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Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity Paperback – September 1, 2007

by Robert Jensen (Author)
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 48 ratings
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In our culture, porn makes the man. So argues Robert Jensen in Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity. Jensen’s treatise begins with a simple demand: “Be a man.” It ends with a defiant response: “I chose to struggle to be a human being.” The journey from masculinity to humanity is found in the candid and intelligent exploration of porn’s devastating role in defining masculinity.

Getting Off seamlessly blends personal anecdotes from Jensen’s years as a feminist anti-pornography activist with scholarly research. In his trademark conversational style, he shows how mainstream pornography reinforces social definitions of manhood and influences men’s attitudes about women and how to treat them.

Pornography is a thriving multi-billion-dollar industry; it drives the direction of emerging media technology. Pornography also makes for complicated politics. These days, anti-porn arguments are assumed to be “anti-sex” and thus a critical debate is silenced. This book breaks that silence. Alarming and thought-provoking, Getting Off asks tough, but crucial, questions about pornography, sex, manhood, and the way toward genuine social justice.

Robert Jensen is an associate professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege and Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    200 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    South End Press
  4. Publication date
    September 1, 2007
  5. Dimensions
    5.4 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    089608776X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0896087767
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Jensen is a professor of media law, ethics and politics at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the author of Heart of Whiteness and Citizens of Empire. He also writes for popular media, and his opinion and analytic pieces on foreign policy, politics and race have appeared in papers and magazines throughout the United States.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ South End Press; 1st edition (September 1, 2007)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 200 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 089608776X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0896087767
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.4 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 48 ratings

About the author

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Robert Jensen

Robert Jensen

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Robert Jensen is professor emeritus of journalism at the University of Texas in Austin and collaborates with the New Perennials Project at Middlebury College. http://robertwjensen.org/

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
48 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Respectyourself
5.0 out of 5 stars Best RadFem Anti-porn book!
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2011
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As a radical feminist I found Robert Jensen's book validating. I have read a lot of material on pornography addiction, pornography, growing up in a sexualized culture, etc. Gail Dines "Pornland" is also excellent but I found the insight into the male experience of pornography that Jensen addressed, incredibly helpful on a very personal level, particularly the chapters he addressed specifically to men. As a woman it enabled me to better understand why men cannot see the pain, degradation and humiliation of pornography, not just to women but to humanity. I have also read a lot about sex-trafficking and there are some very strong connections between patriarchy, pornography, men's sexual attitudes towards women/children, and sex-trafficking. It was helpful to me to see that there are men out there who have the same emotional reaction to pornography as I do. One of Jensen's anecdotes struck such a deep cord because it could have been describing my own experience. If you ever listen to some of his lectures on Youtube, you can hear his depth of sadness. I too carry this sadness. The personal impact of this book aside, I believe many will find it thought-provoking at the very least. I agree with arguing against pornography from a "harm" perspective more helpful than a "censorship" perspective which is somewhat futile. His talk of "masculinity" being culturally defined (and femininity too) is helpful for both sexes to think about and try to understand. When we define ourselves in such limited terms, we ignore the core of who we really are. Humans with the same basic needs, wants, and desires - one of which is to be equal. Thank you Robert Jensen for your brave and valuable contribution to these sensitive issues. You have given me hope where there previously was none. I too have cried "I don't want to live in this world." (Jensen, p.45)
Be warned that there are graphic descriptions of pornography in this book and it definitely should not be read by anyone under the age of 18.
35 people found this helpful
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Rabid Reader
4.0 out of 5 stars Disturbed
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2014
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This was a difficult read. Very well done, very direct and utterly non-sensationalist. It must have been an absolute horror to research and write and I commend the author for tackling this subject.

Jensen identifies himself right at the get-go as a feminist, and I must say, I was glad to see that, as it brought a thread of sanity to the rest of the book. Jensen brings to this study not only a great deal of street-cred, being male, but also a tremendous sense of dismay on behalf of women and girls. And compassions.

Lots of what's in this book is downright ugly. Very ugly. The porn business, the descriptions of the films, the lives of the "actors" and the visible results of increasingly more and more depersonalized and violent films. Jensen calls it the "rape culture" and after reading about the real-life results of filmed and distributed sexualized violence, particularly among younger people. . . it will make the reader think for a very long time. Especially if you have young adult kids. Especially a daughter.

Don't read this if you think you are going to 'get off' on the descriptions. You won't. In fact, beware in general about the graphic and sad nature of this study; it's not for the faint of heart.

Jensen approaches this social phenomenon as thoughtfully as I imagine possible, tracks its history, plots out its likely future and shines a glaring light on the financial underworld of the porn industry and its measurably destructive results. Sobering.

I recommend it for anybody who has an interest in social history, human behavior & group psychology, feminism, sexual violence, sociopathology, or kids.
But NOT for kids.
29 people found this helpful
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Papo "Ponce"
5.0 out of 5 stars Eye Opener
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2013
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I believe the material in this book for the most part could help the reader become more appreciative of the gifts that both the human body and the sexual act truly are. I think most of society is still being conditioned from an early age to see women as sexual objects, as things who's only reason for being is to please in every way imaginable without the room for questioning, doubting, resisting, choosing, showing their own initiative and/ or objecting to the mental and physical demeaning that I know is felt and does take place. For me personally pornography makes slaves of all who participate in it no matter how hard a lot of the participants and promoters of this industry may try to convince themselves and the consumers of it that no one is forced into it.

I understand that we all choose the things that we think will lead to this thing call happiness and the possible pleasure side effect that the attainment of happiness carries with it. I think I try my best to respect other peoples' choices but still I can't help but notice and feel that the look in most of the people (mainly female participants) can tell you in many instances that they are not really into the act and/ or enjoying themselves. They are actors and for the most part get paid to appear as if they are fully in control of the entire scene and of their "willing" participation.

I think the best pornography is the one that takes place between two people who love and care for each other, respect and admire each other, and don't have a need to expose themselves to millions of strangers as a way of perhaps escaping or fighting their own insecurities, their own fears.

Thank you for the opportunity and my apologies if all or some of my comments come across as offensive or confusing.

Sincerily,

Papo "Ponce"
9 people found this helpful
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just me
1.0 out of 5 stars NOT helpful and NOT healthy
Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2020
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Somehow, this book seems to suggest that the answer to inappropriate sexual attachment in men is to decrease their masculinity. Poor. Don't even want to give it away so awful. If I could give it a Zero, I would.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Tom Andrich
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in Canada on December 1, 2016
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Received as expected
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C. Pilz
5.0 out of 5 stars an honest man
Reviewed in Germany on November 19, 2012
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Jensen gave me an honest inside observation into the whole pornography business and his own experiences - as a man - with this film industry. While for some readers his insight might be extreme, Jensen does not belie the extreme reality of women and men working in the industry.

interviews, a lot of empirical work, background information and history. Jensen covers a lot of ground in his research. And it feels good to read from a man who is against pornography.
One person found this helpful
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Simon-louis Lajeunesse
1.0 out of 5 stars Moraliste
Reviewed in Canada on December 25, 2020
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Auteur repentand qui se sent coupable d’avoir utiliser de la porno. À mettre au feu
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Martin Teich
2.0 out of 5 stars I don't like it
Reviewed in Germany on January 18, 2010
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This book is just not for me. I feel it is to extreme. There is no balance in the opinions about the whole thing.
They have a point, I give them that, but it's not the whole story.
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Xaven Taner
2.0 out of 5 stars Lacking, Lacking, Lacking
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 5, 2009
Verified Purchase
This is not what the critique of pornography needs. Everything about this book is misguided and unhelpful, from his style - which at times resembles tabloid style emotional blackmail - to his wholly unconvincing rehash of the Dworkinist assertion of man as rape incarnate. Jensen has precious little in the way of analysis that goes beyond personal anecdotes and descriptions of the content of hardcore films, which always end with a variation on the imperative to put yourself in the picture - imagine she was your daughter or how would you feel in the same situation etc. His critique is utterly lacking in the wide ranging analysis of consumer culture which pornography is situated within and instead focuses on a man-negating hysteria which resorts to quasi-religious rhetoric to escape its dead end.

In the beginning he emphasises the links between the porn industry and consumer capitalism in general, and highlights the need for the questions addressed to pornography to also be addressed to society as a whole, yet at the end point he resorts to a discussion of "sex as an unfathomable mystery to honour" and a bizarre description of "people touching with light". There is none of the cutting psychoanalytic or sociological analysis that would open doors to a genuinely far reaching critique of porn and gender roles. Jensen clearly is a troubled man, evident by the amount of personal "journey" material that takes up the book and the self hating conclusions he draws from them, frankly at times it's laughable.
This is not a serious work and does nothing but highlight the dead ends that resulted from the radical feminist critique in the 1980s. This area of research deserves a lot more than Jensen is capable of delivering.
34 people found this helpful
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