Impure Relations: Feminism, Pornography and Ethical Heterosex Katherine Albury PhD, School of Media, Film and Theatre 2006 ABSTRACT This thesis engages with feminist and queer theory to assert that heterosexuality can be understood not as a fixed, unchanging and oppressive institution, but as changing combination of erotic and social affects which coexist within public and private bodies, discourses and imaginations. Drawing on the work on Michel Foucault, William Connolly, Eve Sedgwick and others, it examines the multiple discourses of heterosexuality that are already circulating in popular culture, specifically, representations of sex and gender within sexually explicit media. It examines the fields of polyamory, ‘feminist porn’, amateur and DIY pornography and ‘taboo’ sexual practices to demonstrate the possibilities offered by non-normative readings of heterosex. These readings open up space not only for queerer, less oppressive heterosexualities, but also for models of ethical sexual learning which incorporate heterosexual eroticism and emphasise both the pleasures and dangers of heterosex. Keywords: Heterosexuality, Pornography, Sexual Ethics, Feminism 1 PLEASE TYPE THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname or Family name: Albury First name: Katherine Other name/s: Margaret Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: margaret School: SAM (previously EMPA) Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences Title: Impure relations: Feminism, pornography and ethical heterosex Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE) This thesis engages with feminist and queer theory to assert that heterosexuality can be understood not as a fixed, unchanging and oppressive institution, but as changing combination of erotic and social affects which coexist within public and private bodies, discourses and imaginations. Drawing on the work on Michel Foucault, William Connolly, Eve Sedgwick and others, it examines the multiple discourses of heterosexuality that are already circulating in popular culture, specifically, representations of sex and gender within sexually explicit media. It examines the fieldsof polyamory, 'feminist porn', amateur and DIY pornography and 'taboo' sexual practices to demonstrate the possibilities offered by non-normative readings of heterosex. These readings open up space not only for queerer, less oppressive heterosexualities, but also for models of ethical sexual learning which incorporate heterosexual eroticism and emphasise both the pleasures and dangers of heterosex. Declaration relating to disposition of project thesis/dissertation I hereby grant to the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all property rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstracts International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). 2� �AA i-ot7 Signature . Witness Signature Date The University recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances requiring restrictions on copying or conditions on use. Requests for restriction for a period of up to 2 years must be made in writing. Requests for a longer period of restriction may be considered in exceptional circumstances and require the aooroval of the Dean of Graduate Research. FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Date of completion of requirements for Award: ORIGINALITY STATEMENT 'I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made. to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.' Signed Date 1.P-r-2-otr COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ‘I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstract International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my thesis or I have obtained permission to use copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the digital copy of my thesis or dissertation.' Signed ……………………………………………........................... Date ……………………………………………........................... AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT ‘I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the conversion to digital format.’ Signed ……………………………………………........................... Date ……………………………………………........................... Acknowledgements and dedication I have been writing this thesis for a long time, and am deeply grateful to everyone who has assisted and encouraged my (distracted) progress. Special thanks are due to my three supervisors: Gay Hawkins, David Halperin and Sue Kippax. I am also appreciative of my friends and colleagues in the School of Media, Film and Theatre, UNSW; The National Centre for HIV Social Research, UNSW; the Media and Communications Program, and the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies, both at the University of Sydney; and all my friends and partners–in-crime in the incredibly fertile fields of Cultural Studies and Sex Studies. Too many friends, lovers and drinking buddies have held my hand over the years, and in the interests of sanity and brevity I can only name a few here. I would especially like to thank Michael Finucan, Linda Jaivin, Catharine Lumby, Alan McKee, Elspeth Probyn, Clif Evers, Fiona Giles, Lamia Dabboussy, Pete Minter and Paul Kylstra for backing me up when I was at my best…and at my worst. Thanks also to Michael Wall for editing and proofing. Much love and thanks to my family (biological and chosen), particularly Alicia Albury, Ian Schofield, Jack Schofield, Jessica Schofield, Randall Albury, Barbara Albury, William Albury, Rebecca Albury, Graeme Barwell and Tobin Saunders. Special thanks and love to Sean Goodwin. This thesis is dedicated to my grandma, Katherine Jane McClure, with much love. 2 Contents Introduction: Dirty talk 3 Chapter 1: Problematising heterosexuality 30 Chapter 2: Impure relations: The ethics of heterosexuality 64 Chapter 3: Sex in public: Raunch culture and feminist porn 99 Chapter 4: Out of the bedroom … heterosexuality in amateur porn 135 Chapter 5: Abject masculinities 165 Chapter 6: The trouble with anal sex 208 Chapter 7: Conclusion: queer learning and ethical Heterosex 239 References: 259 3 Introduction: Dirty talk What I want to ask is: Are we able to have an ethics of acts and their pleasures which would be able to take into account the pleasures of the other? Michel Foucault, On the Genealogy of Ethics Since the late 1960s, feminists in Australia, the US and Britain have drawn links between men’s and women’s everyday sexual and emotional relations; and the broader issue of institutionalised homophobia, heterosexism and heteronormativity.1 The exact nature of these links, along with the question of how they might be broken, has been hotly contested. This thesis seeks to both engage with, and depart from, feminist thinking on the representation of heterosexuality in media and popular culture, specifically (but not exclusively) representations that might be considered ‘pornographic’. I will seek to explore the arguments feminist and other theories of heterosexuality have offered to explain the oppressive aspects of heterosexuality as an institution; and ask why these arguments have, as yet, been unable to propose a model of ethical heterosexuality that 1 In her history of Australian left-wing movements (including feminism), Verity Burgmann notes that while feminism is often discussed in terms of a discrete ‘first wave’ and ‘second wave’, the work of feminist historians such as Marilyn Lake (1999) points to a great deal of organised feminist activity between the First and Second World Wars – that is, prior to the official second wave. She observes, however, that sexuality was a key area of conflict that shaped the emergence of the second wave (as we know it). However, similar conflicts had existed within earlier (first wave) feminism. While some had called for sexual equality in terms of demanding male chastity and temperance, others championed