Between Images and Acts: The Epistemology of Pornography

The feminist debate over pornography has been long and painful. It is also fascinating. One of its most interesting aspects is how it has become a direct test case for different theories of representation. Such theories claim to explain the relation of discourse to society, or put more simply, image to reality. But pornography persistently tests and confuses our definitions of what is 'act' and what is 'image'. In this article I will examine the way in which it does this, teasing out the epistemological foundations of our arguments about pornography. For while feminists over the years have hammered out different political strategies, indeed concepts of pornography, consensus is not in sight. There is still much to refine in our theoretical understanding of this bedevilling area of sexual relations.