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Pornography, Feminism, and the Butler Decision |
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co-authored with Brenda Cossman, Lise Gotell, and
Becki Ross (University of Toronto Press, 1997)
In the fifth chapter, in keeping
with the theme of sexuality as a terrain of struggle
and a site of feminist politics of outrage, Shannon
Bell advances a conception of pornography that is
not distinguishable from philosophy: at the heart
of pornography are competing morals, ethics, and
value judgments. Bell (ab)uses philosophy to make
pornography. She contends that multiple meanings
reside in the same image, therefore the image can
never be seen; it is and is not. (‘Introduction,’ p.9) |
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Truth is everywhere. There is merit and importance in Catharine
MacKinnon’s critique of pornography: it is important
to recognize that some women and some men can feel degraded
and dehumanized by depictions of people ‘enjoying humiliation,’
‘tied up,’ gagged, whipped. whipping, ‘reduced
to body parts,’ ‘presented in scenarios of degradation,
injury,’ ‘penetrated by objects or animals’
(MacKinnon 1993, 121-2) Other women and men see S/M parody.
Yet if I have been tied up and beaten against my will, without
my consent, or if I connect these parodic images to the rape
and slaughter of Bosnian women, then they are harmful. If
another viewer having had dungeon experience sees the depictions
as taking place in a controlled environment where fears, fantasies,
and desires are played out, it is therapy. ( ‘The Image
Cannot Be Seen,’ p.200) |
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