THE PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGINARY: SEX, VIOLENCE, COMMERCE, CULTURE
The fierce debates that erupted in the 1980's over the production, distribution and consumption of pornography look to many today to be terribly dated, sealed off (thankfully?) in another era: we've been there and done that. The slow recession of pornography as that which incites thought and contestation in theoretical circles has occurred, paradoxically, as the aesthetics and logics and narratives and economies of pornography have proliferated all around us. Pornographic visual tropes have migrated fully and almost indistinguishably into the worlds of fashion and advertising. Pornographic logics and narratives have become embedded in, and to a large extent possibly structure almost entirely, the sexual desires and practices of millions. So too do they configure the images of imperial occupation (e.g. Abu Ghraib) and resistance (e.g. beheading videos). Pornographic hyperconsumption has been facilitated by technological revolutions which in turn has created a massive multi-billion dollar globalized pornographic economy to meet the exploding demand. Porn stars have become Pop stars, and Pop stars have become Porn stars. It is a pornographic age; and that which defines our time deserves our continued attention.
We do not seek to rekindle or rehash the so-called 'sex wars' over pornography, but we do look forward to thinking anew and thinking again about the pornographic imaginary that today shapes sexual pleasures (heteronormative and sexually dissident), regimes of violence (domestic and imperial), political economies (psychic and material), and cultural productions (of all sorts). We welcome a wide range of submissions that deal with this topic.
We also welcome book reviews on any topic within the orbit of political and cultural theory, whether related or unrelated to the issue^Òs theme.
Papers should be no more than 30 pages; reviews, no more than 10. All submissions are due by JANUARY 15, 2005 to the following address:
Critical Sense c/o Department of Political Science 210 Barrows Hall University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720-1950
or electronically: criticalsense at socrates.berkeley.edu
===== "I'm not too worried by hegemony / I know the cadre will look after me" - Magazine, "Model Worker," 1978