Porn And Me(n): Sexual Morality, Objectification, And Religion At The Wheelock Anti-Pornography Conference

In the Spring of 2007, I interviewed a panel of four men who, along with me, had just attended a national anti-pornography conference at Wheelock College. As we discussed topics ranging from masturbation to sexual ethics, many described their continuing struggle to reconcile their desires with deeply held moral beliefs and political convictions. This essay recounts various events from the Wheelock conference and draws on the published work of prominent male feminists such as John Stoltenberg, Robert Jensen, and Sut Jhally. I argue that, by failing to adequately account for the pleasures of objectification, the radical feminist analysis of pornography faces a dual risk: 1) remaining marginal and irrelevant and/or 2) being absorbed by the much larger Christian anti-pornography movement