The Reader, the Author, His Woman and Her Lover : Soft-Core Pornography and Heterosexual Men

Taking as its focus soft-core pornography and its impact on the sexuality of young men, this book is intended as a contribution to the developing discussion of heterosexuality, and its cultural representation, within sociology, gender studies and media studies. It was conceived as a response to the divisions among feminists over pornography, and as an attempt to disrupt the entrenched pattern of polarity in critical discussion of sexual representation. Drawing on in-depth interviews with young men about their experience and interpretation of pornographic material, the book shows that they have a keen awareness of the pleasures which censorship would curtail and yet, at the same time, a strong pervasive sense of danger attending the use of pornography.