Shots In The Dark

A smart piece today by Drake Bennett in the Boston Globe discusses the absence of anti-porn feminists from the current debate over pornography's growing popularity. It's social conservatives versus libertarians and First Amendment advocates, Bennett argues. Where are Catherine McKinnon, et al?

I haven't followed this debate closely, partly because it doesn't seem like there's been much of one. Porn chic mystifies me, and despite the fact that Jenna Jameson and I are published by the same company, I'm disturbed by it. Jameson, I understand, has actually had a pretty tough life. But there she is in glossy magazine ads for MP3 players, and whatever political context surrounds her is airbrushed away. She's just a woman with huge breasts and golden hair whom hundreds of thousands of people have watched having sex....and now she's selling electronics to teenagers. Perhaps this is the inevitable reductio ad absurdum of capitalism, but shouldn't liberals be a little concerned? Or is this just one of those social issues that liberals cede to conservatives?

Part of the problem is the difficulty of talking about politics in our entertainment-driven culture. As a former editor of George, I can testify to the fact that most people don't want to concede just how political entertainment is. They want to turn their minds off. If you raise the question, for example, of race in "Survivor," or the political implications of Donald Trump's mantra, "You're Fired," they react like you've just put castor oil in their milkshake.

Those who enjoy talking about politics and culture might want to read a book called Citizen Girl, by my friends Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. It's art, it's politics, it's entertainment—and it's two young feminists looking askance at porn with candor and wit.