“Porn wars: the debate that’s dividing academia”

Anti-Porn Feminists

To many people, particularly parents, the spread of ever more violent pornography is a huge concern, though Attwood and Smith [editors of the Porn Studies journal] don’t buy the idea that it is getting more violent, or even that it is a huge concern. Smith puts it in the context of previous “moral panics”. She says: “The idea the boundary is constantly being moved in one direction isn’t necessarily accurate because there’s so much pushing back. There isn’t a clearly discernible movement of more and more stuff becoming more and more permissible.”

To say that this is a contentious position is a massive understatement. And it’s one of the reasons why 880 people have signed an online petition questioning the integrity of the journal and accusing it of bias. They’re calling on Routledge, the respected academic publisher producing the journal, to answer questions about its “intention and focus” and…

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