Only the Literal: The Contradictions of Anti-pornography Feminism

Within feminism, battles over pornography have become the wars without end. Despite the controversy it generates, the discourses of anti-pornography feminism have continued to make inroads into legal frameworks, most recently in Canada. This piece surveys the growth and questionable appeal of such feminist campaigning, under the theoretical leadership of Catharine MacKinnon: its rewriting of feminist theory; its parasitic relation to the authoritative, phallocentric discourses of gender and sexuality; its alliance with the most reductive, behaviouristic psychology; its disavowel of fantasy and psychic life; its provocative mirroring of both the style and content of the `pornography' it deplores; its unwavering pursuit of legal remedies which enhance the power of state regulation of sexuality; its threat to subversive expressions of women's sexual agency and repudiation of any possibilities for sexual resignifications.