ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that (a) the apparent dispersal of sexuality in porn, into its exponentially increasing images, clips and films, and into remote locations via internet access – and therefore into every part of the globe connected by it – is actually an assembling and centring of (certain specific understandings of) sexuality into a single, homogeneous, transnational realm/centre – ‘pornography’; (b) this transnationally available sexual imagery thrives on the diversity of its various pleasures, but strives (and not merely because it is a representational practice) to conceal, mystify and/or erase the particular processes of production (unless those are required for pleasure); (c) this is because the local imperatives of the latter may not only belie the transnational character of porn – and hence its almost dis-located, unreal quality – but can expose the violence and exploitation that is frequently involved in porn-production. The chapter will trace the ways in which the very organization of this pornographic realm creates structures of gendered inequity and power-play. It argues that in this structure, the (male) user/consumer pays for the pleasure of perusing porn, and effectively, for the systemic and systematic repression, exploitation and abuse of its (women/feminised) performers. The restructuring of this sexual ‘centre’ is imperative, for any transformative gender politics to succeed.
