Violence and the Pornographic Imaginary: The Politics of Sex, Gender, and Aggression in Hardcore Pornography

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Routledge, 2012 - Literary Criticism - 246 pages

No cultural product reveals our collective fascination with sexual violence more candidly than pornography. Popular heterosexual pornographies showcase scenes of intense sexual aggression and cruelty that are gendered in repetitive, patterned configurations—configurations that are designedto arouse.

Purcell uses comparative critical readings of popular U.S. pornographies to illuminate the changing psychosocial foundations of sexually aggressive fantasies. By examining how depictions of violence in pornography have changed over the past forty years, she investigates the evolving desires and anxieties of the genre’s growing U.S. audience. Adopting a thick descriptive approach, she moves beyond the mere observation and recording of instances of sexism and violence, elucidating the changing aesthetics, themes, and conventions of depicted sexual aggression and showing how they have emerged in specific socio-historical contexts. Finally, she draws from a range of industry publications and fan forums to examine the fabric and function of misogyny and violence in people’s fantasies and everyday lives.

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Contents

The Sex Wars Revisited Feminist Responses to Pornography
31
Just Fantasy Rethinking the Pornographic the Fantastic the Real
59
From Theory to History
105
Copyright

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About the author (2012)

Natalie Purcell holds a PhD in Sociology from University of California, Santa Cruz and is an affiliated faculty member in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, USA.