Synopses & Reviews
Professor Gail Dines has written about and researched the porn industry for over two decades. She attends industry conferences, interviews producers and performers, and speaks to hundreds of men and women each year about their experience with porn. Students and educators describe her work as "life changing."
In Pornland—the culmination of her life's work—Dines takes an unflinching look at porn and its affect on our lives. Astonishingly, the average age of first viewing porn is now 11.5 years for boys, and with the advent of the Internet, it's no surprise that young people are consuming more porn than ever. But, as Dines shows, today's porn is strikingly different from yesterday's Playboy. As porn culture has become absorbed into pop culture, a new wave of entrepreneurs are creating porn that is even more hard-core, violent, sexist, and racist. To differentiate their products in a glutted market, producers have created profitable niche products—like teen sex, torture porn, and gonzo—in order to entice a generation of desensitized users.
Going from the backstreets to Wall Street, Dines traces the extensive money trail behind this multibillion-dollar industry—one that reaps more profits than the film and music industries combined. Like Big Tobacco—with its powerful lobbying groups and sophisticated business practices—porn companies don't simply sell products. Rather they influence legislators, partner with mainstream media, and develop new technologies like streaming video for cell phones. Proving that this assembly line of content is actually limiting our sexual freedom, Dines argues that porn's omnipresence has become a public health concern we can no longer ignore.
Going from the backstreets to Wall Street, Dines reveals how porn is affecting our lives and why its omnipresence is detrimental to our sexual freedom.
Synopsis
Expert Gail Dines has been writing about and researching the porn industry for over two decades. She attends porn industry conferences, interviews porn producers and performers, and speaks to hundreds of young people each year about their experience with porn. Astonishingly, the average age of the first downloading of porn is now 11.5 years for boys, and studies reveal that young men are consuming more of it than ever before.
In this groundbreaking book, Dines illustrates how today's porn has become absorbed into pop culture and, because of that, how the porn industry has turned even more hard-core, creating profitable niche markets--like teen sex and torture porn--in its quest to entice a generation of desensitized users. She shows both the sexist and racist underbelly of porn, exposing the economic structure of this multibillion-dollar industry--one that reaps more profits than the film and music industries combined.
Going from the backstreets to Wall Street, Dines reveals how porn is affecting our lives and why its omnipresence is detrimental to our sexual freedom.
Synopsis
Professor Gail Dines has written about and researched the porn industry for over two decades. She attends industry conferences, interviews producers and performers, and speaks to hundreds of men and women each year about their experience with porn. Students and educators describe her work as "life changing." In Pornlandthe culmination of her lifes workDines takes an unflinching look at porn and its affect on our lives. Astonishingly, the average age of first viewing porn is now 11.5 years for boys, and with the advent of the Internet, its no surprise that young people are consuming more porn than ever. But, as Dines shows, todays porn is strikingly different from yesterdays Playboy. As porn culture has become absorbed into pop culture, a new wave of entrepreneurs are creating porn that is even more hard-core, violent, sexist, and racist. To differentiate their products in a glutted market, producers have created profitable niche productslike teen sex, torture porn, and gonzoin order to entice a generation of desensitized users. Going from the backstreets to Wall Street, Dines traces the extensive money trail behind this multibillion-dollar industryone that reaps more profits than the film and music industries combined. Like Big Tobaccowith its powerful lobbying groups and sophisticated business practicesporn companies dont simply sell products. Rather they influence legislators, partner with mainstream media, and develop new technologies like streaming video for cell phones. Proving that this assembly line of content is actually limiting our sexual freedom, Dines argues that porns omnipresence has become a public health concern we can no longer ignore.
Synopsis
Dines illustrates how today's porn has become absorbed into pop culture and, because of that, how the porn industry has turned even more hard-core, creating profitable niche marketsulike oteen sexo and otorture pornouin their quest to entice a generation of desensitized users.
About the Author
Gail Dines is professor of sociology and women’s studies at Wheelock College. The author of two previous books and a regular commentator on TV and radio, Dines has been covered in Newsweek, Time, USA Today, the New York Times, Boston Globe, and Philadelphia Inquirer. She lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction Porn and the Industrialization of Sex xv
One Playboy, Penthouse, and Hustler: Paving the Way for Today’s Porn Industry
Two Pop Goes the Porn Culture: Mainstreaming Porn
Three From the Backstreet to Wall Street: The Big Business of Porn
Four Grooming for Gonzo: Becoming a Man in a Porn Culture
Five Leaky Images: How Porn Seeps into Men’s Lives
Six Visible or Invisible: Growing Up Female in a Porn Culture
Seven Racy Sex, Sexy Racism: Porn from the Dark Side
Eight Children: The Final Taboo
Conclusion Fighting Back
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index