The Avid Reader Show

Episode 709: Kelsy Burke - The Pornography Wars


Listen Later

For readers of Peggy Orenstein and Rebecca Traister, an authoritative, big think look at pornography in all its facets - historical, religious, and cultural.

In the 1960s, sex researchers Masters and Johnson declared the end of the fake orgasm. Nearly two decades later, in 1982, evangelical activist Tim LaHaye foretold that the entire pornography industry would soon be driven out of business. Neither prediction proved true. Instead, with the rise of the internet, pornography saturates the American conscience more than ever and has reshaped our understanding of sexuality, relationships, media, and even the nature of addiction.

Dr. Kelsy Burke has spent the last five years researching and interviewing internet pornography's opponents and its sympathizers. In The Pornography Wars, Burke does a deep dive into the long history of pornography in America and then turns her gaze on our present society to examine the ways this industry touches on the most intimate parts of American lives. She offers a complete understanding of the major players in the debates around porn's place in society: everyone from sex workers, activists, therapists, religious leaders, and consumers. In doing so, she addresses and debunks the myths that surround porn and porn usage while showing how everything from the way we teach children about sex to the legal protections for what can be published is tied up in the deeply complicated battles over pornography.

Sweeping, savvy, and deeply researched, The Pornography Wars is a necessary and comprehensive new look at pornography and American life.

Kelsy Burke is an award-winning sociologist and author of Christians under Covers. She has spent the last decade studying how people talk about sex in America and is currently an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her work has been supported by multiple grants and fellowships, including an award from the National Science Foundation, and her writing has appeared in The Washington Post The Huffington Post, Newsweek, Salon, and Slate.

Buy the book from Wellington Square Bookshop - ​
https://wellingtonsquarebooks.indiecommerce.com/book/9781635577365

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Avid Reader ShowBy Samuel Hankin

  • 3.6
  • 3.6
  • 3.6
  • 3.6
  • 3.6

3.6

43 ratings


More shows like The Avid Reader Show

View all
Pop Culture Happy Hour by NPR

Pop Culture Happy Hour

10,999 Listeners

Terrible Book Club by Chris & Paris

Terrible Book Club

63 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,879 Listeners

Pivot by New York Magazine

Pivot

9,334 Listeners

ChooseFI by ChooseFI

ChooseFI

5,133 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

111,150 Listeners

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas by Sean Carroll | Wondery

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

4,116 Listeners

Script Apart with Al Horner by Script Apart

Script Apart with Al Horner

203 Listeners

IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson by Higher Ground

IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson

12,687 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

15,543 Listeners