Men, pornography, and the heteroerotic dilemma

Abstract

Simon Hardy sets out to describe and explain the effect of mass-market heterosexual pornography on the construction of contemporary male hetero/sexuality. The book is a valuable addition to the body of research on sexuality and representation, addressing what is too often neglected in studies of pornography-the content and images of pornographic materials and the experiences and voices of its readers/ viewers, who, when they are represented at all, are generally always already pathologized. Through a combination of close textual analysis of a representative range of softcore texts and the discursive responses of a random sample of heterosexual men in their twenties and thirties who have used or use pornography, Hardy explores pornography's ideological impact. The book is a welcome attempt to combine theoretical analysis with careful empirical study, and it offers us evocative glimpses into why and how men use pornography, and to what ends. Hardy begins by contextualizing his research within the feminist sexuality debates. The book's first two chapters provide a succinct account of feminist theories of sexuality, the politics of representation, and sexual violence. Especially noteworthy is the author's perceptive and informed account of the theoretical and conceptual reasons underpinning the historical division between pro-sex or anti-censorship feminists and antipornography campaigners. As well as a clear introduction to this politically and emotionally charged debate, the book includes chapters on the way in which women are represented within the masculinist dis-