CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
PORNOGRAPHY & PHILOSOPHY
Dave Monroe (ed.)
Applied Ethics Institute, Saint Petersburg College
We seek abstracts for a new title in the Wiley-Blackwell series Philosophy for Everyone, under the general editorship of Fritz Allhoff. As with previous titles now subsumed under the series-Wine & Philosophy, Beer & Philosophy, Food & Philosophy, and Running & Philosophy-Pornography & Philosophy will integrate the insights of philosophers, interdisciplinary academics such as sociologists and psychologists, and industry insiders. The abstracts and resulting selected papers should be written for an educated, but non-specialized, audience.
According to a website monitoring internet usage, pornography generated worldwide revenues of $97.6 billion in 2006; there is little doubt that the porn industry captures a substantial portion of global disposable income. A significant number of people, of both genders, are porn-users. Yet discussions of this industry and its attendant issues seem largely to be limited to academic or business contexts, or to locker rooms and bedchambers. In other words, the ubiquity of the subject appears to outrun the scope of the discourse. This anthology seeks to broaden the conversation about pornography, both by expanding the range of questions about porn that academics might address and by opening the conversation to those who are most familiar with it-the creators and users of porn.
There is a standing corpus concerning pornography in feminist, aesthetic, ethical and socio-political dialogues, and we welcome essays that continue and contribute to the discussions present in that corpus. We seek coverage of all topics therein which include, but are not limited to: exploitation, objectification, sexual safety, and freedom of speech. We also want to explore less traditional topics, such as internet pornography, fetishes, the celebrity of porn stars/celebrity sex tapes, pornography in the popular media, the ethics of sexual gratification, the effects of pornography on relationships, pornography and evolutionary psychology, and so on. Since this volume should be both entertaining and scholarly, we are especially delighted to receive proposals for papers that are provocative, racy, or downright irreverent and naughty! Here are some essay titles that may stimulate your imagination or analytic thought:
“Nikki’s Not Naked!: The Pornographic Status of Non-Nude Modeling”
“Boys, Ball Gags and Humiliation: Femdom Porn as a Means of Empowerment”
“Holy Smokes: The Role of Drugs in Adult Entertainment”
“Size DOES Matter: Porn Actors and Cartoonish Bodily Proportions”
“Porn as Sexual Education-I’m Hot for Teacher!”
“That’s Disgusting!: The Role of Obscenity in Pornography Laws”
“Why not call it the Pornternet?: On the Supposed Dominance of Porn on the Internet”
“Watching Others F!&k as an Aid in Marital Intimacy”
“Paris, Pam, and the Girls Next Door: Pornography and Mainstream Media”
“I’m Wired This Way, or Why Evolutionary Psychology Explains the Male Porn Fixation”
We encourage you to be as creative as possible with your topic and strive to make your abstract and essay as lively, yet enlightening, as possible. Please attend to the following guidelines:
Guidelines for Contributions:
-Abstract of paper (approximately 250 words) due by: Dec 1, 2008
-Accepted authors will receive notification by: Dec 15, 2008
-The submission deadline for accepted papers will be Summer 2009
-Final papers must be between 4000-5000 words and be aimed at a general, educated audience.
-Abstracts should be submitted electronically to:
PornographyandPhilosophy@gmail.com
Please contact Dave at the above email address if you have any questions about the book. Other proposals for series titles are also welcome; please direct those to Fritz Allhoff at fritz.allhoff@wmich.edu.
Dave Monroe
St. Petersburg College
Applied Ethics Institute
P.O. Box 13489
St. Petersburg, FL 33733-3489
Ph: (940)736-0663
Email: davil324@yahoo.com
monroe.david@spcollege.edu
