26.10.2007, 20.15 Uhr, 7 €
Vortrag mit Filmbeispielen / Lecture with film clips (in englischer Sprache)
Eiszeit Kino
"Representations of Social and Political Taboos in Pornography: The Middle East as a Case Study" by Liad Kantorowicz and Maya Ne'emani
Each culture has a way of producing its own set of unique sexual fantasies that extend beyond the scope of what's socially accepted and is considered politically correct. Most such fantasies employ the use of social taboos taken from the particular culture in an eroticized manner. Oftentimes they personify of the most feared-of elements in our society, ones that are perceived as having the ability to threaten our livelihood as a culture. They also tend to make erotic use of the feared-of, exoticized other and place him the center of the fantasy.
Like all cultural taboos, sexual taboos can be derived from a socio-political climate, and both find their way to pornography. Examples of such cases can be seen in the rise of representations of both neo-Nazis and Turkish and Arabic subjects in European porn in recent years. Both are considered a threat to European 'mainstream' values: neo-Nazis, Arabs and Turks represent the rise of extreme and blatant racism, Islam, the migration of foreign 'primitive' culture and values, and the rise of social problems and violence. Simply because they represent a threat, in personified form, they are some of the most sexually desired subjects in European porn.
Life in the middle east lends way to different sorts of internal conflicts: Extreme militarization of Israeli society, the Israel occupation of Palestine and the ongoing war, tensions between Jews and Palestinians as well as other Arabs, the fear of 'terrorism' and the racist belief that it's embodied in all Palestinian subjects, the growing social gaps and tensions between secular and religious orthodox Jews and different Jewish-Israeli social and ethnic groups, and the fear of losing the Jewish majority in Israel are just a few examples of the social tensions which plague Israeli society. Not surprisingly, they have all manifested themselves in a subversive yet prominent form in Israel's small porn industry in recent years: homoeroticism between two soldiers (which is not allowed in the army), role playing between a high-ranking general in the army and his woman soldier secretary, sexual interpretations of stories from the bible, interracial sex between a Palestinian and a Jew and between a 'white' Ashkenazi man and a 'black' Ethiopian woman, sex between two Palestinians, and scenes in which Muslim women were eroticized by disrobing them from their veils are just a few examples of the most prominent scenes in Israeli-made pornography, and all employ the use of local taboos as eroticized subjects.
By showing several examples from Israeli porn, the presentation will first show how social taboos can be located, how they're turned into sexual fantasies, and what slant they take when expressed in a pornographic context. We will then have a more in-depth look at this process by examining a few key issues. The first set of questions deals with ethical elements. Many political and social taboos are based on racist stereotypes, colonialist notions and the general objectification and exotification of the 'other'. On one hand, some of the best pornography ignores political-correctness and blatantly overrides it. When is the portrayal of such taboos and fantasies valid? Should borders be put on the use of such portrayals if they express real fantasies? When and if should ethics be applied to restrict or shape them? The second set of questions comes from a more proactive approach. Porn is known to be as means of creating a space for an alternate reality to take place, a space which provides room for things that can't or don't happen in real life. Can this place of social taboo be used in porn to locate social problems, and challenge a social order? For example, could Palestinian women fuck Israeli men up the ass in porn movies and have Israeli men enjoy it and buy such films? (Our answer is yes).