Hello everyone, this is my first post on this sub but I’ve been an avid lurker on here for a while now. I’m a uni student (studying a creative subject) and I am currently creating a video essay on misogyny and violence in porn and the effects on society and our sexuality etc etc.
Ive been reading a PDF version of the book “The Sexual Liberals and the Attack on Feminism” which is a collection of theories from lots of great feminist activists from the 80s. I could very well be late to the party on this but Dorchen Leidholt’s chapters are brilliant (she put the book together) and I thought I’d share the link in case anyone wanted to read!
I’ve found the chapter “When Women Defend Pornography” particularly well written and I have found lots of new favourite quotes.
This book! Yes. A good one. I’ve read it but it’s been a while.
As for chapters, I was shocked and blown away by “Making an Issue of Incest” by Louise Armstrong. I had always just assumed it was taken seriously and seen as a major evil to do something like that to a child, but no. And that’s horrifying. I do feel like progress has been made on that front at least in it being seen as completely, utterly reprehensible (at least by anyone with a basic level of sanity)
“Woman-Hating Right and Left” by Andrea Dworkin has some powerful quotes, that’s a memorable one
I’ve been reading it sort of backwards by the chapters which are most relevant to my case study so I’ve only read a little bit of ‘making an issue of incest’ , it is so crazy though I will definitely read that one soon!
Wow. Just read it and it's insane that this was written in the 1980s when literally nothing about it is different from today (only that it's gotten worse).
Oftentimes when I see anti-porn articles, they're only criticizing modern internet porn specifically, and they'll often go out of their way to give "old school" porn like Playboy magazines a pass, like they were some quaint rite of passage for boys instead of misogynistic indoctrination. Sure, I get that modern porn is worse for so many obvious reasons I'm sure anyone reading this already knows, but it's important to understand that it's not the medium that's the problem, it's the fact that it's dehumanizing to women and treats them like products to consume. That's true whether it's Playboy or Pornhub and I think it's important not to lose sight of that.
Great read, thanks for sharing!
I know honestly everything that’s written is even more relevant today - so ahead of its time! I’m glad you enjoyed 🙏
This book is golden.