... Women and the rise of raunch culture"
Has anyone seen this book? Im a few chapters through and its quite an interesting read in a subject i find pretty interesting. Her main point seems to be that society we live in (america/europe) values sexiness over sexualness. So that the ability to act in a certain way is much better than actually being able to do the real thing, and how this can be used to make a hell of a lot of money. Coupled with the increasing emphasis on sexiness and how women must strive towards it in all realms of society. Porn has left dodgy site on the internet and can be found wherever you look - in different guises.
Saw the author interviewed on TV and she irritated the crap out of me. The interview seemed like an extended essay in stating the bleeding obvious, whilst avoiding saying the 'P' (patriarchy, just realised that it's not obvious) word and talking about systems, but I suppose that could have been the questions.
It does seem to me, though, that using formulations like 'values sexiness over sexualness' and talking about 'society' is a bloody good way of ducking questions of power and who benefits from this (porn industry, capital developing new forms of social control in the wake of the women's movement etc, etc, etc).
But, no, I haven't read it.