School of Hard...um...nevermind

Porn Curriculum

Statistics say today more Americans watch porn than they do football, said Chet Meeks, assistant sociology professor. In reaction to its overwhelming presence in people's lives, many professors and researchers have turned their attention to the pornography industry and in turn are teaching this information to their students.

One cannot help but be curious to know what the course schedule would be on this: hmm ~ do you think it would make a difference if you are a better visual learner versus an auditory one? Or even better... a hands-on, practical application learner? An I’m sure somewhere there is a movie title sitting in the back-room “restricted” section of a video store entitled “overwhelming presence”.

Mishel Filisha, women's studies and sociology graduate student, has been conducting research on the cyber-porn industry and the way capitalism shapes the way young women form sexual self-schemas. She isn't surprised by the recent increase in interest in the pornography industry by academics.

It would be a logical sequence of events that any interest in porn would lead to an increase in something... I don't think anyone would be surprised by that. I do enjoy how to make the article sound more legitimate, vernacular like "by academics" is utilized. Somehow saying "the recent increase in interest in the pornography industry by stained sweater-vest clad educators" sounds a little less credible doesn't it?

"I think it's the influence of the sexual revolution combined with the increase in sexuality visibility," Filisha said. "Shows like 'Sex and the City' that feature female characters who are open about their sexuality as well as shows like 'Will and Grace' that feature positive gay visibility [increase the public's view of sex]. Now we talk about sexuality with a lot less negative sanctions than ever before."

Well if a girl named Filisha thinks that what it is, who are we to argue? Of course, if one was to read Steve-O's recent experience, sexual visibility is not something that needs to be anymore visual than it already is. As for the sexual revolution, I think I read about that position once. It was in a book called “Something-or-other…Sutra”. Huh – can’t seem to remember…hmm, perhaps I should double check, you know, purely for research purposes of course.

Pornography is a very complicated sexual and moral issue worth discussing academically, Meeks said. The topic of porn often comes up in Meeks' classes on sexuality.

Oh c’mon…I refuse to lower my standards to comment on something so damn obvious. Except for asking who would want to take classes on sexuality from a "Meek" individual?

"When I teach about pornography, I try to approach it from a number of angles and allow students to develop their own opinions of it," Meeks said. "There are libertarian arguments - the government has no business regulating private issues like pornography. And there are feminist arguments both for and against porn, with some arguing that it promotes the objectification of women, as well as violence towards them, and others arguing that pornography, certain kinds of it, can be used to help educate women and men about sexual pleasure, their bodies, healthy sex practices, etc. One way I try to get at these issues is to have students read the debates within the feminist and lesbian-feminist community from the early 1980s."

Well, I know that I would want to approach it from a number of angles. Um..wait.. nope…that was right. Bring on the angles!

Studying pornography entails more than just viewing porn. However, that is a part of it.

I, for one, am stunned. Are you? Any of you? Really?

"There is a lot of theoretical debate that you can do without ever looking at pictures ... [but] you have to look at porn to study porn," Filisha said.

Right now men everywhere desperately want to seek higher education, and yes, the pun is very much intended. Can you see how this debate would go over with the significant other?

To show porn, or to not show porn, has been a major issue for many porn curriculum classes, with many professors opting to use written transcripts instead of viewing the actual pornographic material, according to Time magazine. However, this can open a whole other debate.

Yeah, like the pages sticking together. Ugh – sorry, even I knew not to say that. My apologies…now back to our story.

"What is the difference between describing acts in a pornographic scene and actually watching it?" Filisha said. "There are classes at NIU about illicit drug use which deal with these same illegal or taboo issues."

Um – the sound effects for one? Facial expressions perhaps? Late charges at the video store? Perhaps the ever-decreasing amount of hiding space left in your home as you try to hide your collection of…um…“academic literature”?

While many people might have a hard time seeing the underlying academic value of "Debbie Does Dallas," it is not entirely devoid of content.

Pass on this one…insert own witty comment here. Um ~ ew. How about “feel free to comment on this particular statement in any manner you feel is appropriate”?

Diana Swanson, associate professor of women's studies and English, said while she would not be interested in teaching a course that required the viewing of pornographic materials, the lessons students could learn from such courses could be very valuable.

Well, I think that just provided the argument to the masses trying to convince their significant others. Thanks, Diana Swanson for giving the makers of Viagra yet another reason to “get up” in the morning. “Good morning…good morning to you…”

"I think it would be helpful for students to learn how to critically analyze pornography for the way that visual and print pornography are used to convey messages, values and attitudes towards women, men and sexuality, in the same way that it is helpful for students to learn to analyze and deconstruct media in general." Swanson said.

Brilliant, I’m not looking forward to the day whereby I have to have a conversation regarding the “Critical Analyzing” of porn. Actually, I think I dated a guy who tried that once.

"In order to teach and study it you have to watch [and] read quite a bit of it," she said. "That is the double bind of teaching about porn; at the same time that you are working to get students to think critically about it, you are disseminating it."

Ah yes, the “double bind” of porn, volumes 1 through 25, available at the bookstore for only $149.99 CDN, or $4.00 US. No used copies please.

One could likely theorize that the students are going to be much more familiar with the course content than the instructors on this one...and does anyone else find it coincidental that if one was to reverse the initials on the professor's name: It isn't Chet Meeks, but actually Met Cheeks??

Ah…It’s good to be back...