JUMP CUT
A REVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY MEDIA

An annotated working bibliography on women and pornography

by Gina Marchetti

from Jump Cut, no. 26, December 1981, pp. 56-60
copyright Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media, 1981, 2005

The literature on pornography is quite diverse. The following limited bibliography only covers a few areas of this massive topic. The emphasis is on literature which may be of special interest to those engaged in film study or feminist cultural criticism. The bibliography was prepared with special assistance from Chuck Kleinhans and Michelle Citron.

BACKGROUND MATERIALS

Although the following books and articles do not deal with the subject of pornography directly, they provide important background information which contributes significantly to the study of this topic.

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin, 1972. Not only does this excellent study of art and representation include a discussion of the advertising industry and its relationship to the history of art in the West; Berger also includes a thoughtful examination of the way women have been depicted in our culture's visual arts, as well as how these representations affect our sentiments about women and their sexuality. Also includes a discussion of the way women view themselves. Based on the BBC television series, it is extensively illustrated with paintings, ads and diagrams from the show. Excellent introduction to issues of representation, commercialism, as well as the depiction of female nudity. Importance to the study of pornography is clear.

Brooks, Rosetta. "Double-Page Spread — Fashion and Advertising Photography," Camerawork (Jan.-Feb. 1980), pp. 1-3. Examination of the nature of photography and its importance to the fashion industry. Includes a discussion of the presentation of violence against women in Helmut Newton's and Guy Bourdin's work.

Fraser, John. Violence in the Arts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974. Examination of the media's depiction of violence. Includes a discussion of film violence, the media depiction of rape, as well as a discussion of de Sade. (Illustrated)

Haskell, Molly. From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies. New York: Penguin, 1974. Study of feature films' depiction of women. Includes a discussion of rape and violence against women on the screen.

Haskell, Molly. "Rape in the Movies: Update on an Ancient War." The Village Voice (Oct. 8, 1979), pp. 1 ff. Includes a discussion of two films on rape by women directors — RAPE OF LOVE and THE PRIMAL FEAR.

Millet, Kate. Sexual Politics. New York: Avon, 1970. Extensive intellectual history from a feminist perspective. Although it doesn't deal explicitly with what is commonly thought of as pornography. Millet discusses the presentation of female sexuality by respected male writers like Norman Mailer and Henry Miller, which reveals these writers' — and male culture's-general contempt for women. Millet's analytical method could be applied very fruitfully to study pornography. Also included: an insightful feminist critique of Freud and U.S. psychology, and of general misogynistic lack of understanding about men, women and sexuality.

Rosen, Marjorie. Popcorn Venus. New York: Avon, 1973. Extensively researched history tracing the representation of women in the Hollywood feature film.

PORNOGRAPHY AS EROTIC ART

A number of art historians and others have argued that explicit sexual material is worthy of the same considerations given other aesthetic forms. This position ranges from the view that pornography should be studied in the same way we approach nude paintings and sculptures of a different era to the position that pornography should be accepted without any moral evaluation as an important area of popular culture.

deBeauvoir, Simone, "Must We Burn de Sade?," The Marquis de Sade. Ed. Paul Dinnage. New York: Grove Press, 1953. Argues that a serious examination of de Sade's work is necessary to any understanding of modern culture.

Michelson, Peter. The Aesthetics of Pornography. New York: Herder and Herder, 1971.

Morawski, Stefan. "Art and Obscenity." Inquiries into the Fundamentals of Aesthetics, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1974. In a work which attempts to define and classify many types of aesthetic phenomena, this chapter looks at the relationship between art, erotica, and obscenity, and it defines various types of erotic expression. Morawski sees erotic art as a cathartic, liberating aesthetic experience.

Peckham, Morse. Art and Pornography: An Experiment in Explanation. New York: Harper and Row; Icon Editions, 1971. Using an elaborate psycho-sociological theory, Peckham attempts to show the importance of pornography to the workings of human culture. Also discusses aesthetic considerations.

Sontag, Susan. "The Pornographic Imagination." Styles of Radical Will. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux; Noonday Press, 1976. Focusing on literary pornography, Sontag discusses the value of looking at pornography as art. Emphasis is on de Sade's legacy, including an extensive analysis of The Story of O. Sontag's view of pornography, however, remains ambivalent:

"There still remains a sizeable minority of people who object to or are repelled by pornography not because they think it's dirty but because they know that pornography can be a crutch for the psychologically deformed and a brutalization of the morally innocent. I feel an aversion to pornography for those reasons, too, and am uncomfortable about the consequences of its increasing availability." (p. 71)

THE HISTORY OF PORNOGRAPHY AND
THE REPRESENTATION OF SEXUALITY

Atkins, John. Sex in Literature: The Erotic Impulse in Literature. New York: Grove Press, 1970. Attempts to survey attitudes toward sexuality through works of erotic literature. Covers everyone from the ancients to Voltaire, Mark Twain, and Henry Miller. (Comprehensive bibliography of erotic literature.) Little discussion of more common forms of commercial pornography.

Foucault, Michel, The History of Sexuality: Vol. I: An Introduction. Trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Random House; Vintage, 1980.Introduction to a proposed six-volume work. As in his other works, Foucault examines the way in which broad economic, technological, social and other changes are reflected in changes in our cultural institutions and ideas. Includes an interesting discussion of the changes in sexual mores that accompanied the rise of the bourgeoisie in the late 18th century.

Lucie-Smith, Edward. Eroticism in Western Art. New York: Praeger, 1972. Outlines the history of the graphic representation of sexuality by focusing on a number of recurring themes and images. Extensively illustrated.

Bowie, Theodore and Christenson, Cornelia V., eds. Studies in Erotic Art. New York and London, 1970. Brought out by the Kinsey Institute to survey sexuality in the graphic arts.

Marcus, Steven. The Other Victorians: A Study of Sexuality and Pornography in Mid-Nineteenth Century England. New York: New American Library, Meridian Books, 1966. Surveys the official Victorian view of sexuality and personal case histories as well as other fictional works. Includes a particularly interesting chapter on the Victorian erotization of public school birching.

Waldberg, Patrick. Eros in La Belle Epoque. Trans. Helen R. Lane. New York: Grove Press, 1969. Includes everything from Toulouse-Lautrec and Art Nouveau to French pornographic postcards. Many illustrations.

FEMINIST RESPONSES TO PORNOGRAPHY

In response to the position that pornography is harmless, or even beneficial, many feminists note that pornography is at the very least demeaningly sexist and, at its worst, virulently misogynistic and an incitement to rape.

Barry, Kathleen. Female Sexual Slavery, New York: Avon, 1979. Chapter 9, "Pornography: The Ideology of Cultural Sadism," argues that there is a clear link between pornography and violence against women in our culture. Also critiques traditional psychology depicting female sexuality as masochistic and sees pornography as contributing to the notion that women are innately masochistic.

Bart, Pauline B. and Jozsa, Margaret. " Dirty Books, Dirty Films, and Dirty Data." Take Back the Night: Women on Pornography. Ed. Laura Lederer. New York: William Morrow, 1980. Reviews psychological and sociological studies on pornography from a feminist perspective.

Berger, Allan. "The Porn Wars Heat Up: Is Censorship an Option?" The Real Paper (July 14, 1979), p. 14. Sympathetic support for feminists who call for censorship as an answer to pornography's violence against women.

Blackford, Gregg. "Looking at Pornography: Erotica and the Socialist Morality." Radical America (Jan.-Feb. 1979), pp. 7-17. Reprinted in Pink Triangles: Radical Perspectives on Gay Liberation. Ed. Pam Mitchell. Boston: Alyson Publications, 1980. Argues that gay male pornography is progressive in that it validates gay sexuality.

Brooke. "Feminist Conference: Porn Again." Off Our Backs (Nov. 1979), pp. 24-27. Report on a conference sponsored by New York's Women Against Pornography, which included discussions of the relationship of pornography to rape, prostitution, and lesbian sexuality.

Brown, Beverly. "A Feminist Interest in Pornography — Some Modest Proposals." m/f, Nos. 5/6 (1981), pp. 5-18. A reaction to a recent reform of pornography legislation in Britain.

Brownmiller, Susan. Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape. New York: Bantam Books, 1975. Thoroughly researched study of violence against women. Includes a discussion of pornography as anti-female propaganda, which creates a cultural climate that contributes to the increase of rape. One of the first feminist studies to draw a direct connection between pornography and violence against women.

Bunch, Charlotte. "Lesbianism and Erotica in Pornographic America." Take Back the Night, op. cit. Condemns the misrepresentation of lesbianism in. male pornography.

Carter, Angela. The Sadeian Woman and the Ideology of Pornography. New York: Harper and Row; Colophon Books, 1978. Detailed examination of the depiction of female sexuality in de Sade's pornographic fiction. Looks at de Sade's ambivalent attitudes toward women, class relations, and power — in his writings and in his life. Also includes a discussion of the way in which female stereotypes found in de Sade continue to be found not only in today's pornography but in our popular culture as well.

Califia, Pat. "Califia: Anti-Anti-Porn," Off Our Backs (Oct. 1980), p. 25. A proponent of lesbian sadomasochism, Califia is troubled by the feminist anti-pornography stance because she sees it as the majority imposing their sexual morality on the minority and thus limiting individual choice.

Douglas, Carol Anne and Dejanikis, Tracie. "Sex and Violence: Titillating or Depressing?" Off Our Backs (Nov. 1980), pp. 17 ff. Response to Califia's letter.

Chute, Susan. "Backroom with the Feminist Heroes: Conference for Women Against Pornography, New York City, 1979." Sinister Wisdom, No. 15 (Fall 1980), pp. 2-4. Criticizes conference for not adequately representing poor, third-world, and lesbian women.

Cordova, Jeanne and Lobel, Kerry. "Feminists and the Right — Merging Over Porn?" Lesbian Tide (May/June 1980), p. 17. Cautions the feminist anti-pornography movement that censorship by the political Right may lead to the suppression of lesbian literature and art.

Daly, Mary. Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism. Boston: Beacon Press, 1978. Although Daly does not deal expressly with the issue of pornography, the second section of her critique of the patriarchy provides a history of violence against women, which is important background information for any discussion of violence against women in pornography.

Diamond, Irene. "Pornography and Repression: A Reconsideration," Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 5, No. 4 (Summer 1980), pp. 686-701. Reprinted in Take Back the Night, op. cit. Surveys psychological and sociological research on pornography from a feminist perspective.

Dudar, Helen. "America Discovers Child Pornography." Ms. (Aug. 1977), pp. 45-47, 80. (Includes introduction about child pornography by Gloria Steinem.) Journalistic expose of the victims and consumers of child pornography.

Duncan, Carol. "The Esthetics of Power in Modern Erotic Art." Heresies, No. 1 (Jan. 1977), pp. 46-50. Criticizes 20th century graphic artists for their sexist depictions of women as victims and sex objects.

Durbin, Karen. "Pretty Poison: The Selling of Sexual Warfare." The Village Voice (May 9, 1977) pp. 19 ff. Condemns the recent exploitation of sadistic, pornographic images of women by advertisers.

Dworkin, Andrea. "For Men, Freedom of Speech; For Women, Silence Please." In Take Back the Night, op. cit. Argues that women's actions against pornography are justified and not an infringement of First Amendment freedoms.

Dworkin, Andrea. "The Lesbian in Pornography: A Tribute to Male Power." Sinister Wisdom, No. 15 (Fall 1980), pp. 73-74. Decries the exploitation of lesbianism in pornoqraphy.

Dworkin, Andrea. "Pornography and Grief." New Women's Times (Dec. 1978, Rochester, NY), pp. 89. Reprinted in Take Back the Night, op. cit. Calls for women to demonstrate against pornography.

Dworkin, Andrea. "Pornography: The New Terrorism." The Body Politic (Aug. 1978), pp. 11-12.

Dworkin, Andrea. Pornography: Men Possessing Women. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons; Perigee Books, 1981. Powerful analysis of the way in which pornography grows out of and reinforces our male-dominated, misogynistic culture. Includes examinations of pornography's relation to politics, race, homosexuality, rape, and prostitution. Also contains an analysis of the work of de Sade and a critique of traditional psychology and its portrayal of female sexuality, as well as a number of detailed examinations of specific pornographic works. Bibliography.

Dworkin, Andrea. "The Prophet of Perversion: A New Reading of the Marquis de Sade." Mother Jones (April 1980), pp. 24-26, 50-60. Condemnation of de Sade's life and writings from a feminist standpoint.

Dworkin, Andrea. "Why So-Called Radical Men Love and Need Pornography." Take Back the Night, op. cit. From Soho Weekly News (Aug. 4, 1977), under the title. "Fathers, Sons and the Lust for Porn." Critique of the Left's accepting pornography as a sign of "sexual liberation" while ignoring the way the pornography industry demeans women.

Dworkin, Andrea. Woman Hating. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1974. Section Two of this work on misogyny focuses on the victimization of women in pornography. Includes a particularly interesting critique of the sex tabloid Suck.

English, Deirdre. "The Politics of Porn: Can Feminists Walk the Line?" Mother Jones (April 1980), pp. 20-23, 43-50. Argues against pornography and also against censorship. Hopes for a feminist erotica to replace pornography. Discusses issue of masochistic fantasy.

Faust, Beatrice. Women, Sex and Pornography: A Controversial and Unique Study. New York: Macmillan, 1980. Examines why women do not respond to pornography in the same way men do. Discusses female eroticism and why there is no pornography for women.

Fiedman, Deb and Yankowski, Lois. "Snuffing Sexual Violence," Quest, 3, No, 2 (Fall 1976), pp. 24-29. Disturbed by increasing violence against women in the media, the authors call for women to actively protest against it.

Gardner, Tracey A. "Racism in Pornography and the Women's Movement." In Take Back the Night, op. cit. Points to the grave problems Black women and other women of color have as victims of both sexism and racism.

Griffin, Susan. "On Pornography." Crysalis, No. 4. pp. 15-17.

Griffin, Susan. Pornography and Silence: Culture's Revenge against Nature. New York: Harper and Row, 1981. Griffin argues that pornography and sadomasochism are symptomatic of a culture which is not only misogynist but also totally out of touch with the natural order. Draws heavily on literature and psychoanalytic theory to support her argument.

Gruben, Patricia. "Feminists and Censorship: The Girls are at it Again." Centerfold (Feb.-March 1979), pp. 86-90. Explains the importance of women's organizing against pornography to those who may see this opposition as "censorship."

Hoffman, Jan. 'The Tines Square Porn Tour." The Village Voice, 24, No. 38 (Sept. 17, 1979), pp. 1 ff. First-hand account of the tours Women Against Pornography have organized of the Times Square district in order to make people aware of the dangers of pornography.

Kostash, Myrna. "Power and Control: A Feminist View of Pornography." This Magazine, 12, No. 3 (July-Aug. 1978). pp. 4-7. Argues that pornography is more concerned with violence, power, and men's need to control women than with sexuality, and that it should be condemned by feminists on those grounds.

Lease, Carol. "Pornography: Exploitation, Not Civil Rights." JUMP CUT, No. 12/13, pp. 70-71. Argues against the liberal position that pornography is "harmless" and maintains that there is a direct link between pornography and a culture which allows violence against women.

Lederer, Laura, ed. Take Back the Night: Women on Pornography. New York: William Morrow, 1980. Anthology of women's reactions to pornography and its adverse effects. Includes essays on defining pornography from a feminist perspective, the victimization of women by the pornography industry, lesbianism and racism in pornography, the importance of pornography to men's sexuality, critiques of research on pornography, legal discussions of pornography and civil liberties, personal accounts of women's protests against pornography, Black women's perspectives, psychological and psychoanalytic analyses, feminist erotica, etc. Bibliography.

Matthews, Jenny. "Through the Lens Fantasy." Camerawork, No. 15 (Sept. 1979), pp. 2-3. Notes that one of the dangers of pornography, as well as of current trends in advertising photography, is the creation of an unreal, fantasy depiction of women which leads to real exploitation. Includes a critique of John Hedgecoe, Helmut Newton, and a portfolio of photographs, Women on Women. Also includes an interesting discussion of sexist humor in contemporary photography.

McCormack, Thelma. "Machismo in Media Research: A Critical Review of Research on Violence and Pornography." Mass Communication Review Yearbook, 1 (1980). Critique of the inherent sexism in research done on the influence of pornography on violent behavior.

Mead, Margaret, "Women and the 'New' Pornography." Redbook (Feb. 1976), pp. 29-32.

Morgan, Robin. "How to Run the Pornographers Out of Town (And Preserve the First Amendment)." Ms. (Nov. 1978), pp. 50 ff. Urges feminists to actively protest against pornography by boycotting businesses, condemning the use of pornographic imagery in advertising, and pushing legislators to take action.

Morgan, Robin. "Theory and Practice: Pornography and Rape." Going Too Far: The Personal Chronicle of a Feminist. New York: Vintage, 1978. Anthologized in Take Back the Night, op. cit. Argues a direct link between pornography and rape,

Morgan, Ellen. "The Erotization of Male Dominance/Female Submission." Papers in Women's Studies, 2, No. 1 (Sept. 1975), pp. 112-145. Using literature and personal testimony, Morgan sees strict power relationships in sexual imagery which reinforce women's subordinate social position,

Penelope, Julia. "The Lesbian in Heterosexual Fantasies," Sinister Wisdom, No. 15 (Fall 1980), pp. 76-91. Decries the mistreatment of lesbians and the misrepresentations of lesbian sexuality in men's fantasies.

Rapping, Elayne. "Feminism and Sexuality: The Politics of Pornography." The Feminist Newspaper (Oct. 1979). Argues that feminists must fight against the misrepresentation of female sexuality in the pornographic press and struggle to represent sexuality from women's point of view.

Russell. Diana E.H. "On Pornography." Chrysalis, No. 4 (1977), pp. 11-15. Argues that pornography abuses the women who pose for it as well as women who are victimized because pornography is an incitement to violence against women.

Russell, Diana E.H. "Pornography and Violence: What Does the New Research Say?" In Take Back the Night, op. cit. Surveys new research in the field of sociology and clinical psychology which indicates a direct link between aggression and violence in pornography.

Russell, Diana E.H. and Van de Yen, Nicole. The Proceedings of the International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women. Millbrae, Canada: Les Femmes, 1976. Includes personal testimony from all over the world on women's oppression, violence against women, prostitution, and pornography.

Smith, Marjorie N. "Violent Pornography and the Women's Movement." The Civil Liberties Review (Jan.-Feb. 1978), pp. 50-53.

Steinem, Gloria. "Erotica and Pornography: A Clear and Present Difference." Ms. (Nov. 1978), pp. 53-54 ff. Makes the distinction between the erotic depiction of sexuality as mutual gratification and pornography, which depicts the violent sexual degradation of women.

Steinem, Gloria. "Linda Lovelace's 'Ordeal'." Ms. (May 1980), pp. 72-77. Review of Linda Lovelace's autobiographic exposé of the pornography industry.

Steinem, Gloria. "Pornography: Not Sex But the Obscene Use of Power." Ms. (Aug. 1977), cover, pp. 43-44.

"Sex Magazines and Feminism: A Symposium with Lester Kirkendall, Gina Allen, Albert Ellis, and Helen Colton," The Humanist (Nov.-Dec. 1978), pp. 44-51. Four authors identified as "humanists" respond to the feminist anti-pornography campaign. Most agree with the feminist condemnation of violence against women and call for the "realistic" portrayal of human sexuality.

Varro, Barbara. "Feminists Aim to X-Out Pornography." The Chicago Sun-Times (Nov. 26, 1979), p. 29. Journalistic account of Women Against Pornography's attempts to organize women.

Webster, Paula. "Pornography and Pleasure." Heresies, No. 12 (1981), pp; 48-51. Calls for the feminist anti-pornography campaigners to be more tolerant and supportive of the variety of women's sexual experiences and responses to explicit sexual material.

Willis, Ellen. "Lust Horizons: Is the Women's Movement Pro-Sex?" The Village Voice (June 1723, 1981), pp. 1, 36-37. An attempt to sort out the women's movement's attitudes toward sexuality. Includes a review of Heresies, No. 12, Sex Issue.

Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media. "Literature Packet." San Francisco, CA: April, 1978. Mimeographed collection of feminist responses to pornography.

Womongold, Marsha. Pornography: A License to Kill. Cambridge, MA: private publication, 1978. Send $2.00 to M. Womogold, 16 B Cedar St., Somerville, MA 02143.

WOMEN'S EROTIC ART AND
THE FREEING OF FEMALE SEXUALITY

Califia, Pat. Sapphistry: The Book of Lesbian Sexuality. Tallahassee: FL: Naiad Press, 1980. Chapter 1, "The Erotic Imagination," is a presentation of women's sexual fantasies, lesbian eroticism, and Califia's own fantasies. This chapter also includes a discussion of erotica which critiques the feminist anti-pornography campaign as potentially homophobic.

Chicago Judy. Through the Flower: My Struggle as a Woman Artist. New York: Doubleday; Anchor Books, 1977. Autobiography by the contemporary woman artist known for her use of female genital imagery in her work. Illustrated.

Dodson, Betty. Liberating Masturbation: A Meditation on Self Love. New York: Dodson, 1974. Contains women's testimony on masturbation and erotic illustrations.

Jay, Karla and Young, Allan, eds. Lavender Culture. New York: Jove Publications, 1978. Includes a number of essays on lesbian art and artists, as well as other aspects of the gay experience, including sadomasochism.

Lippard, Lucy. "The Pains and Pleasures of Rebirth: European and American Women's Body Art." From the Center: Feminist Essays on Women's Art. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1976. Discussion of the way in which women artists have used their own bodies to explore female sexuality and its repression, as well as to critique male representations of the female form.

Lourde, Audre. "Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power." In Take Back the Night, op. cit. Lourde argues that women must get in touch with their own sexuality and inner erotic strength in order to combat the patriarchy's destructive effect on libidinous impulses.

"Sex Issue." Heresies, No. 12 (1981). Includes many short articles which exhibit the diversity of women's sexual experiences, including infantile eroticism, lesbianism, sadomasochism, etc. Illustrations include many examples of women's erotic art.

Snitow, Ann Barr. "The Front Lines: Notes on Sex in Novels by Women, 1969-1979." Signs (Summer 1980), pp. 702-18. Examination of a number of sexual themes found in recent women's literature.

Snitow, Ann Barr. "Mass Market Romance: Pornography for Women Is Different." Radical History Review, No. 20 (Spring-Summer 1979), pp. 141-161. Looks at the appeal of the presentation of sex in the extremely popular Harlequin romance to its predominantly female audience.

PORNOGRAPHY, SEXUALITY, AND THE CINEMA

Atkins, Thomas R., ed. "Movies and Sexuality." Film Journal (Hollins College, VA, 1973). Special issue of Film Journal includes articles on LAST TANGO IN PARIS. DEEP THROAT, and questions of sex and morality.

Atkins, Thomas R., ed. Sexuality in the Movies. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975. Anthology includes articles on censorship, sexual themes in Hollywood films and European features, etc.

Birge, Peter and Maslin, Janet. "Getting Snuffed in Boston." Film Comment 12, No. 3 (May-June 1976), pp. 35 ff. Describes the disastrous impact anti-pornography's organizing had on SNUFF's box-office draws.

Blachford, Gregg. "Looking at Pornography." Screen Education No. 29 (Winter 1978/79), pp. 21-28. Attempts to define pornography as a cultural commodity. Interesting discussion of gay male pornography, the depiction of women in hard and soft-core porn, and outline of various responses to pornography by the general public.

Blake, Roger. The Porno Movies. Cleveland: Century Books, 1970.

Chappell, Fred. "Twenty-Six Propositions about Skin Flicks." Man and the Movies. Ed. W.R. Robinson. Baltimore, MD: Penguin, 1967. Prose poem in outline form on the aesthetics of pornographic films.

"Cinema Sex," Film Comment, 9, No. I (Jan.-Feb. 1973). Special issue on cinema sexuality. Includes articles on the history of sexuality in the cinema, film censorship, as well as articles on soft-core pornography film directors Russ Meyer, Radley Metzger, and Massimo Dallemano.

de Coultery, George. Sadism in the Movies. New York, 1965.

Di Lauro, Al and Rabkin, Gerald. Dirty Movies: An Illustrated History of the Stag Film — 1915-1970. New York: Chelsea House, 1976. Attempts to define and chronicle a specific sub-genre of the pornographic film. Includes an introduction by Kenneth Tynan which argues that the most humble hard core film needs to be taken seriously. Includes a number of interesting stills from U.S. and European stag movies, including many from films made in the teens and twenties. Includes bibliography and list of films.

Dejanikes, Tracie. "DRESSED TO KILL Protested in Six Cities." Off Our Backs (Nov. 1980), pp. 3-4. Describes the way in which feminists protested the violent sexual themes in a recent Hollywood release.

Durgnat, Raymond. Eros in the Cinema. London: Calders and Boyars, 1966.

Durgnat, Raymond. Sexual Alienation in the Cinema: The Dynamics of Sexual Freedom. London: Studio Vista, 1972. Discussion of European and American features made in the late 60s and early 70s, focusing on new sexual theses. Chapter 10, "Skinemantics and the Sadistic Vision," is devoted to hardcore pornographic films.

Dyer, Richard, ed. Gays and Film. London: British Film Institute, 1977. The first essay in this anthology, "Lesbians and Film: Some Thoughts," by Caroline Sheldon, includes a discussion of lesbian stereotyping in heterosexual pornography. The other essays by Richard Dyer and Jack Babuscio contain valuable background information on the representation of homosexuality and gay stereotyping in the cinema.

Ebert, Roger. "Russ Mayer: King of the Nudies," Kings of the B's: Working Within the Hollywood System. Ed. Todd McCarthy and Charles Flynn, New York: E.P. Dutton, 1975. First appeared in Film Comment, 9, No. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1973), pp. 34-45. Survey of Meyer's career by Chicago-based film critic who has worked with Meyer as a scriptwriter on a number of films. Includes a filmography.

Ebert, Roger. "Russ Meyer: "Ten Years After 'Beyond.'" Film Comment, 16, No. 14 (July-Aug. 1980), pp. 43-44. Reminiscence about the film Ebert scripted for Meyer, BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS.

Georgakas, Dan. "Porno Power," Cineaste, 6, No. 4, pp. l3-15. Using Turan and Zito's book, Sinema: American Pornographic Films and the People Who Make Them as a starting point, Georgakas argues that, despite the apparent misogyny of many pornographic films, sexually explicit films can and do provide a valuable service of sex education, validation of sexual differences such as homosexuality, and analyses of sexual relations in films of "erotic realism" like LAST TANGO IN PARIS. Also praises the portrayal of female sexuality in DEEP THROAT and THE DEVIL IN MISS JONES,

Gerlon, Mark. The Pin-Up: A Modest History. New York, 1972. Pictorial survey of pin-up girls.

Gordon, George N. Erotic Communications: Studies in Sex, Sin and Censorship. New York, 1980. Includes bibliography.

Hoffman, Frank. Analytical Survey of Anglo-American Traditional Erotica. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1973.

Hoffman, Frank. "Prolegomena to a Study of Traditional Elements in the Erotic Film." Journal of American Folklore (April-June 1965), pp. 143-48.

Knight, Arthur and Alpert, Hollis. "The History of Sex in Cinema," Playboy. Nineteen articles published from April 1965 to January 1969.

Knight, Arthur. "The Stag Film," Playboy (Nov. 1967), pp. 154-58, 170-89.

Koch, Steven. "BLOW-JOB and Pornography," Movies and Methods. Ed. Bill Nichols. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976. From Stargazer: Andy Warhol's World and His Films. New York: Praeger, 1973. A discussion of the relationship of Warhol's use of sexual imagery to Marcel Duchamp's notion of the importance of pornographic images to art.

Kyrou, Ado. Amour, erotisme au cinema. Paris: La Terrain Vague, 1957. Illustrated survey, connections with French Surrealism.

Lee, Ray. A Pictorial History of Hollywood Nudity. New York, 1964.

"The Left and Porno." Cineaste 7, No. 4, pp. 28-31 ff. Published responses to a questionnaire the editors sent out on the subject of pornography. By Todd Gitlin, James Monaco, Susan Sherman, Lee Baxandall, Ernest Callenbach, and Julia Lesage.

LaBelle, Beverly. "SNUFF — The Ultimate in Woman Hating." Take Back the Night, op. cit. Personal account of women's organizing against the film SNUFF, which appeared in 1975 and capitalized on the rumor that South American pornographic films exist which show the actual murder of women.

Lo Duca. L'Erotisme au cinéma, I-III. Paris: Pauvert, 1958, 1960, 1962.

Losano, Wayne A. "The Sex Genre: Traditional and Modern Variations on the Flesh Film." Sexuality in the Movies, Ed. Thomas R. Atkins. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975. First appeared in "Movies and Sexuality," Film Comment, op. cit. Discusses content and style of the pornographic film. Examines changes inaugurated by big-budget porn, like DEEP THROAT; regrets the loss of the stag film's sense of naughtiness.

Milner, Michael. Sex on Celluloid. New York, 1969. Sexual themes in European "art" films.

Poett, James. "Deep Peep." The Village Voice,
23, No. 18 (May 1, 1978), pp. 1, 19-20, 22-25.

Positif: Revue de Cinéma, Nos. 61-63 (June-Aug. 1964). Devoted to eroticism in the cinema.

Rich, B. Ruby. "Sex and Cinema." The New Art Examiner (Summer 1979), pp. 3 ff. Discussion of sexual themes in current avant-garde films. Includes a discussion of sexual imagery used by Carolee Schneemann, Susan Pitt, Helke Sander, Yvonne Rainer.

Richie, Donald. "Sex and Sexism in the Eroduction." Film Comment, 9, No. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1973), pp. 12-17. Informative examination of sadism in Japanese pornography.

Rotsler, William. Contemporary Erotic Cinema.
New York: Penthouse; Ballantine Books, 1973. Written by a pornographic filmmaker, this is an enthusiastic apologia for the industry and its growing acceptance by the general public.

Russo, Vito. The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies. New York: Harper and Row, 1981. Study of the representation of homosexuality in mainly the Hollywood feature.

"Sadisme et libertinage." Special issue of Présence du Cinéma, Nos. 6-7 (Paris, 1960).

Slade, Joseph. "Pornographic Theatres Off Times Square." Trans-Action (Nov.-Dec. 1971), pp. 3543, 79. Sympathetic look at the people who frequent pornographic theatres. Comments on visual conventions.

Slade. Joseph. "Recent Trends in Pornographic Films." Society (Sept.-Oct. 1975), pp. 77-84.

Turan, Kenneth and Zito, Stephen F. Sinema: American Pornographic Film and the People Who Make Them. New York: Praeger, Signet, 1974. Comprehensive, sympathetic survey of U.S. pornographic films. Includes interviews with soft and hard-core pornographic filmmakers and stars. Includes information on the industry and the making of these films.

Tyler, Parker. A Pictorial History of Sex in Films. Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1974. Survey of sexuality on the screen. Organized in accordance with the type of activity pictured, including nudity, group sex, sadomasochism, rape, homosexuality, prostitution, and interracial intercourse. Particular interest in sex as cinematic spectacle — "sex symbols" and "love gods." Focus is mainly on the Hollywood feature.

Tyler, Parker. Screening the Sexes. New York; Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972. On the representation of homosexuality in the cinema.

Tyler, Parker. Sex, Psyche, Etcetera in the Film.  New York: Horizon Press, 1969.

Tyler, Parker. Underground Film: A Critical History. New York: Grove Press, 1969. History of the U.S. independent cinema pays particular attention to the depiction of sexuality and the attraction for portraying explicit sexual imagery in the underground film.

"Sex and Violence." Velvet Light Trap, No. 16 (Fall 1976). Special issue includes articles on sexual themes in Hollywood features, the relationship of sex to violence in the cinema, and an analysis of a hard-core film.

Vogel, Amos. Film as a Subversive Art. New York: Random House, 1974. Argues that the representation of explicit sexuality is subversive because it challenges the status quo (e.g.. Puritan ethos). Includes a discussion of nudity, homosexuality, and pornography. Illustrated.

Walker, Alexander. The Celluloid Sacrifice. London: Michael Joseph, 1966.

Walker, Alexander. Sex in the Movies: The Celluloid Sacrifice. Baltimore, MD: Penguin, 1966. (Paper reprint of The Celluloid Sacrifice.) Discussion of the representation of sexuality and sexual attractiveness — focusing primarily on the Hollywood feature. Includes discussion of "sex goddesses"; e.g., Mae West, Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo, and Elizabeth Taylor. Also includes a discussion of film censorship in Britain and the U.S. and of the portrayal of male "sex appeal" — e.g, Marcello Mastroianni and Rock Hudson.

Willis, Ellen. "DEEP THROAT: Hard to Swallow." Sexuality in the Movies. Ed. Thomas R. Atkins. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975. First appeared in "Movies and Sexuality," Film Journal, op. cit. Feminist response to DEEP THROAT emphasizes the fact that all depictions of sexuality in pornography are a male invention. Offers hopes for a female erotic cinema.

Wortley, Richard. Erotic Movies. London: Roxby Press & Crescent Books, 1975. Pictorial exploitation of sex in Hollywood and European feature films.

Youngblood, Gene. Expanded Cinema. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1970. Includes a brief discussion of the portrayal of sexuality in the U.S. underground cinema.

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