Book Review: Walter S. DeKeseredy and Marilyn Corsianos, Violence Against Women in Pornography

Abstract

Book Review: Walter S. DeKeseredy and Marilyn Corsianos, Violence Against Women in Pornography. New York: Routledge, 2016. ISBN: 978-1455775422 (Paperback). 136 Pages. $39.95.[Article copies available for a fee from Transformative Studies Institute. E-mail address: journal@transformativestudies.org Website: http://www.transformativestudies.org ©2017 by Transformative Studies Institute. All rights reserved.]Walter S. DeKeseredy and Marilyn Corsianos' Violence Against Women in Pornography is many things. It is a piece of sensationalistic anti-porn propaganda masked under loose guise of a sociological story (107). It is a hegemonic, highly sexist articulation of what sexual expression should look like - both for people creating porn, as well as for consumers interested in erotic It is presumptuous and dismissive, inaccurate, dated, and hysterical. And it is also a very important book.At just over 100 pages, Violence Against Women in Pornography is a quick read, one that makes no attempt to veil or minimize its anti-porn agenda. summary description on back jacket suggests the main objective of this book is to motivate readers to think critically about adult pornography. In very same sentence, however, it encourages readers to progressive steps to curb production and consumption of hurtful sexual media. text is organized around this antipornography theme in five chapters. Each is remarkably reductive and biased.In Chapter One, The Extent and Distribution of Pornography Use and Production, authors offer some discussion of technology development, which certainly has allowed consumers greater access to information and media of all types (not just porn), but bulk of chapter is spent constructing a bricolage of miscontextualized and outright fabrications related to adult entertainment. Figures describing various aspects of porn consumption are referenced as rigorous (none are); cyber-sex addiction is described as an ailment without controversy; and porn production, casting, and content forms are described inaccurately and without regard to era. For instance, gonzo form content, which was frequently produced approximately ten years ago, is inaccurately defined (see page 9, among numerous references throughout text), as well as discussed as if its prevalence has not shifted.2 In another example, authors assert that the desired jobs for porn performers are ones that offer contract employment (13), another pattern that began to shift dramatically approximately ten years ago and is no longer applicable in today's post-piracy, social media-based branding environment. These are only a few of facts used to paint an alarming picture of adult content's prurient grip on contemporary society.Chapter Two, Adult Pornography Today, continues along lines similar to Chapter 1. This section focuses on ideas related to images of women in mainstream pornography, which are described as violent and degrading sexual images that dominate mass market (17). most significant dimensions of this chapter revolve around conceptualizations of aggression and - specifically, sexual aggression and sexual violence. In addition to dismissing variable adult content forms, production standpoints, and themes, authors assume that aggression and have universal meaning. As such, what constitutes violence to one person must also have same meaning to every other individual, culture, and group. authors also assume that no one can consent to behavior that they themselves or others may find aggressive or violent. Finally, authors do not engage ideas related to performance or acting in media production. As such, it is assumed that pornography showcases exhibitions of emotions and sensations that are in no way manufactured, contrived, or acted. It is also assumed that consumers take in these exhibitions as such. …