ABSTRACT
This quotation from Susanne Kappeler highlights a disjunction between a certain kind of academic critique of pornography and what pornographers themselves have to say about their product. In this chapter I will demonstrate the enduring relevance of Kappeler’s observation, using a content analysis of pornographers’ own descriptions of their product as a way of understanding the marketability of violence in contemporary pornography. There has been, and continues to be, significant debate within academic circles
about the content of mainstream pornography. The content of pornography has been of interest to feminist scholars and activists for decades (e.g. Cornell 2000; Dines 1998; Dworkin 1981, 1994; Itzin 1992; MacKinnon 1993; Millet 1971; Russell 1993, 1998) but it has also more recently become a popular subject of analysis within film and cultural studies (Attwood 2002). The domination and dehumanization of women as well as the depiction, and/or actual inflicting of, violence against women remain particularly contentious within the field of pornography research. While many feminists have argued that pornography often contains violence
against women (e.g. MacKinnon 1993; Russell 1993, 1998) and that it may be inherently degrading (Dines et al. 1998), many pro-porn writers have suggested that these claims are, at best, exaggerated (Assiter and Carol 1993a; Kipnis 1996; Klein 2006; Loftus 2002; McElroy 1995; McKee 2005b; McKee et al. 2008; Rubin 1993; Strossen 1995). Some advocates have based criticisms on their own anecdotal experiences (Assiter and Carol 1993a), while others have undertaken content analyses (McKee 2005b; McKee et al. 2008), or questioned consumers about their interpretations (Loftus 2002). In these approaches, pornography is largely taken out of its context as an industry. There is little or no discussion about how those within the industry, producers in particular, perceive the issues of violence and domination. An analysis of Adult Video News (AVN), the leading US pornography industry magazine, also known as the US ‘porn industry bible’
(McElroy 1995: 171), offers an opportunity for such discussion. As the following analysis will demonstrate, the content within AVN tends to directly oppose current academic analyses which characterize mainstream pornography as non-violent or less violent than in previous decades.
