Overview

This text challenges the position that pornography perpetuates misogyny and sex crimes. It opens with the case of man convicted - the first computer bulletin board entrapment case - of conspiring to make a snuff film and sentenced to 33 years for merely trading kinky fantasies with undercover cops. Using this textbook example of social hysteria as a springboard Kipnis argues that criminalizing fantasy - even perverse and unacceptable fanyasy - has dire consequences. She demonstrates that the porn industry, with multibillion dollar annual revenues, knows precisely how to tap into our culture's deepest anxieties and desires, and that this knowledge more than all the naked bodies, is what guarantees its vast popularity.

Full Product Details

9780822323433

Table of Contents

Reviews

Bound and Gagged will prove intellectually productive for generations of scholars and thinkers. As always, Kipnis's insistence on articulating concerns of class and gender makes her work vitually unique withing U.S. cultural studies-and she is doubtless among the most engaging writers in the academy today. -Lauren Berlant, author of The Queen of America Goes to Washington City A tour de force polemic in defense of the foibles of human fantasy. -Linda Williams, author of Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and the 'Frenzy of the Visible' In Bound and Gagged, Laura Kipnis demonstrates that she is the Marx and Freud of porn. -Constance Penley, author of NASA/Trek: Popular Science and Sex in America Laura Kipnis is the rarest of authors. She looks at porn and makes you see it through new eyes. Bound and Gagged is fearless, unflinching and funny. -James Peterson, Senior Editor, Playboy Laura Kipnis's Bound and Gagged is a singularly important contribution to contemporary cultural criticism. [It] should be required reading. -Michael Berube, author of Public Access: Literary Theory and American Cultural Politics ... as clear a take as one could expect on the intertwining of sexual fantasy and reality... rendered in language that generates a seductiveness of its own. -Robert Christgau, [unidentified review] [[Kipnis] blends the themes of Freudian analysis, consumer capitalism and societal taboo into a piece of sharp, insightful, sometimes disturbing social commentary. -Richard Bernstein, the New York Times A wonderfully insightful book about the elitism that lurks behind antiporn sentiment. By bringing class into the picture, Bound and Gagged moves beyond the predictable, repetitive argument among feminists... -Leora Tanenbaum, The Nation [Kipnis] provides a succinct, thoughtful, and lively case for porn as a significant contemporary cultural form. -Kirkus Reviews Bound and Gagged is a remarkably rational book about a subject that usually sparks remarkably irrational responses. -Joy Press, The Boston Globe Few readers... will come away from Bound and Gagged with their perceptions about porn intact...This original and spirited paean to the secret power of pornography makes a stimulating bedside primer-albeit one that's more likely to lead to sedition than seduction. -Autumn Stephens, the San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle A wonderfully provocative examination of pornographic fantasies and their broader cultural meanings... Bound and Gagged pokes and prods at a number of America's most tender spots-examining everything from transvestite personal ads and 'fat fetishism' to the class-ridden politics of disgust. -David Futrelle, the Los Angeles Reader [Kipnis] is a lively and engaging writer who argues... that we would be better off simply thinking of pornography as just another form of science fiction. -Publishers Weekly

""Laura Kipnis's Bound and Gagged is a singularly important contribution to contemporary cultural criticism. [Why is it so rare to read an accessible, witty, bracingly, intelligent book that takes pornography seriously as a form of cultural expression? Because pornography is unique in popular culture-its most vocal critics and commentators are authorised to speak precisely to the extent that they establish themselves as people who do not look at the stuff. Kipnis's work will permanently reset that standard: ] her analyses of porn's manby aesthetics and varieties-from fat porn to geriatric porn to Internet porn to Hustler magazine-are not only knowledgeable but startlingly illuminating. For anyone concerned with our collectiuve cultural sense of what it means to be human, Bound and Gagged should be required reading."" (Michael Brub, author of Public Access: Literary Theory and American Cultural Politics) ""Laura Kipnis is the rarest of authors. She looks at porn and makes you see it through new eyes. Bound and Gagged is fearless, unflinching and funny."" (James Peterson, Senior Editor, Playboy.) ""Bound and Gagged will prove intellectually productive for generations of scholars and thinkers. As always, Kipnis's insistence on articulating concerns of class and gender makes her work vitually unique within U.S. cultural studies-and she is doubtless among the most engaging writers in the academy today."" (Lauren Berlant, author of The Queen of America Goes to Washington City.) ""A tour de force polemic in defense of the foibles of human fantasy."" (Linda Williams, author of Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and the 'Frenzy of the Visible'.) ""[This is the best general interest book on pornography published in the last ten years...] In Bound and Gagged, Laura Kipnis demonstrates that she is the Marx and Freud of porn."" (Constance Penley, author of NASA/Trek: Popular Science and Sex in America) ""[[Kipnis] blends the themes of Freudian analysis, consumer capitalism and societal taboo into a piece of] sharp, insightful, sometimes disturbing social commentary.""-Richard Bernstein, the New York Times. ""A wonderfully insightful book about the elitism that lurks behind anti-porn sentiment. By bringing class into the picture, Bound and Gagged moves beyond the predictable, repetitive argument among feminists...""-Leora Tanenbaum, The Nation. ""[Kipnis] provides a succinct, thoughtful, and lively case for porn as a significant contemporary cultural form.""-Kirkus Reviews. ""Bound and Gagged is a remarkably rational book about a subject that usually sparks remarkably irrational responses.""-Joy Press, The Boston Globe. ""Few readers... will come away from Bound and Gagged with their perceptions about porn intact. .. .This original and spirited paean to the secret power of pornography makes a stimulating bedside primer-albeit one that's more likely to lead to sedition than seduction.""-Autumn Stephens, the San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle. ""A wonderfully provocative examination of pornographic fantasies and their broader cultural meanings ... Bound and Gagged pokes and prods at a number of America's most tender spots-examining everything from transvestite personal ads and 'fat fetishism' to the class-ridden politics of disgust."" -David Futrelle, the Los Angeles Reader . ""[Kipnis] is a lively and engaging writer who argues. .. that we would be better off simply thinking of pornography as just another form of science fiction.""-Publishers Weekly ""This review marks the re-issue of Laura Kipnis' much-praised analysis of pornography and its relation to the 'politics of fantasy' in contemporary America, which first appeared in 1996. Her premise is that pornography is an important cultural genre which deserves serious consideration insted of the usual repsonses of demonisation or intellectual dismissal. Indeed Kipnis argues that pornography is actually a privileged site for expressions of political dissent at a time when formal political processes are increasingly sterile and conformist. In particular, issues of social class, which Kipnis shows are still key to American society while being disavowed by formal political discourse, find rare opportunities for expression in pornography.""--Sexualities, Vol 3 (1)

Despite the suggestive title, this collection of well-argued essays on some of the socially constructive roles in which pornography can be cast would be more at home at an MLA conference than in an adult bookstore. Pornography distill[s] our most pivotal cultural preoccupations, says Kipnis (Northwestern Univ.; Ecstasy Unlimited, not reviewed). She asserts that when it comes to porn and what it tells us about ourselves as individuals and as a society, we would do best to take a long, hard look, since the porn industry (whose profits, she says, rival those of ABC, CBS, and NBC combined) is not going away anytime soon. Kipnis takes issue with both anti-porn feminists and conservatives, and argues for the politically and personally transgressive potential of fantasy as expressed through porn's forbidden images. She contrasts porn with what she sees as more genuine social evils like classism, deprivation, hypocrisy, repression, and conformity. She begins with a discussion of Daniel DePew, a gay man into S&M who was sent to prison for discussing - though never acting on - a plan (devised by undercover cops) to make a snuff film; for Kipnis, this case demonstrates what pornographic fantasies are not about (actual violence and crime). The author then focuses on what they might really be (a mirror of society's deepest desires and fears). She maintains that the more publicly reviled something or someone is, the more fertile a site for intellectual inquiry. Then, concentrating on printed material, she surveys transgender porn, fetish subcultures, and class-conscious porn (specifically Hustler magazine). While she is not likely to dent the armor of anti-porn crusaders or to inspire the dawning of a new era of pornography studies, the author provides a succinct, thoughtful, and lively case for porn as a significant contemporary cultural form. (Kirkus Reviews)

Laura Kipnis's Bound and Gagged is a singularly important contribution to contemporary cultural criticism. [Why is it so rare to read an accessible, witty, bracingly, intelligent book that takes pornography seriously as a form of cultural expression? Because pornography is unique in popular culture-its most vocal critics and commentators are authorised to speak precisely to the extent that they establish themselves as people who do not look at the stuff. Kipnis's work will permanently reset that standard: ] her analyses of porn's manby aesthetics and varieties-from fat porn to geriatric porn to Internet porn to Hustler magazine-are not only knowledgeable but startlingly illuminating. For anyone concerned with our collectiuve cultural sense of what it means to be human, Bound and Gagged should be required reading. (Michael Brub, author of Public Access: Literary Theory and American Cultural Politics) Laura Kipnis is the rarest of authors. She looks at porn and makes you see it through new eyes. Bound and Gagged is fearless, unflinching and funny. (James Peterson, Senior Editor, Playboy.) Bound and Gagged will prove intellectually productive for generations of scholars and thinkers. As always, Kipnis's insistence on articulating concerns of class and gender makes her work vitually unique within U.S. cultural studies-and she is doubtless among the most engaging writers in the academy today. (Lauren Berlant, author of The Queen of America Goes to Washington City.) A tour de force polemic in defense of the foibles of human fantasy. (Linda Williams, author of Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and the 'Frenzy of the Visible'.) [This is the best general interest book on pornography published in the last ten years...] In Bound and Gagged, Laura Kipnis demonstrates that she is the Marx and Freud of porn. (Constance Penley, author of NASA/Trek: Popular Science and Sex in America) [[Kipnis] blends the themes of Freudian analysis, consumer capitalism and societal taboo into a piece of] sharp, insightful, sometimes disturbing social commentary. -Richard Bernstein, the New York Times. A wonderfully insightful book about the elitism that lurks behind anti-porn sentiment. By bringing class into the picture, Bound and Gagged moves beyond the predictable, repetitive argument among feminists... -Leora Tanenbaum, The Nation. [Kipnis] provides a succinct, thoughtful, and lively case for porn as a significant contemporary cultural form. -Kirkus Reviews. Bound and Gagged is a remarkably rational book about a subject that usually sparks remarkably irrational responses. -Joy Press, The Boston Globe. Few readers... will come away from Bound and Gagged with their perceptions about porn intact. .. .This original and spirited paean to the secret power of pornography makes a stimulating bedside primer-albeit one that's more likely to lead to sedition than seduction. -Autumn Stephens, the San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle. A wonderfully provocative examination of pornographic fantasies and their broader cultural meanings ... Bound and Gagged pokes and prods at a number of America's most tender spots-examining everything from transvestite personal ads and 'fat fetishism' to the class-ridden politics of disgust. -David Futrelle, the Los Angeles Reader . [Kipnis] is a lively and engaging writer who argues. .. that we would be better off simply thinking of pornography as just another form of science fiction. -Publishers Weekly This review marks the re-issue of Laura Kipnis' much-praised analysis of pornography and its relation to the 'politics of fantasy' in contemporary America, which first appeared in 1996. Her premise is that pornography is an important cultural genre which deserves serious consideration insted of the usual repsonses of demonisation or intellectual dismissal. Indeed Kipnis argues that pornography is actually a privileged site for expressions of political dissent at a time when formal political processes are increasingly sterile and conformist. In particular, issues of social class, which Kipnis shows are still key to American society while being disavowed by formal political discourse, find rare opportunities for expression in pornography. --Sexualities, Vol 3 (1)

Author Information

Laura Kipnis is Professor of Radio-TV-Film at Northwestern University. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts for filmmaking and media criticism. She is the author of Ecstasy Unlimited: On Sex, Capital, Gender, and Aesthetics.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available