Are Too Many on the Left Excusing Porn? By Ben Barker
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f the fight against pornography is a radical one, where are the UDGLFDOV ILJKWLQJ DJDLQVW SRUQRJUDSK\" (DUOLHU WKLV \HDU WKH WK annual San Francisco Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair, an event that brings together radical activists from around the world, was held at the KHDGTXDUWHUV DQG SURGXFWLRQ IDFLOLW\ RI VR FDOOHG ÂłDOWHUQDWLYH´ SRUQ company Kink.com.. Kink.com is known for its unique brand of torture porn. As longtime DQWLSRUQ DFWLYLVW DQG ZULWHU *DLO 'LQHV UHSRUWV ZRPHQ DUH ÂłVWUHWFKHG RXW on racks, hogtied, urine squirting in their mouths, and suspended from the ceiling while attached to electrodes, including ones inserted in their vaginas.â€? But to grasp the agenda of Kink.com, we can just go to the VRXUFH IRXQGHU 3HWHU $FZRUWK VWDUWHG WKH FRPSDQ\ DIWHU GHYRWLQJ KLV life to “subjecting beautiful, willing women to strict bondage.â€? When the Anarchist Bookfair announced its choice of venue, femi nists were outraged. The few who were billed to speak during the event dropped out. But ultimately, the decision was defended, the outcry lashed back against, and the show went on. Anarchists are my kind of people—or so I thought. When I first discovered the radical Left some eight years ago, I thought I’d stumbled on the revolution. The rhetoric seemed as much: brave, refreshing demands for human rights, equality, and liberation; a steadfast commit ment to struggle against unjust power, however daunting the fight. It wasn’t long, though, before my balloon of hope burst. To the detriment of my idealism and trust, the true colors of my radical heroes began to show. 3RUQRJUDSK\ ZDV WKHQ DQG LV QRZ RQH VXFK OHWGRZQ 2YHU WKH \HDUV I’ve bounced between a diversity of groups on the radical Left: punks, Queers, anarchists, and many in between. But wherever I went, porn was the norm. Here’s the latest in radical theory: “We’re seventeen and fucking in the public museum. I’m on my knees with your cock in my mouth, surrounded by Mayan art and tiger statues. Our hushed whispers and frenzied breathing becomes a secret language of power. And us, EHFRPLQJ PRQVWURXV HDWLQJ ZKROH UHVWUDLQW DQG DSRORJ\ 7KH ZRUOG ruptures as we come, but it isn’t enough. We want it all, of course—to H[SURSULDWH WKH SXEOLF DV D ZLOG ]RQH RI EHFRPLQJ RUJ\ DQG WR GHVWUR\ 14
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what stands in our way.â€?2 I’m sad to report that this quote, and the book it comes from, reflects one of the most increasingly popular of the radical subcultures Conflating perversion and revolution is nothing new. We can trace WKH WUHQG DOO WKH ZD\ EDFN WR WKH V LQ WKH WLPH RI WKH 0DUTXLV GH Sade, one of the earliest creators and ideologues of pornography (not WR PHQWLRQ SHGRSKLOLD DQG VDGRPDVRFKLVP 6DGH ZDV IDPRXV IRU KLV graphic writings featuring rape, bestiality, and necrophilia. Andrea Dworkin has called his work “nearly indescribable,â€? writing, “In sheer quantity of horror, it is unparalleled in the history of writing. In its fanatical and fully realized commitment to depicting and reveling in torture and murder to gratify lust, it raises the question so central to pornography as a genre: why? why did someone do . . . this? In Sade’s case, the motive most often named is revenge against a society that persecuted him. This explanation does not take into account the fact that Sade was a sexual predator and that the pornography he created was part of that predation.â€? Dworkin also notes that “Sade’s violation of sexual and social boundaries, in his writings and in his life, is seen as inherently revolutionary.â€? Despite all they seem to share in common, most of today’s radicals actually don’t revere the Marquis de Sade. Rather, they look to his followers; namely, one postmodern philosopher by the name of Michel Foucault, no small fan of Sade, whom he famously dubbed a “dead *RG ´ )RXFDXOWÂśV LGHDV UHPDLQ VRPH RI WKH PRVW LQIOXHQWLDO ZLWKLQ the radical Left. He has catalyzed more than one generation with his critiques of capitalism, his rallying cries for what he calls “social war,â€? and his apparently subversive sexuality. Foucault, who in fact lamented that the Marquis de Sade had “not gone far enough,â€? was determined to push the limits of sexual transgression, using both philosophy and his own body. His legacy of eroticizing pain and domination has unfortu nately endured. So where are the radicals in this fight against pornography? The answer depends on who we call radical. The word radical means “to the root.â€? Radicals dig to the roots of oppression and start taking action there—except, apparently, when it comes to the oppression of women. How radical is it to stop digging halfway for the sake of getting off?