pornography

Texas Judge Revives Anthony Comstock's Crusade Against Reproductive Freedom

by Bill Greer

The career of Anthony Comstock shows what can happen when a highly committed moral crusader gains traction in the political system. His rehabilitation in the contemporary abortion war is cause for concern. 

Kelsy Burke's "Pornography Wars" Examines America's Conflicted Relationship to Smut

by Laura Kipnis

The sociologist is less concerned with the substance of pornography than with the multiple roles it holds in Americans' discussions of sex, labor, gender, and morality. 

Conservatives Attacking Pornography Carry on History of Politicized Moral Panics

by Kelsy Burke

Calls by J.D. Vance and other conservative politicians for bans on pornography echo the tactics and the failures of America's first anti-obscenity crusader, Anthony Comstock. 

Who Lost the Feminist Movement's "Sex Wars"?

by Amia Srinivasan

As a new book reconsiders the debates among feminists over sexuality and pornography by emphasizing the role of liberalism in reducing the radical demands both sides made for the remaking of relations between men and women to narrow issues of law and civil liberties, that history resonates with current controversies about the place of trans women in the feminist movement.

Larry Flynt, Who Built a Porn Empire With Hustler, Dies at 78

"Mr. Flynt’s interpretation was simpler. 'If the First Amendment will protect a scumbag like me,' he said, 'then it will protect all of you. Because I’m the worst'."

An Anti-Trumper Evangelical Weighs in on Trump's True Believers

Historian John Fea on faith, fear, and politics.

How evangelical support of Trump helped to bring pornography into the mainstream

by John Fea

The court evangelicals do not condone Trump’s behavior. But neither do they say they think that his indiscretions are in any way harmful to his presidency.

Sex and power: Stormy Daniels and the female pioneers of the porn industry

Meet May Irwin, the Stormy Daniels of the Victorian era. And her pornographer, Thomas Edison.

Hugo Schwyzer: I Teach a College Class on How to Think and Talk About Pornography

Hugo Schwyzer teaches history and gender studies at Pasadena City College.  He is co-author of Beauty, Disrupted: A Memoir."What do you study in a 'porn class'?" I've gotten that question almost daily since "Navigating Pornography"—a humanities course I offer at Pasadena City College—received national attention in the aftermath of a controversial classroom visit in February by adult superstar James Deen. The queries have grown even more frequent since last week's widely covered announcement that Porn Studies, a new periodical devoted to the study of "cultural products and services designated as pornographic" will make its debut in 2014.

No Kinky Porn, Please -- We're English

by Robin Lindley

Letícia Román in a publicity still for Russ Meyer's 1964 film adaptation of Fanny Hill. Actual illustrations from Fanny Hill are decidedly NSFW.In England, the eighteenth century was a time of questioning, exploration, scientific advances, and an expanded worldview -- the birth of modernity, according to some historians.This age of remarkable energy and innovation also saw an explosion of erotic literature that reflected dynamic social and cultural changes as it challenged the authority of Church and State, satirized the hypocritical, and explored the fantasies of its consumers.