Themes for discussion: Pornography vs. Erotica. Nude vs. Naked. Who decides what is obscene? What are "community standards?" "Dirty words." Who dictates morality in America? Jesse Helms and his amendment. Feminist views on pornography. National Endowment for the Arts-- the U. S. Government as art sponsor. Cyberporn debate. Communications Decency Act.
Case studies: the Mapplethorpe exhibition; 2 Live Crew; Henry Miller; and others.

Films:
"Damned in the USA"
“People v. Larry Flynt”
"I Am Curious Yellow" (excerpts only!)
"Taxi zum Klos" (excerpts only!)

*Thursday, October 30
Read: “Porno-packet” (xerox) and Kendrick, The Secret Museum (ix-124)
*Write: What is your appraisal of the literary texts in the “Porno-packet”?

Tuesday, November 4
Read: Afanas’ev, Erotic Tales of Old Russia (xerox),
Ermolaev, Censorship in Soviet Literature (sections titled “Curses and Obscenities” and “Eroticism”: 42-46, 89-93, 131-134, 173-175, 214-216, 252-255); and
Kendrick, The Secret Museum (125-212)

Thursday, November 6
Read: Kendrick, The Secret Museum (213-265);
Berger, “Ways of Seeing” (xerox);
Study carefully and take notes of WWW:
Roth v. United States (1957) at this address:
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/comm/free_speech/roth.html
[be patient, it takes a while to download]
and
Miller v. California (1973) at this long address:
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/comm/free_speech/miller.html
In class assignment: Volunteers sign up for investigative tour of local porn shops. (Be our eyes and ears. What’s there? Who’s there? What are they doing and with whom? Evaluate your findings and decide whether such institutions should be tolerated in the community.)

[Please bring this assignment with you to class.]

Contemplate the images on display in the classroom.

Background
According to the 1973 Supreme Court ruling, art and pornography are mutually exclusive. Remember, the justices decided that if, "taken as a whole," material has artistic merit, it cannot be pornographic. To be pornography, imagery must be gratuitously offensive. During the court debate Associate Justice Potter Stewart remarked that while he couldn't define pornography, he always knew it when he saw it.

Assignment
In the images on display do you see art or pornography, nude or naked images? What is your understanding of the boundary (boundaries) between art and pornography? How do you reach this conclusion? BE SPECIFIC IN YOUR DISCUSSIONS OF THE IMAGES. In other words, you must do what Judge Stewart said he couldn't-- define art and pornography.

(Note : If in your opinion none of the images in the “gallery” can be classified as pornography, examine the photographs and magazines in the portfolio.)

Monday, November 10
Film: “People vs. Larry Flynt” 4 PM and 8 PM in KJ Aud

Tuesday, November 11--Feminist Views on Pornography/Larry Flynt’s Hustler Magazine
Read: “Anti-pornography” packet (xerox)
Investigate WWW: Scan the Web for pornography-related sites. Observe how easy it is to access such sites. Keep searching until you reach a “personal discomfort zone.” [To explore pornography on the internet is easy-- use any web browser and type in appropriate search words. For example, search “sex” at http://www.hotbot.com/index.html.]
Study carefully and take notes at this WWW site:
Hustler v. Falwell at
http://www.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=search&court=US&case=/data/us/485/46.html
In class: Group discussions-- Debate the following proposition: Pornography (as defined by Steinem, Dworkin, et al.) should NOT be covered by the First Amendment, and should be banned.

*Thursday, November 13--NEA Controversy/Mapplethorpe vs. Helms
Read: First off, brace yourselves, and take a look at what all the fuss was about-- study the Mapplethorpe X-Portfolio photos in Bolton, Culture Wars on pp. 321-327. Then read, Bolton, Culture Wars (37-47, 51-58, 121-123, 161-163, 173-175, 190-194, 284-288)
*Write: What is your reaction to the Mapplethorpe photos. How would you have voted if you were a member of a jury in Cincinnati?

Tuesday, November 18
*Write: Research paper due (7 pages)
In class: "Damned in the USA"

Thursday, November 20- “Cyberporn” and the Communications Decency Act
Study WWW:
Peruse the HotWired Special “Free Speech First” page at
http://wwww.hotwired.com/special/lawsuit/
then, read carefully and takes notes of the
Text of the Communications Decency Act at
http://www.cdt.org/policy/freespeech/12_21.cda.html
and
the 1997 Supreme Court Decision, RENO, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, et al. v. AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION et al. [“Syllabus, Opinion by Justice John Paul Stevens, and Concurrence by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor”] at
http://www.ciec.org/SC_appeal/decision.shtml

In class: Sex survey; "Adult bookstore" field-trip reports

Tuesday, November 25--Second Mid-term Exam

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