-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org] On Behalf Of Michael Dawson Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 11:38 PM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] RE: Theory of Porn
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kenneth MacKendrick"
> Boot me off before I post again!
Or is it "boot me off before I have to answer the question?" Answer the question, Ken! What does porn have to do with modern (or ancient, for that matter) power?
** The trajectory of porn as a genre is primarily private, I suspect. It is likely as much about power and control as it is about sex as such, although sex is probably reduced to a kind of coded power in most instances. E.g. stop, pause, rewind, fast forward, and so on. It is a ritual activity and a ritual expression of sexuality. If pornography targets men, and much of it does, then it is a trajectory or a reinforcement of a particular kind of male identity (intentional or not). Such trajectories can be reinforced socially --> when aspects of the genre are incorporated directly into the public sphere, like the way a corporation is structured. Let's take the example of a college fraternity. Fraternal rituals mould and provide temples for masculine identity. This identity is forced upon the pledge through various rituals. E.g. the subject is first defined as powerless and tied rhetorically to his mother (momma's boy). Brotherhood is achieved by 'killing' the inner woman and the inner man (the Oedipal father). What emerges is a subjectivity that acts like a father but without the responsibilities of the typical patriarch. Such rituals are meant to be cleansing - to eliminate impurities and create a refined masculine brother (effectively washing away any sense of moral consciousness). Abusive fraternity initiation rituals create a heroic sadistic model for young men to follow. As Carole Pateman observes: men come to "share a common interest in upholding the original contract which legitimizes masculine right and allows them to gain material and psychological benefit from women's subjection." Hence, "When I'm older and turning grey, I'll only gang bang once a day" (Ditty, American College Fraternity, 1983) [quoted in Peggy Reeves Sanday, Fraternity Gang Rape]. Extensions of this brotherhood can be seen all over the place: In the Company of Men, Fight Club, even unsuspicious films like Old School (which mimics Fight Club throughout the entire narrative). I'm not arguing for a causal link (as Dworkin or MacKinnon do) but I do think there is a relation between the regime of the brother, fraternity, and pornography. Pornography is probably an extension of this masculine dominance. This has been diagnosed in a variety of ways: Juliet Flower MacCannell, The Regime of the Brother; Seyla Benhabib, "The Generalised and the Concrete Other" in Situating the Self; Renata Salecl, (Per)Versions of Love and Hate just to mention a couple social theoretical analyses. It is an uncomfortable diagnosis because we've inherited an anti-sex attitude from many of the monotheistic traditions, and this needs to be criticised. The persecution of 'sexual minorities' is also an issue of crucial importance... as are questions of freedom of expression, art, and erotic living. I wouldn't want to trample at all on Marcuse's Eros and Civilization and his attempt to recover the erotic impulse. Nonetheless, these associations need to be examined because pornography is utterly mainstream, and we can't pretend it doesn't have an effect on the constitution of male and female and transgendered subjectivities. In contrast to some authors, like Mary Daly, who argue that patriarchy is the universal religion... I think that we should further consider the possibility that brotherhood is a modern manifestation of the old patriarchal regime, and that this brotherhood is more insidious than previous forms of masculine dominance precisely because the ethic of protection, vital to the maintenance of patriarchy, is discarded. Oh yeah, George W. Bush was a frat boy was he not?
ken