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Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity (Paperback)

by Robert Jensen (Author)

3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In our culture, porn makes the man. So argues Robert Jensen in Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity. Jensen's treatise begins with a simple demand: "Be a man." It ends with a defiant response: "I chose to struggle to be a human being." The journey from masculinity to humanity is found in the candid and intelligent exploration of porn's devastating role in defining masculinity.

Getting Off seamlessly blends personal anecdotes from Jensen's years as a feminist anti-pornography activist with scholarly research. In his trademark conversational style, he shows how mainstream pornography reinforces social definitions of manhood and influences men's attitudes about women and how to treat them.

Pornography is a thriving multi-billion-dollar industry; it drives the direction of emerging media technology. Pornography also makes for complicated politics. These days, anti-porn arguments are assumed to be "anti-sex" and thus a critical debate is silenced. This book breaks that silence. Alarming and thought-provoking, Getting Off asks tough, but crucial, questions about pornography, sex, manhood, and the way toward genuine social justice.

Robert Jensen is an associate professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege and Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity.

About the Author
Robert Jensen is a professor of media law, ethics and politics at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the author of Heart of Whiteness and Citizens of Empire. He also writes for popular media, and his opinion and analytic pieces on foreign policy, politics and race have appeared in papers and magazines throughout the United States.

Product Details

Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: South End Press; 1 edition (September 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 089608776X
ISBN-13: 978-0896087767
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #54,835 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in these categories: (What's this?)
#6 in Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Pornography
#60 in Books > Nonfiction > Education > Multicultural

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews

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3.5 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent analysis and moving autobiographical journey., December 22, 2007

By	Jessica Teel (Homer, Alaska) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I wish I had this book when I was teaching undergraduate Women's Studies courses! Jensen uses the topic of pornography to cover the most pressing issues facing feminism, and society at large, today. He has built upon the work of radical feminist scholars in regards to applying feminist theory to pornography. He looks at how the industry, its violent content, and access to pornography through new technology, has changed since writers like Andrea Dworkin first tackled the problem of how porn turns violence against women into a vehicle for sexual pleasure. Jensen is successful at attacking the problem from every angle. You can tell he is an experienced lecturer by the way he addresses the typical, and also atypical, arguments that are thrown at feminists in regards to pornography, sexuality and gender. He also approaches the topic autobiographically, (a very feminist approach) and his arguments are stronger and more poignant because of it. Because of this autobiographical angle, his tone is not just analytical, but also one of remorse and sadness about the state of sexuality and masculinity in today's world. But he offers up a new vision, one which I believe male readers will be receptive to.

I wrote my thesis for my Masters in Women's Studies on sex work, so I can wholeheartedly say I've read most literature on pornography. Getting Off is one of the best books on the subject, and he brings the feminist argument against pornography into the 21st century. I admire and appreciate that he does not merely copy the work of female scholars, but rather builds upon them all the while showing how they paved the way for his analyses. I highly recommend it for course reading material for college instructors. This is an excellent text for anyone interested in understanding power, gender and sexuality.

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39 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Highly problematic from a feminist perspective..., December 14, 2008

By	L. Marks - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I found this book problematic also, but I am female, advocate feminism, and study feminist theory. I don't think the positions that critics of this book lay out as mutually exclusive (feminist v. pornography) need to be so divisive. However, it is the rhetoric of this book, and books like it (Dworkin, for example), that encourage polarized views of sex, sexuality, and pornographic media.

In my opinion, both masculinity and femininity are constructed, and in ways that are damaging for both sexes; women, however, have been oppressed more considerably over history. Nevertheless, I found Jensen's rhetoric infuriating, and as someone who writes about pornography using feminist theory (and I am neither "pro" nor "anti" pornography - I find some pornography progressive, interesting, smart, and highly enjoyable; some pornography I find racist, sexist, unpleasant etc. I think pornography, just like everything else, is constructed in ways that replicate sexism, racism, classism et al, but that does not mean it is lacking in cultural value, or even feminist value) - but I do not condone censorship in any form, and I don't find Jensen's approach useful.

His "analysis" of the women in pornography I found to be particularly offensive. In fact, what was ostensibly a book about male consumers, and I chose to read it for that reason, turned into the usual rant about the degradation of women in pornography, without considering what the female performers might experience in their chosen line of work - or, rather, presenting it as though there is no choice, and that women pursuing pornographic careers are a result of false consciousness. His only "evidence" in this regard consisted of a curious "reading between the lines" of behind the scenes footage, where he drew conclusions from a brief look in a performer's eye. I found this to be absurd. What about male performers? What about women in other lines of work? Are they exploited?

Furthermore, as I have come to expect from extremist writing of any kind, there is no attention to genre, no content analysis, and even though he claims to randomly select the most popular movies, the more interesting and subversive popular movies were conspicuously absent. His analysis of a Wicked movie, for example, shocked me - it bore no resemblance to the overwhelming majority of Wicked movies I have seen, in terms of violence/degradation.

I'm not saying that all of Jensen's positions are incorrect, or that I think all pornography is great; I am saying that the obsession with women in pornography is grounded in sexism, and the belief that the ultimate exploitation of women is rooted in sexuality is a cultural belief repeated again and again, with a lack of attention to why we believe this to be the case. It's an extremely complex issue, and one that should not be reduced to these black and white treatments.

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28 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be required reading for every human, December 22, 2007

By	Jennifer Kline (Arizona) - See all my reviews

Every person should read this book. It will make men better human beings, and enable them to imagine a masculinity that isn't rooted in domination over women as a source of sexual gratification. Jensen analyzes pornography from what seems to be every possible angle. His conclusion - masculinity is toxic, and must be reconfigured. He writes, "The call to go beyond masculinity to a new humanity asks people to imagine something for which there is no model. It is frightening but like most things that spark fear it also opens up the possibility of finding something deeper, richer, and more satisfying." Men will not be put off by the book, but rather will be comforted by Jensen's honesty about his own journey as a man in a culture that dominates women. Jensen's tone will put readers at ease, because he is so honest and brings his own story into an otherwise analytical text about culture, gender and sex. This personal touch makes the book easier to read, since a lot of the violence described is hard to witness. Jensen seems to cover it all, and peppers the book with interesting facts about the impact of porn on society. For example, who knew that in the 80's Betamax probably went to the grave because the porn industry chose the VHS format? Getting Off will enlighten all readers, and it isn't just about pornography. It is a book that gets to the root of how dominant cultures function and thrive through the normalization of sexual violence.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Inane
A mandatory book for a psychology class which pretty much reaffirms my growing realization that the field in general has become so rife with biases drawn from flawed assumptions... Read more

Published 7 months ago by BRL

1.0 out of 5 stars Nonsense
If Robert Jensen thinks masculinty is so toxic, he should get a sex change. I'm getting tired of this kind of man-bashing. Read more

Published 7 months ago by metalman

4.0 out of 5 stars Activist not Academic
I enjoyed the beginning and the end of this product. The middle part has a long expose on pornography that is unnecessarily graphic. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Sarah Kornfield

5.0 out of 5 stars Right on.
I have been struggling with the ideas and issues that this brilliant book discusses for years. I am genuinely thankful that this exists. Read more

Published 13 months ago by Kendall Sallay

4.0 out of 5 stars Good points, a painful read.
In my opinion, there were good and bad apects of this book.
In any critique of pornography, descriptions of the recorded acts are necessary-- otherwise, it's just... Read more

Published 14 months ago by B. Carlson

5.0 out of 5 stars this is important
WOW. This is one important book. It's about a subject I think most of us don't deal with very honestly because it's so hard to look at. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Ostrova

2.0 out of 5 stars Only useful for radicals
I wrote a long well thought out review. Unfortunately it didn't make it through the filtering process (apparently Amazon didn't appreciate my vulgar synonym for sex). Read more

Published 18 months ago by S. Russell

5.0 out of 5 stars If you're a man or woman, read it
As a biblical Christian, I have quibbles. But Jensen identifies what pornography is really about and ties it to its larger context in American culture. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Peter Attwood

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