Excellent analysis and moving autobiographical journey.

books:

	• Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity Robert Jensen South End Press, 2007 - 200 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

this is important

WOW. This is one important book. It's about a subject I think most of us don't deal with very honestly because it's so hard to look at. Robert Jensen calls the porno industry on its woman-hating, and what it does to its fans. It's not about sex so much--the way rape isn't about sex so much as it's about assault. This is like that. Just read it.

Good points, a painful read.

In my opinion, there were good and bad apects of this book.
In any critique of pornography, descriptions of the recorded acts are necessary-- otherwise, it's just euphemism and it is easy for readers to assume that it's "not that bad." Jensen describes a number of mainstream films and includes quotations from the films themselves and from interviews with the performers. The sections were very difficult for me to read, but Jensen certainly made his point-- porn is extremely hateful towards women. I am not sure he could have made him point without including these excerpts, but they were very unpleasant.
Jensen is such a radical feminist that he thinks the entire system needs to be overhauled; it's not enough for men to "protect" or esteem women enough to stop looking at porn-- they must reject the entire concept of masculinity, because Jensen interprets the patriarchal system as essentially creating a "rape culture." I am not sure that I agree with this completely, but reading the book did make me realize that seemingly innocuous comments and behaviors (extreme competitiveness, for example, or even phrases like, "*Real* men don't eat quiche") do contribute to the idea that "real" men are macho and perhaps rightly given to violence as a way to prove their masculinity. I don't know what to make of this, really, and I don't think that Jensen himself gives a convincing account of an alternative.
Finally, I think Jensen is really limited by his moral perspective. In his discussion "What is sex for?", for example, he refuses to even consider the argument, "For procreation," because that would disenfranchise gays and lesbians. This was when the book broke down for me-- if Jensen is not even willing to consider the main purpose of sex in his discussion, then I don't think he's dealing in reality. Sex simply does produce children, and that must be taken into account even if it makes us uncomfortable about issues of sexual orientation. His explanation ("to produce light rather than heat") is very silly, and even in context it doesn't mean that much.
I thought Pamela Paul's *Pornified* was a better researched and more reasonable account of the porn culture.

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Excellent analysis and moving autobiographical journey.

I wish I had this book when I was teaching undergraduate Women's Studies courses! Jensen uses the topic of pornography to cover the most pressing issues facing feminism, and society at large, today. He has built upon the work of radical feminist scholars in regards to applying feminist theory to pornography. He looks at how the industry, its violent content, and access to pornography through new technology, has changed since writers like Andrea Dworkin first tackled the problem of how porn turns violence against women into a vehicle for sexual pleasure. Jensen is successful at attacking the problem from every angle. You can tell he is an experienced lecturer by the way he addresses the typical, and also atypical, arguments that are thrown at feminists in regards to pornography, sexuality and gender. He also approaches the topic autobiographically, (a very feminist approach) and his arguments are stronger and more poignant because of it. Because of this autobiographical angle, his tone is not just analytical, but also one of remorse and sadness about the state of sexuality and masculinity in today's world. But he offers up a new vision, one which I believe male readers will be receptive to.

I wrote my thesis for my Masters in Women's Studies on sex work, so I can wholeheartedly say I've read most literature on pornography. Getting Off is one of the best books on the subject, and he brings the feminist argument against pornography into the 21st century. I admire and appreciate that he does not merely copy the work of female scholars, but rather builds upon them all the while showing how they paved the way for his analyses. I highly recommend it for course reading material for college instructors. This is an excellent text for anyone interested in understanding power, gender and sexuality.

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Right on.

I have been struggling with the ideas and issues that this brilliant book discusses for years. I am genuinely thankful that this exists. It reaffirmed many of my current beliefs, helped me further understand why I feel the way that I feel, and offered me new knowledge and more importantly, hope.

Read it. For the love of humanity, read this book.

reviews: page 1, 2

In our culture, porn makes the man. So argues Robert Jensen in Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity. Jensen's treatise begins with a simple demand: "Be a man." It ends with a defiant response: "I chose to struggle to be a human being." The journey from masculinity to humanity is found in the candid and intelligent exploration of porn's devastating role in defining masculinity.

Getting Off seamlessly blends personal anecdotes from Jensen's years as a feminist anti-pornography activist with scholarly research. In his trademark conversational style, he shows how mainstream pornography reinforces social definitions of manhood and influences men's attitudes about women and how to treat them.

Pornography is a thriving multi-billion-dollar industry; it drives the direction of emerging media technology. Pornography also makes for complicated politics. These days, anti-porn arguments are assumed to be "anti-sex" and thus a critical debate is silenced. This book breaks that silence. Alarming and thought-provoking, Getting Off asks tough, but crucial, questions about pornography, sex, manhood, and the way toward genuine social justice.

Robert Jensen is an associate professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege and Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity.

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