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jsjammersmith's review against another edition
5.0
Every queer man, in fact I suspect every man period, has some relationship to pornography. Whether the reader agrees with thew moral quality of porn, what cannot be denied is that porn is a facet of the culture and society and it has become, to many, a form of sexual education and sometimes sexual balm. Don Shewey attempts to understand the intense fascination, dedication, and often time addiction to pornography that affects gay and queer men, and how their use of pornography can affect not just their love life, but in fact their sense of self.
For many queer men, porn was a way of validating one's existence because it catalogued the desire in a way that wasn't condemning. Porn was a space where men could acknowledge their attraction to other men and that sense of belonging filtered into the early experience of gay pornography, but as Shewey demonstrates in his book, an unfortunate side effect is that many men begin to internalize the media allowing the comparison to infect their actual reality.
Rather than being yet another in a long line of anti-porn non-fiction works, Shewey celebrates the body, celebrates queer sexuality, and often celebrates gay porn. But he is able to tackle the real-world effect of porn upon individual people and the way it can disease their actual sexuality. The Paradox of Porn is a reminder to the reader that men, in their desire to disappear into desire, can lose their actual footing to the strengths and limitations of their body. And so while pornography can be a wonderful space for personal exploration, Shewey reminds his reader that exploration is good, but should never be a substitute for the real thing.
For many queer men, porn was a way of validating one's existence because it catalogued the desire in a way that wasn't condemning. Porn was a space where men could acknowledge their attraction to other men and that sense of belonging filtered into the early experience of gay pornography, but as Shewey demonstrates in his book, an unfortunate side effect is that many men begin to internalize the media allowing the comparison to infect their actual reality.
Rather than being yet another in a long line of anti-porn non-fiction works, Shewey celebrates the body, celebrates queer sexuality, and often celebrates gay porn. But he is able to tackle the real-world effect of porn upon individual people and the way it can disease their actual sexuality. The Paradox of Porn is a reminder to the reader that men, in their desire to disappear into desire, can lose their actual footing to the strengths and limitations of their body. And so while pornography can be a wonderful space for personal exploration, Shewey reminds his reader that exploration is good, but should never be a substitute for the real thing.
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