Porn Argument Road Shows: Squaring Up the Racket

Every time the rescue industry swings into action, they go for B-movie Tactics

 At the height of the feminist sex wars, a lurid X-rated slide show toured college campuses, designed to alarm its audiences to the perils of pornography. It was produced by self-described feminists.

It was a fever-inducer. And it drove me up the wall. I was a feminist who didn’t agree with them, and they said there couldn’t be an argument.

There was an argument.

I responded with two show-and-tell's of my own: "How to Read a Dirty Movie," and "All-Girl Action: The History of Lesbian Eroticism in Hollywood." 

 The following essay is a review contrasting our two presentations; the so-called "sex positive" and the "anti-porn."

I never read a critique of either of our shows which was more than, "Oh my god, they're showing nekkid people doing it!"

This review, therefore, was fascinating for me and I've always been surprised more people haven't considered it.

Writer Eithne Johnson's story is scholarly, published in a film geeks' journal. It’s detailed. I wish her insights had been discussed i…