Topics in Literature and Philosophy: 'Porn Wars': Powers of Speech and Representation

The advent of the Internet shut down the feminist "Porn Wars" debates 25 years ago, yet created conditions of possibility for a recent revival of debate on pornography at the intersections of philosophy, literary theory and history, social science, legal studies, and gender studies. At stake, beyond gender and sexual politics, are the broader politics of representation, dissemination, and "speech." We address these by discussing works from multiple fields, emphasizing literary studies and philosophy. Readings, beyond those listed below, include essays by G.S. Rubin, K.A. MacKinnon, N. Strossen, A. de Botton, J.J. Fischel, and S. Zizek.