THE PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGINARY: SEX, VIOLENCE, COMMERCE,
CULTURE
The fierce debates that erupted in the 1980?s over the
production,
distribution and consumption of pornography look to
many today to be
terribly dated, sealed off (thankfully?) in another
era: we?ve been
there and done that. The slow recession of pornography
as that which
incites thought and contestation in theoretical
circles has occurred,
paradoxically, as the aesthetics and logics and
narratives and
economies
of pornography have proliferated all around us.
Pornographic visual
tropes have migrated fully and almost
indistinguishably into the worlds
of fashion and advertising. Pornographic logics and
narratives have
become embedded in, and to a large extent possibly
structure almost
entirely, the sexual desires and practices of
millions. So too do they
configure the images of imperial occupation (e.g. Abu
Ghraib) and
resistance (e.g. beheading videos). Pornographic
hyperconsumption has
been facilitated by technological revolutions which in
turn has created
a massive multi-bi! llion dollar globalized
pornographic economy to
meet the exploding demand. Porn stars have become Pop
stars, and Pop
stars have become Porn stars. It is a pornographic
age; and that which
defines our time deserves our continued attention.
We do not seek to rekindle or rehash the so-called
?sex wars? over
pornography, but we do look forward to thinking anew
and thinking again
about the pornographic imaginary that today shapes
sexual pleasures
(heteronormative and sexually dissident), regimes of
violence (domestic
and imperial), political economies (psychic and
material), and cultural
productions (of all sorts). We welcome a wide range of
submissions that
deal with this topic.
We also welcome book reviews on any topic within the
orbit of political
and cultural theory, whether related or unrelated to
the issue?s theme.
Papers should be no more than 30 pages; reviews, no
more than 10. All
submissions are due by
JANUARY 15, 2005 to the following address:
Critical Sense
c/o Department of Political Science
210 Barrows Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-1950
or electronically: criticalsense@???
http://criticalsense.berkeley.edu
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