we can only \
experience pleasure through the adoption of some degree of sadism !!
or masochism. It also means that we may feel diminished by the role
of conqueror, or enraged, humiliated, and vengeful by sharing iden-
tity with the victim.
~ Perhaps one could simply say that erotica is about sexuality, but
pornography is about power and sex-as-weapon-in the same way we
have come to understand that rape is about violence, and not really
about sexuality at all.
Yes, it’s true that there are women who have been forced by vio-
lent families and dominating men to confuse love with pain; so much
so that they have become masochists. (A fact that in no way excuses
those who administer such pain.) But the truth is that, for most
women-and for men with enough humanity to imagine themselves
in the predicament of women- pornography could serve as aversion-
conditioning toward sex.
Of course, there will always be personal differences about what is
and is not erotic, and there may be cultural differences for a long time
to come. Many women feel that sex makes them vulnerable and
therefore may continue to need more sense of personal connection
and safety than men do before allowing any erotic feelings. Men, on
the other hand, may continue to feel less vulnerable, and therefore
more open to such potential danger as sex with strangers. Women
now frequently find competence and expertise erotic in men, but
that may pass as we develop those qualities in ourselves. As some
men replace the need for submission from childlike women with the
pleasure of cooperation from equals, they may find a partner’s com-
petence to be erotic, too.
Such group changes plus individual differences will continue to be
reflected in sexual love between people of the same gender, as well
as between women and men. The point is not to dictate sameness,
but to discover ourselves and each other through a sexuality that is
an exploring, pleasurable, empathetic part of our lives; a human sex-
uality that is unchained both from unwanted pregnancies and from
violence.
But that is a hope, not a reality. At the moment, fear of change is
increasing both the indiscriminate repression of all nonprocreative
sex in the religious and “conservative” male-dominated world, and
the pornographic vengeance against women’s sexuality in the secular
world of “liberal” or “radical” men. It’s almost futuristic to debate
what is and is not truly erotic, when many women are again being
forced into compulsory motherhood, and the number of pornographic
murders, tortures, and women-hating images are on the increase in
both popular culture and real life.
Together, bo-
familiar division:
vulnerable to
violence. Both ~.,,,.
sexuality. And.,.._
In spite of fu..
ral” role of mcfu::.
productive free6:l
endless births :r—=
men for sep
Now we ha.r.e –
that all nonp:roc:-e:
to a uniquely
it is, our bodies
erotica in our
bodies have –
woman-hating.
spirits that bre~ 1
labial display f~
knees, screami:::;_g
tending to enj~
our sisters thar i:”!l
by the truly obs.-
be combined.
Sexuality is –
But until w-e
there will be ,…..
murders in o
the
What Is Pornography? 39
Together, both of the above forms of repression perpetuate that
familiar division: wife or whore; “good” woman who is constantly
vulnerable to pregnancy or “bad” woman who is unprotected from
violence. Both roles would be upset if we were to control our own
sexuality. And that’s exactly what we must do.
In spite of all our atavistic suspicions and training for the “natu-
ral” role of motherhood, we took up the complicated battle for re-
productive freedom. Our bodies had borne the health burden of
endless births and poor abortions, and we had a greater motive than
men for separating sexuality and conception.
Now we have to take up the equally complex burden of explaining
that all nonprocreative sex is not alike. We have a motive: our right
to a uniquely human sexuality, and sometimes even to survival. As
it is, our bodies have too rarely been enough our own to develop
erotica in our own lives, much less in art and literature. And our
bodies have too often been the objects of pornography and the
woman-hating, violent practice that it preaches. Consider also our
spirits that break a little each time we see ourselves in chains or full
labial display for the conquering male viewer, bruised or on our
knees, screaming a real or pretended pain to delight the sadist, pre-
tending to enjoy what we don’t enjoy, to be blind to the images of
our sisters that really haunt us-humiliated often enough ourselves
by the truly obscene idea that sex and the domination of women must
be combined.
Sexuality is human, free, separate-and so are we.
But until we untangle the lethal confusion of sex with violence,
there will be more pornography and less erotica. There will be little
murders in our beds-and very little love. Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
