Erotica Controversies
The 1st District Court of Appeals in San Francisco granted inmate, Andres Martinez, the right to read a werewolf erotica novel in prison. The book in question was The Silver Crown by Mathilde Madden (a pseudonym used by Guardian contributor, Mathilda Gregory).
NPR says the two year legal battle to read the book began when guards at Pelican Bay State Prison confiscated the novel on the grounds that it was pornographic.
According to TIME, California banned porn from prisons in 2002 to prevent inmates from creating a “hostile work environment” for female guards. But in the 1973 case of Miller vs. California, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that if a literary work has scientific or political value, it can’t be deemed “obscene.” Outlawing all works that describe sex would go against the standard.
So, after 30 pages of decision making, the court decided that the book possesses “serious literary value” and doesn’t qualify as straight up porn. The Warden of Pelican Bay State Prison has been ordered to “allow petitioner to receive, possess, and read his copy of The Silver Crown.” Victory.
And if this erotica scandal isn’t hot enough for the press, the first female deputy CIA director, Avril Haines, is being what Salon calls “slut-shamed” for hosting “erotica nights.”
According to The Daily Beast, in the 1990s, Haines co-owned Adrian’s Book Cafe in Baltimore, Md. The cafe used to feature events where published guests would read their erotic prose. Apparently, Haines even read some racy excerpts herself from Anne Rice’s Sleeping Beauty Trilogy.
FJP: What does any of this have to do with the fact that Haines is the new CIA director? Nothing. So why bring it up?
Media Matters suggests that the press applies a “shockingly different standard” to what they cover in regards to accomplished females vs. males in Washington D.C. The media assumes that a woman’s sexuality, or even what she wears, defines who she is (see: Purse Politics: Tote and Vote), and that’s a standard that’s “almost never applied to male counterparts.”
Would this story be being beaten to death (here, here, here, here, here, and here, to name only a few articles) if Haines was a man who used to be into smutty reading nights? Or is a woman’s sexuality just infinitely more interesting? Also… if a male inmate can read what he wants, shouldn’t Haines have the same right? — Krissy
Image: Salon
Why is it still taboo for women to enjoy their sexuality?!? Why is the press acting like hormonal, puritanical teenagers?
