"F Files" Interview with Robert Jensen (1 of 6)

Robert Jensen is an associate professor in The School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin.Jensen joined the UT faculty in 1992 after completing his Ph.D. in media ethics and law in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota. Prior to his academic career, he worked as a professional journalist for a decade. At UT, Jensen teaches courses in media law, ethics, and politics. He also is director of the Senior Fellows Program, the honors program of the College of Communication. In his research, Jensen draws on a variety of critical approaches to media and power. Much of his work has focused on pornography and the radical feminist critique of sexuality and men's violence. In more recent work, he has addressed questions of race through a critique of white privilege and institutionalized racism. In addition to teaching and research, Jensen writes for popular media, both alternative and mainstream. His opinion and analytic pieces on such subjects as foreign policy, politics, and race have appeared in papers around the country. He also is involved in a number of activist groups working against U.S. military and economic domination of the rest of the world. Jensen is the author of The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege (City Lights, 2005); Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity (City Lights, 2004); and Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream (Peter Lang, 2002); co-author with Gail Dines and Ann Russo of Pornography: The Production and Consumption of Inequality (Routledge, 1998); and co-editor with David S. Allen of Freeing the First Amendment: Critical Perspectives on Freedom of Expression (New York University Press, 1995).

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[fedea82]

you called porn an "ugly form of sexuality"???

I guess you didn´t watch too much porn then, you can´t just say that because there are lot of genres in porn, and there is always one who will fit your fantasies just right...

Maybe you have a totally hot woman (or man, I don´t care), the one you dream about, and you have sex with her periodically...if you don´t, at least you can wath her having sex!

Why? Because of porn!!!

[sgsilver]

I actually used to consume quite a lot of porn before I finally understood what it was doing to my sexuality and my view of women.

[MacoutesGabber]

For your information, we choose our own views about the world. It doesn't come from the outside. Choosing not to view porn is an example of this. Nothing was really "doing" anything to your sexuality.

[sgsilver]

I always find it interesting when men claim that pornography doesn't affect their sexuality or their view of women. If media didn't affect those who consume it, then it wouldn't make much sense for the advertising industry to spend billions of dollars a year on media for just that purpose. Those men who consume pornography and believe that it doesn't affect their sexuality or their view of women are deluding themselves.

[MacoutesGabber]

Actually, those who don't think that SOME men could have thought about women negatively, BEFORE the invention of modern porn are the ones who are delusional. The media is affected by our choices, not the other way around. Give critical thinking some credit. If you choose not to give in to pornography's "view" of women, then you're saying we can't think for ourselves. Nonsense.

[sgsilver]

More and more young women are reporting that their boyfriends are asking them to do things that they see in pornography. Many report that their boyfriends are "somewhere else" mentally, fantasizing that they are in a pornographic video. Pornography is negatively affecting men's perceptions of their own sexuality and their view of women. It certainly did with me, and it certainly has with many other men.

[sgsilver]

Critical thinking is indeed important; men need to think critically about the images they are consuming and how it is affecting their own sexuality and their relationships.

If you're really open to thinking critically, then I'd advise you to read Jensen's book "Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity". It's very accessible, albeit disturbing, and raises questions not only about the consumption of pornography, but about the concept of masculinity as a whole.

[almondmilk42]

Awesome! Totally going in my favorites. :)

[djaero78]

@sgsilver maybe you were watching to much porn... to much of anything and you loose the balance in life, maybe you were into the wrong sought of porn. Who is really the victim, the girl making the porn, the guy making the porn, the guy/girl buying the porn... or nobody? Well it depends on each scenario... It's like blaming Alcohol for giving us alcoholics, drunk drivers, and general social violence. Alcohol, Porn... there just catalysts, which can bite in the wrong hands but not all hands.

[djaero78]

@sgsilver I've been watching porn since I was 7 years old. If i've been mentally "somewhere else" while having sex with a partner I can't say that its because of a reason other than i'm not enjoying having sex with the partner... which is because of a problem between us. To say being bored in bed is because of the hot girl you work with or have seen in a magazine, is like saying adultry is the cause of relationship breakdowns, when infact its the relationship breakdown that causes adultry.

[antiquelens]

I love Robert, so brilliant. Great essays, speeches...

[Cascader100]

@sgsilver If you used sex appeal to try to sell a product that wouldn't have sold on it's own, you will probably make more sales than without the advertising. However, if you advertised at all that would be the case, I wouldn't be surprised if sex appeal sold more, but it's not going to sway anyone who wouldn't have bought the product anyway. The point of advertising to grab and maintain the attention of your possible patrons. It doesn't twist people's thinking unless they're already twisted.

[MacoutesGabber]

Pornography isn't "affecting" anything, if they think critically. It's not the pornography that's doing it. The men are choosing this behavior, pornography or not. People can choose for themselves. If people watch videos about rich people, that doesn't automatically make them become rich.

Jensen's book is filled with non-sequitur arguments.