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Why Internet Porn Matters by Margret GrebbowiczNow that pornography is on the Internet, its political and social functions have changed. So contends Margret Grebowicz in this imperative philosophical analysis of Internet porn. The production and consumption of Internet porn, in her account, are a symptom of the obsession with self-exposure in today's social networking media, which is, in turn, a symptom of the modern democratic construction of the governable subject as both transparent and communicative. In this first feminist critique to privilege the effects of pornography's Internet distribution rather than what it depicts, Grebowicz examines porn-sharing communities (such as the bestiality niche market) and the politics of putting women's sexual pleasure on display (the "squirting" market) as part of the larger democratic project. Arguing against this project, she shows that sexual pleasure is not a human right. Unlikely convergences between thinkers like Catherine MacKinnon, Jean Baudrillard, Judith Butler, and Jean-François Lyotard allow her to formulate a theory of the relationships between sex, speech, and power that stands as an alternative to such cyber-libertarian mottos as "freedom of speech" and "sexual freedom." |
Previous Books 2008-13 |
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A Princess of Mars (Edgar Rice Burroughs) Oracles of the Dead (Robert Temple 2005) Operation Trojan Horse, John. A. Keel (1970) The Black Book (Senator Adlai E. Stevenson III)American Gods (Neil Gaiman 2001) Severe Space Weather Events-Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts. A Workshop Report God's Breath: Sacred Scriptures Of The World, - The Essential Texts of Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sufism (John Miller, Aaron Kenedi, Thomas Moore 2000) The Yugas: Keys to Understanding Our Hidden Past, Emerging Present and Future Enlightenment (David Steinmetz and Joseph Selbie 2011) The Information: A History. A Theory. A Flood Cyberpower and National Security (Kramer,Starr, Wentz) - pending UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities (John. B. Alexander Feb 2011) Eyeless in Gaza (Aldous Huxley) The Genius in All of Us: new insight into genetics, talent and IQ A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Karen Armstrong) Heroes of the French Epic: A Selection of Chansons de Geste (Michael Newth) The Irony of American History (Reinhold Niebuhr) The Chansons de geste in the Age of Romance: Political Fictions (Sarah Kay) Aymeri of Narbonne: A French Epic Romance (Michael Newth) Fierabras and Floripas: A French Epic Allegory (Michael Newth) Leonora Carrington (Susan. L. Aberth) The Hearing Trumpet (Leonora Carrington) On Combat, The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace (Lt. Col. Dave Grossman and Loren W. Christensen) Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon (Robert Fisk) The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness (Karen Armstrong) A History of God (Karen Armstrong) The Afghanistan-Pakistan Theatre: Militant Islam, Security & Stability (Daveed Gartenstein-Ross) Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century (P. W. Singer) Defending Humanity: When Force is Justified and Why (Eds: George P. Fletcher and Jens David Ohlin). |
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Edward Morgan Forster, Two Cheers for Democracy, “What I Believe” (1938)I believe in aristocracy. . . — if that is the right word, and if a democrat may use it. Not an aristocracy of power, based upon rank and influence, but an aristocracy of the sensitive, the considerate and the plucky. Its members are to be found in all nations and classes, and all through the ages, and there is a secret understanding between them when they meet. They represent the true human tradition, the one permanent victory of our queer race over cruelty and chaos. Thousands of them perish in obscurity, a few are great names. They are sensitive for others as well as for themselves, they are considerate without being fussy, their pluck is not swankiness but the power to endure, and they can take a joke. I give no examples — it is risky to do that — but the reader may as well consider whether this is the type of person he would like to meet and to be, and whether (going further with me) he would prefer that this type should not be an ascetic one. I am against asceticism myself. I am with the old Scotsman who wanted less chastity and more delicacy. I do not feel that my aristocrats are a real aristocracy if they thwart their bodies, since bodies are the instruments through which we register and enjoy the world. Still, I do not insist. This is not a major point. It is clearly possible to be sensitive, considerate and plucky and yet be an ascetic too, and if anyone possesses the first three qualities I will let him in! On they go — an invincible army, yet not a victorious one. The aristocrats, the elect, the chosen, the Best People — all the words that describe them are false, and all attempts to organize them fail. Again and again Authority, seeing their value, has tried to net them and to utilize them as the Egyptian Priesthood or the Christian Church or the Chinese Civil Service or the Group Movement, or some other worthy stunt. But they slip through the net and are gone; when the door is shut, they are no longer in the room; their temple, as one of them remarked, is the holiness of the Heart’s affections, and their kingdom, though they never possess it, is the wide-open world. [full chapter] President Abraham Lincoln, Nov 21, 1864 (letter to Col. William F. Elkins)I see in the near future a crisis approaching. It unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes.
I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me & the financial institutions at the rear; the latter is my greatest foe. Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in the hands of a few, and the Republic is destroyed.
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“Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them.” -
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Synthetic Biology: scope, applications and implications (2009 download pdf), Royal Academy of Engineering
