CAUTION: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS ADULT IMAGES AND LANGUAGE
What is the relationship between public and private within evolving urban and commercial environments such as Times Square in New York City?
How have changes in technology and regulation affected sexual commerce, cruising and other public and private negotiations?
Bio
Jeffrey Escoffier
Jeffrey Escoffier writes on glbtq history, politics, culture, sexuality, music, and dance. One of the founders of OUT/LOOK: National Lesbian and Gay Quarterly, he has published widely. Among his books are American Homo: Community and Perversity and a biography of John Maynard Keynes in the Chelsea House series on the Lives of Notable Gay Men and Lesbians. He co-edited (with Matthew Lore) Mark Morris' L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato: A Celebration.
His most recent book is Sexual Revolution, an anthology of writing on sex from the 1960s and 1970s. He is currently working on a book on sexual politics and writing about the production of pornography.
Amy Herzog
Amy Herzog received her B.A. in film production and gender studies from Bard College , and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the Program in Visual and Cultural Studies at the University of Rochester. Her book, Dreams of Difference, Songs of the Same: The Musical Moment in Film is forthcoming from The University of Minnesota Press in 2009.
She has published articles and chapters on a number of topics, including the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, film theory, musical film, and the history of coin-operated film machines. Before coming to Queens, she worked at several film, media, and arts institutions in New York, most recently assisting with the Andy Warhol Film Project at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Professor Herzog serves as faculty advisor for the student radio station, WQMC, Queens College Radio.
Dagmar Herzog
Dagmar Herzog is a Professor of History at the Graduate Center, CUNY, where she focuses on modern European history, the history of sexuality, and the history of religion.
She has written three books, Sex after Fascism: Memory and Morality in Twentieth-Century Germany; Intimacy and Exclusion: Religious Politics in Pre-Revolutionary Bade; and, most recently, Sex in Crisis: The New Sexual Revolution and the Future of American Politics. In addition to her books, she has edited or co-edited four volumes and has published numerous academic articles on the history of sexuality.
William Kornblum
William Kornblum is a professor of sociology at the City University of New York.
He is a graduate of Cornell University and the University of Chicago and was among the nation's first Peace Corps volunteers. He is the author of numerous scholarly books and articles on the people of New York.
Rachel Kramer Bussel
Rachel Kramer Bussel is a New York-based writer, editor, blogger, and reading series host. She's edited over 25 anthologies, including Best Sex Writing 2008, 2009, and 2010, Peep Show, Bottoms Up, The Mile High Club, Do Not Disturb, and Dirty Girls, and her own fiction has been published in over 100 collections, including Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006.
She is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations, hosts the monthly In The Flesh Reading Series, named Best Reading Series by New York Press in 2009, and wrote the popular Lusty Lady column for the Village Voice. She has written for AVN, Bust, Cosmo UK, Gothamist, Mediabistro, Metro, Newsday, New York Post, Penthouse, San Francisco Chronicle, Time Out New York, Zink and other publications. She blogs at Lusty Lady and Cupcakes Take the Cake.
Linda Norden
Distinguished curator, writer, and art historian Linda Norden is Director of the Amie and Tony James Gallery at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York.
Aoibheann Sweeney
Aoibheann Sweeney earned her B.A. at Harvard University, where she won the John Harvard Scholarship and Elizabeth Carey Agassiz Award, and her MFA at the University of Virginia, where she was a Henry Hoyns Fellow. She has been a resident fellow at the MacDowell Colony and at Yaddo. She has written book reviews for The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post Book World, and The Village Voice Literary Supplement.
She is currently director of the Center for the Humanities at The Graduate Center, City University of New York.
GLBTQ issue writer Jeffrey Escoffier says that pornography should be taken more seriously, calling it "the most important form of discourse about sex and sexuality that currently exists."
He argues that the sexual revolution of the 1960s would not have occurred without the battle over obscenity.
Depiction of erotic behaviour intended to cause sexual excitement. The word originally signified any work of art or literature depicting the life of prostitutes. Though pornography is clearly ancient in origin, its early history is obscure because it was customarily not thought worthy of transmission or preservation. Nevertheless, in the artwork of many historic societies, including ancient India, ancient Greece, and Rome, erotic imagery was commonplace and often appeared in religious contexts. The Art of Love, by Ovid, is a treatise on seduction and sensual arousal. The invention of printing led to the production of ambitious works of pornographic writing intended to entertain as well as to arouse. In 18th-century Europe, pornography became a vehicle for social and political protest through its depiction of the misdeeds of royalty and other aristocrats, as well as those of clerics, a traditional target. The development of photography and motion pictures in the 19th and 20th centuries contributed greatly to the proliferation of pornography, as did the advent of the Internet in the late 20th century. During the 20th century, restrictions on pornography were relaxed throughout much of Europe and North America, though regulations remained strict in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Child pornography is almost universally prohibited.
she didn't get 'angry' at all, i read the comments before we got that far and was expecting something dramatic--she was completely reasonable! it was a fair question, but if someone really believes they have an 'addiction' (which i assume is possible in some sense at least), then as she said there are resources available to help them address it.
I found her anger a bit much myself, but I think it comes from the fact that calling someone an addict can be a way to pathologize forms of sexual expression which fall outside the desired norm.
I tend to believe that the idea of having sex addiction, as well as other non-substance addictions like internet addiction, is a useful model for dealing with these problems, but is not a label that is ought to be applied by people not dealing with the problems themselves, as it can be used as a tool of oppression.
There are many people--including addiction experts who don't believe that sex and/or pornography addictions are real. As with many things considered "addictions" that don't have an actual, physical addictive component these behaviors are often just behaviors that the majority doesn't approve of.
I'm afraid I didn't understand what she was saying. What is a "an almost surrealist juxtaposition"? So many superlatives for the people who agree with them! The high moment of the 60's was the 1963 March on Washington, not the "peep shows" of Times Square in the late 60's.
What "intellectual BS." Everyone is "incredible." James Madison! Now he was incredible. He used his brain. Ah, but you might say he was not into "the arts."
FORA TV is usually "FABULOUS." But not here.
I agree. You don't have to be super-religious for pornography to be a stumbling block in a relationship. A lot of women are not comfortable with it. I'm sure she would justify that somehow, imposing her world view on others, saying those women are the ones with the problem.
The reality is that the entire industry is disgusting. I'm a libertarian and don't want to regulate it too heavily, but people need to quit pretending everything is good and moral.
Why did the moderator get annoyed with Question 5? She gave the impression that porn addiction is a notion and does not lead to any dysfunctionality and suggested to the person that he go for 'Christian' counselling where he will be 'subjected ' to Biblical quotes to overcome his obsession. Seemed like she momentarily ( ?) lost her sense of balance and objectivity.
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