The Pornography of Representation
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Book Overview
This book marks a radical and powerful intervention in traditional arguments about pornography. Kappeler re-examines the artistic distinctions between fantasy and reality, pornography and erotica, and challenges the legal definition of obscenity as well as the intellectual defence of 'freedom of expression'. By linking images of actual violence with the imaginative portrayal of women in the realm of the aesthetic, she establishes vital connections between modes of representation and social forms of power and domination. It is essential reading for anyone concerned with issues of pornography and sexual politics and related debates in literary criticism and cultural studies.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0745601227
ISBN13:9780745601229
Release Date:January 1991
Publisher:Polity Press
Length:256 Pages
Weight:0.95 lbs.
Dimensions:0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"
Customer Reviews
1 rating
Still relevant after all these years
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 19 years ago
I have to take issue with Peter Summers review of Kappeler's work, which seems to assume a kind of progress that I can't see. He uses as an example of Kappeler's outdatedness the quote: ""It is, in fact, impossible that women, black people, the working classes and consumers attain anything like their 'democratic rights', anything like full human rights and liberty within the present cultural system of values."" Still sounds right to me. One thing he misses is Kappeler's value as a contemporary counter to anti-porn feminists like Andrea Dworkin. It's true that the book is long on theory, but theory is a good thing when it helps to explain culture. This is a text which has helped me think about representation/imagery for over twenty years now, far more useful than more famous books like Sontag's _On Photography_. Another point the previous reviewer misses is the way that Kappeler connects racism and sexism and sees both as essential aspects of patriarchal culture.
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