To Reclaim Slut or Not To Reclaim Slut: Is that the Question?

When I initially received my invitation to SlutWalk Los Angeles, I didn’t open it. I was aware of the Internet hoopla around SlutWalk, the anti-rape marches sweeping North America, Australia and Europe. I’d seen enthusiastic online posts from students, friends and much-respected peers. But I couldn’t get past the sensationalist (and attention grabbing!) word slut. [...]

SlutWalks, IUDs and What Trans People Want: Editors’ Picks: 5/8-5/14

At the ITT List, Lindsay Beyerstein thinks that anti-porn feminist Gail Dines’ critiques of SlutWalk marches completely miss the point. The Peace Corps volunteer rape scandal continues to make headlines. At RH Reality Check, a Peace Corps volunteer says she became pregnant after a Peace Corps employee raped her, only to be told by Peace [...]

Yes, Pornography Is Racist

In Shira Tarrant’s blog post on race and porn, she interviews some well-known African-American performers to challenge my claim that porn is racist. There are some women of color who have been successful in pornography, but this doesn’t change the fact that porn is systematically racist. Systems of oppression are flexible enough to absorb some [...]

Is Pornography Racist?

In her new book Pornland (Beacon Press) author Gail Dines argues that our sexuality is hijacked by the multi-billion-dollar-a-year porn industry. (See my three-part interview with Gail here, here, and here.) Dines also argues that pornography is racist. But not everyone agrees. In the Pornland chapter titled “Racy Sex, Sexy Racism!” Dines writes that women [...]

Porn: Pleasure or Profit? Ms. Interviews Gail Dines, Part III

This third installment of Ms.’s interview series with Gail Dines continues the conversation with the Wheelock College professor of sociology and women’s studies and chair of the American Studies Department. Dines recently briefed members of Congress on the harms of pornography, arguing for greater enforcement of existing obscenity laws. Staunchly anti-porn, she argues that this [...]

Porn: Pleasure or Profit? Ms. Interviews Gail Dines, Part II

In Part I of my interview with Gail Dines, the self-described anti-porn feminist discussed sexual freedom, coercion, safety and harm. Part II continues the conversation. And this time, porn actors respond. Shira Tarrant/Ms.: Your new book, PORNLAND: How Porn Has Hijacked our Sexuality (Beacon Press), is out this month. When readers pick up this book, [...]

Porn: Pleasure or Profit? An Interview With Gail Dines, Part I

Move over dot-com, dot-org, and dot-gov. There’s a new domain on the block: dot-xxx. With 370 million sites and $3,000 spent for online porn every second, the industry’s revenues surpass earnings by Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple and Netflix combined. This is author Gail Dines’s point: Porn is about profit, not pleasure. Some people [...]