Chinese artists, activists, and netizens are pioneering a new order of pornographic representation that is in critical dialogue with global entertainment media. Jacobs examines the role of sex-positive feminists and queer communities to investigate pornography's "afterglow" (a state of crisis and decay within digital culture).

Discusses governmental responsibilities and individual liberties, ethical problems of moral judgement, and legal considerations in defining and suppressing obscene material.

The regulation of pornography has always been a contentious issue, which has sparked wide-ranging debates surrounding the acceptability and place of pornography in society. The use of the internet to distribute and access pornography has magnified this debate and has presented a number of challenges for the law in terms of effective and proportionate regulation. Following unsuccessful attempts by states to transpose traditional laws to cyberspace, a new and radical regulatory framework eventually evolved for regulating internet pornography. In this process, the focus of the law has changed from merely controlling the publication and distribution of obscene material to a model that aims to deter private consumption of illegal content. In addition, various self- and co-regulatory initiatives have been introduced with the involvement of non-state actors, imposing a certain degree of de facto liability on intermediaries, all of which raise interesting issues. This book examines the relevant regulatory responses to internet pornography, with particular reference to the UK, but also drawing comparisons with other countries where relevant. It argues that the internet has fundamentally, and in many ways irreversibly, changed the regulation of pornography. Classifying internet pornography into three broad categories - child pornography, extreme pornography, and adult pornography - the book provides an in-depth analysis of the legal issues involved in regulating internet pornography, and argues that the notions of obscenity and indecency on their own will not provide an adequate basis for regulating online pornography. The book identifies the legitimising factors that will lend credibility and normative force to the law in order to successfully regulate pornography in cyberspace. It is the only comprehensive text that rigorously addresses the regulation of internet pornography as a whole, and offers valuable insights that will appeal to academics, students, policy makers, and those working in the areas of broader internet governance and online child protection.

This book explores young people's practices and perceptions of sexting and how sexting has been represented and responded to by the media, education campaigns, and the law. It analyses the important broader socio-legal issues raised by sexting and the appropriateness of current responses.

Child pornography, particularly that available via the Internet, has become a cause of huge social concern in recent years. This book examines the reality behind the often hysterical media coverage of the topic. Drawing on extensive new research findings, it examines how child pornography is used on the Internet and the social context in which such use occurs, and develops a model of offending behaviour to better help understand and deal with the processes of offending. Detailed case studies and offenders' own accounts are used to illustrate the processes involved in offending and treatment.
The authors argue that we need to refine our ideas of offending, and that while severe deterrents need to be associated with possession of child pornography, a better understanding is needed of the links between possession and committing a contact offence. Only by improving our understanding of this complex and very controversial topic can we hope to deal effectively with offenders and with their child victims. This is a book which will become an essential read for anyone involved with offenders or victims from a psychological, judicial or social background.

Related link: Free Email Alerting

From advertising to health education campaigns, sex and sexual imagery now permeate every aspect of culture. Striptease Culture explores the 'sexualization' of contemporary life, relating it to wider changes in post-war society. Divided into three sections, Striptease Culture first traces the development of pornography, following its movement from elite to mass culture and the contemporary fascination with 'porno-chic'. In part two McNair considers popular cultural forms of sexual representation in the media. Moving from backlash elements in straight male culture and changing images of women to the representation of gays in contemporary film and television shows such as Ellen or Queer as Folk, McNair argues that the high profile of sexuality in contemporary culture, rather than evidence of moral decline, is a positive expression of post-war liberalism and the advance of feminism and gay rights, as well as a key contributor to public health education in the era of HIV and AIDS.
In part three, McNair turns to the uses of sexuality in contemporary art, examining the artistic 'striptease' of Jeff Koons and others, who have used their own naked bodies in their work. McNair also considers how feminist and gay artists have employed sexuality in the critique and transformation of patriarchy. In a concluding chapter, McNair considers the implications of the rise of striptease culture for the future of sexual politics.

The exponential growth of the Internet in recent years has given individuals immediate and virtually anonymous access to all types of information, including explicit sexual content. While many celebrate the personal freedoms made possible by the Internet, others consider unfettered access to online sexual material to be an unhealthy, if not dangerous phenomenon. Expanding this debate, Cybersex: The Dark Side of the Force presents for the first time an empirical foundation for the discussion of cybersex compulsivity and its effect on the mental health of individuals, couples, teens, and young children.
While pornographic material has long been available to the consumer in print and video form, these purchases are inherently limited by the individual's degree of comfort with the public exposure (however minimal) that they they require. In contrast, the Internet provides a forum where children can access unsuitable material without parental supervision, and where individuals with existing sexual compulsions can acces material that can exacerbate their struggle to maintain control over their desire. Even among individuals who are not as susceptible to such material, cybersex can create distorted associations or compound negative or unrealistic expectations about sexuality.
This groundbreaking examination of cybersex was originally published as a special issue of the journal Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity. It is a crucial resource for sex therapists, who until now had no rigorous study of the effect of online pornography on the patients they treat. It will also be of great interest to general marriage and family therapists who find themselves dealing with this issue with their clients, as well as others who are interested in the Internet as a social phenomenon.

Related link: Free Email Alerting

Porn is a complex symbol of our current world, and a shining example of the 'Shadow' of the Western culture. While many books essentially show its negative sides, the risks of addiction, the danger of damaging the relationship between sexes, and so on, this work focuses on porn as a phenomenon of our times, exploring its several colours, and trying to capture its inner logic and essence. Despite its pervasive ubiquity in the internet and in the lives of many, porn is apparently the ultimate taboo in the consulting room: in fact, very rarely does a patient mention something detailed about his or her use of porn. In parallel with its growing presence, the last forty years have witnessed a significant growth of publications about porn. The present work aims at deepening some aspects of internet porn from the perspective of Analytical Psychology, seeing it as symbol of the complexity of the human psyche, emerged in a specific moment of the history of consciousness.

Statistics show roughly 50 percent of men struggle with a pornography addiction; boys are being exposed to porn at younger ages each year; and technology now provides an environment of access where you no longer need to search for porn-it comes looking for you. Despite these facts, this epidemic is largely being ignored. When it is addressed, the message is always "Try harder, get an Internet filter, be a better man." At best, this message merely addresses the symptoms of a much deeper issue. At worst, it feeds the lies men believe that have contributed directly to their addiction. 10 Lies Men Believe about Porn uncovers the true cause of pornography addiction, exposes the lies that are trapping men in their bondage, and shows them the biblical path to true and lasting freedom.

Presents the personal experiences of sex workers in Asia, Australia, the Americas, the Caribbean, West Africa and Western Europe. In exploring the individual narratives of people involved in the sex trade around the world, this book seeks to undermine the crude stereotypes often employed to characterize those involved in this expanding industry. It documents national and international sex workers' movements organized to uphold their legal and human rights as they struggle to resist marginalization and exploitative working conditions around the world.

First published in 1998. No other issue has divided the feminist movement in the past two decades quite like pornography. By providing the first book to engage in an empirical investigation of the pornography industry itself, the authors--each grounded in the radical feminist anti-pornography movement--move beyond the rhetorical bomb-tossing of an often polarized debate. The authors engage in a systematic examination of the politics, production, content, and consumption of contemporary mass-market heterosexual pornography, thereby contributing to a fuller understanding of pornography's role in the cultural construction of gender, racial and sexual identities, and relations. They begin with an overview of the social and political history of the feminist anti-pornography movement and the debate over pornography within feminism. Then they address the various rhetorical dodges--definitional, legal, and causal--used to distort the fact that institutionalized pornography helps maintain the sexual and social oppression of women within a patriarchal system. Exploring the beginnings of the commercial pornography industry, the book focuses in part on the history of Playboy magazine. It also analyzes the content of contemporary mass-market videos. Dines, Jensen, and Russo argue that the sexual ideology of patriarchy eroticizes domination and submission, with pornography playing a significant role in how these values are mediated and normalized in American society. They discuss the effects of pornography on the lives of those who use it and those against whom it is used. In so doing, the authors hope to contribute to creating a world in which sex is not a site of oppression but of liberation.

In the late 1970s, the adult film industry began the transition from celluloid to home video. Smutty Little Movies traces this change and examines the cultural and legal efforts to regulate, contain, limit, or eradicate pornography. Drawing on a wide variety of materials, Smutty Little Movies de-centers the film text in favor of industry histories and contexts. In so doing, the book argues that the struggles to contain and regulate pleasure represent a primary starting point for situating adult video's place in a larger history, not just of pornography, but of media history as a whole.

This volume assembles hundreds of cases and studies to provide the most accurate and comprehensive picture of the status of pornography in the criminal justice system. Presenting high-level research in an accessible and organized manner, it explores a range of topics, including investigating and prosecuting a case, arguments favoring and opposing decriminalization of pornography, and relationships between pornography, mental disorders, and crime. It also examines criminal justice responses and international laws, policies, attitudes, and definitions of pornography in comparison to those of the United States.

"...provides good coverage of the empirical literature." -Journal of Communication "...well written and presents a wide diversity of approaches to pornography." -CHOICE

"...provides good coverage of the empirical literature." -Journal of Communication "...well written and presents a wide diversity of approaches to pornography." -CHOICE

Winner of the MLA's 2016 Alan Bray Prize for Best Book in GLBTQ Studies How BDSM can be used as a metaphor for black female sexuality. The Color of Kink explores black women's representations and performances within American pornography and BDSM (bondage and discipline, domination and submission, and sadism and masochism) from the 1930s to the present, revealing the ways in which they illustrate a complex and contradictory negotiation of pain, pleasure, and power for black women. Based on personal interviews conducted with pornography performers, producers, and professional dominatrices, visual and textual analysis, and extensive archival research, Ariane Cruz reveals BDSM and pornography as critical sites from which to rethink the formative links between Black female sexuality and violence. She explores how violence becomes not just a vehicle of pleasure but also a mode of accessing and contesting power. Drawing on feminist and queer theory, critical race theory, and media studies, Cruz argues that BDSM is a productive space from which to consider the complexity and diverseness of black women's sexual practice and the mutability of black female sexuality. Illuminating the cross-pollination of black sexuality and BDSM, The Color of Kink makes a unique contribution to the growing scholarship on racialized sexuality.

Violence against Women in Pornography illuminates the ways in which adult pornography hurts many women, both on and off screen. A growing body of social scientific knowledge shows that it is strongly associated with various types of violence against women in intimate relationships. Many women who try to leave abusive and/or patriarchal men also report that pornography plays a role in the abuse inflicted on them by their ex-partners. On top of these harms, male pornography consumption is strongly correlated with attitudes supporting violence against women. Many researchers, practitioners, and policy makers believe that adult pornography is a major problem and offer substantial evidence supporting this claim. Violence against Women in Pornography, unlike books written mainly for scholarly and general audiences, specifically targets students enrolled in undergraduate criminology, deviance, women's studies, masculinities studies, human sexuality, and media studies courses. Thoughtful discussion questions are placed at the end of each chapter, and appropriate PowerPoint slides and suggestions for classroom exercises will be available to aid student understanding. The main objective of this book is to motivate readers to think critically about adult pornography and to take progressive steps individually and collectively to curb the production and consumption of hurtful sexual media, including that from the "dark side of the Internet."

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE CULT-HIT TRUE CRIME PODCAST, MY FAVORITE MURDER In STAY SEXY & DON'T GET MURDERED, Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, hosts of true crime comedy podcast 'My Favorite Murder,' open up about their lives more intimately than ever in their confessionally honest and hilarious debut book, titled after their podcast sign-off. Sharing never-before-heard stories ranging from their struggles with depression, eating disorders, and addiction, Karen and Georgia irreverently recount their biggest mistakes and deepest fears, reflecting on the formative life events that shaped them into two of the most followed voices in the podcasting world.

The turn of the twenty-first century has witnessed the striking advance of pornography into the Western cultural mainstream. Symptomatic of this development has been the use by writers, artists, and film-makers of the imagery and aesthetics of pornography, in works which have, often on this basis, achieved considerable international success. Amongst these artists are a number of French authors and directors - such as Michel Houellebecq, Catherine Breillat, Virginie Despentes, or Catherine Millet - whose work has often been dismissed as trashy or exploitative, but whose use of pornographic material may in fact be indicative of important contemporary concerns. In this, the first study of this significant trend, the authors explore how the reference to pornography encodes diverse political, cultural, and existential questions, including relations between the sexes, the collapse of avant-garde politics, gay sexualities in the time of AIDS, the anti-feminist backlash, the relation to the body and illness, the place of fantasy, and the sexualisation of children. It will be of interest to undergraduates, graduates, and researchers in the fields of French culture, gender, film and media studies.

We usually think of women as the victims of pornography rather than its consumers. Whether appearing in films, peering provocatively from the pages of magazines, or posing on explicit Web-sites, women are considered the dehumanized objects of unseen lascivious male viewers. But in her controversial new book "One for the Girls ," Clarissa Smith debunks this myth and challenges women to read, watch, and enjoy pornography on their own terms. Focusing on the British magazine "For Women," Smith looks at its readers' responses to male pinups and erotica and explores the intricacies of women's unique reactions to pornography.

"Clarissa Smith has achieved something special with her new proffering from her masculinities repertoire. Smith's text is groundbreaking, multidisciplinary and--equally importantly--extremely readable. It is the last point perhaps that really sets this work apart, as One for the Girls has a great deal to offer both the specialist academic and the general reader. Clarissa Smith's accessible style allows readers with little prior knowledge of critical theory, cultural studies or the 1980s pornography debate, to not only understand these discourses, but to develop a strong grasp of their impact in this context."--Michelle Parsons, "Transition Tradition"""

With this original study, Melissa Mowry makes a strong contribution to a provocative interdisciplinary conversation about an important and influential sub genre: seventeenth-century political pornography. This book further advances our understanding of pornography's importance in seventeenth-century England by extending its investigation beyond the realm of cultural rhetoric into the realm of cultural practice. In addition to the satires which previous scholars have discussed in this context, Mowry brings to light hitherto unexamined pornographies as well as archival texts that reveal the ways in which the satires helped shape the social policies endured by prostitutes and bawds. Her study includes substantial archival evidence of prostitution from the Middlesex Sessions and the Bridewell Courtbooks. Mowry argues that Stuart partisans cultivated representations of bawds and prostitutes because polemicists saw the public sale of sex as republicanism's ideological apotheosis. Sex work, partisans repeatedly asserted, inherently disrupted ancestral systems of property transfer and distribution in favour of personal ownership, while the republican belief that all men owned the labour of their body achieved a nightmarish incarnation in the prostitute's understanding that the sexual favours she performed were labour. The prostitute's body thus emerged in the loyalist imagination as the epitome of the democratic body politic. Carefully grounded in original research, The Bawdy Politic in Stuart England, 1660-1714 is a cultural study with broad implications for the way we understand the historical constructions and legal deployments of women's sexuality.

Pornography is a $10 billion industry. Obscene Profits takes a "how-to" analytical approach to the business and profiles the entrepreneurs of the sex trade. This approach sparks many questions about freedom of speech, capitalism, morality, and the role of goverment regulation in business.

In this provocative book, retired porn star Scott O Hara (known as "Spunk" by many of his fans from an early punk photospread) gives a backstage look at the world of pornography, revealing why he loved it, what he got out of it, and why he left it. In an autobiographical style, he considers and poses answers to some fascinating questions: What is sex? What makes a porn star? And why does pornography really upset people? You ll really get to know this noted gay porn star as you get a firsthand look at his life experiences and sexual journeys from his boyhood days of locker room fantasies and sexual experimentation to his years as a porn star and then to his experiences as an individual facing the realities of being HIV-positive. As O Hara puts it in his Introduction: "This book was written as a last-ditch effort: a way to open up all my closets, let you in on all the dark corners of my life, and give you a better picture of what goes into the making of a porn star. Because if there 's one profession that arouses people 's curiosity, it 's that one." As you read through the pages of Autopornography, you ll see how O Hara 's personality reflects his sexuality, that is, how they have melded into one. His vivid descriptions of personal relationships (with family, friends, lovers, and casual acquaintances) and his many sexual encounters as he traveled the world reveal his love of sex and his desire to live without inhibitions, secrets, or sexual constraints. Reading Autopornography may cause you to reexamine your own sexual boundaries, realize new sexual potential, and discover sexual desires not previously aroused.Listed #14 on Books Bought Mainly by Men 1997 Top 100 Bestsellers as rated by A Different Light Bookstore