Pop-Porn

There is a new wave of pornographic entertainment in contemporary American culture. Liberated from X-rated bookstores and strip clubs, porn is everywhere, and Pop-Porn seeks to examine this phenomenon in some of its most striking manifestations. Written from a variety of perspectives and on a variety of topics representing the widespread increase of soft-core porn in our culture, Pop-Porn offers a detailed and complex approach to the porn industry in America. Rather than focusing on the current polarity of basic pro and con views on this topic—a polarity that ultimately hinders discussion—these essays show that pornographic content is subtly and profoundly embedded in our cultural fabric. This current state of affairs raises questions beyond what's right and what's wrong. It demands that we examine what these representations mean in the first place and what effects they have upon the way we live our lives. The content of this volume is not limited to the usual porn sites and practices, such as video, prostitution, sex sales, magazines, and the Internet. The essays here go further, examining porn in places many would not expect, such as in grooming practices of pubic hair and the self-promotional strategies of Paris Hilton. The authors who do examine the conventional sites for porn do so in a unique way. Ultimately, these essays collectively demonstrate that Americans are addicted to porn, but are forced to disguise it as fashion, hygiene, class commentary, or other forms of entertainment. Contributors to Pop-Porn come from a wide variety of disciplines—including English, Women's Studies, Communication, Psychology, and Theatre—and their essays address a wide range of porn-infiltrated sites, from magazines to radio to film to television to fashion. While each contributor may perceive porn differently, they all address its pervasiveness in America's current, conservative state.

ANN C. HALL has published widely on drama, women's studies, and popular culture. She is the author of A Kind of Alaska: Women in O'Neill, Pinter, and Shepard and Delights, Dilemmas, and Desires: Essays on Women in the Media (Praeger). She served as the Treasurer and President of the Harold Pinter Society and the Midwest Modern Language Association. Hall teaches in the English Division as a Full Professor at Ohio Dominican University. MARDIA J. BISHOP has presented and published on female body image in contemporary theater. She is an educational consultant and teacher in Atlanta.