A Response [on the question of Seal Press]
A Response
By ShandaMeye
Given that some people are rehashing the question of the commitment Seal Press has to social justice, particularly as it pertains to people of color, I think it’s an appropriate time to voice my concerns about the numerous instances of racism and classism, mischaracterizing LGBTQ people, and prostitute bashing in their recently released Good Porn: A Woman’s Guide by Swedish writer and adult filmmaker Erika Lust. I have to start with a caveat: I don’t know what language this book was originally written in (though I assume it was Spanish since Lust currently lives in Barcelona), but since the English-language version says it was translated by X.P. Callahan, I will admit that some of my issues may not be with Lust herself, but with the way the text was translated. She does, however, speak English fluently, and one can only assume she would read the English version of the text to be sure she is accurately represented by the translation. And with that I digress…
So, you probably want to know what the problems I have with the book are, and I’ll start with one of the most egregious: racist imagery. Now, you’d think Seal Press would have learned from the aftermath to Amanda Marcott’s It’s a Jungle Out There. But, no. For some people, putting their hand to the flame does not teach them to keep it out of the fucking fire. And so, in an attempt to criticize porn for not being representative of Asian men, Seal Press decided to represent Asian men like this:
Yes, he’s wearing a conical hat. You know, because that’s soooo Asian-not stereotypical or offensive at all. Nor are Lust’s pat, contextless descriptions of “exotic” things like the Kama Sutra, shunga paintings, and other erotic arts made by “Far Eastern cultures” in the section of the book titled “Orgies of the Orient.” (Yep. That’s her flippantly using outmoded, pejorative, colonialist terminology.) Lust also lets us know that “even today there are cultures that are still using barbaric practices like clitoridectomy,” seemingly with no consciousness of the racist implications of the use of the term “barbaric” in this context, or her own ethnocentric judgment of cultural practices of groups to which she does not belong (or, apparently, know much about). In “Hentai and Other Asian Flavors,” Lust uncritically informs us that “the Land of the Rising Sun has become a world-class empire of porn” and praises the success of Japanese porn with no analysis of how the eroticism and sexual exploitation of East Asian women by White men has positively impacted the sales of Japanese porn. And guess what “the best way to tell if you’re watching an alt-porn movie” is? Does the actress have “a tribal tattoo on her tailbone, a couple of Maori bracelet tattoos…[hair] styled in makeshift dreadlocks…[or] a Mohawk?” Lust gives this list of alt-porn characteristics with total ignorance of the cooptation of cultures.
If I were being generous, I might write this off as lack of exposure-or, better yet, pure laziness, especially since Lust’s discussion of machismo was pulled directly off of the Spanish Wikipedia. Either would adequately explain the complete omission of any mention of the cultural elements of machismo in its page-long definition
and translator’s notes
Ironically, for all of her promotion of women in the porn biz, on more than one occasion Lust denigrates prostitutes and “sluts”: “we’ve had quite enough of men turning women into whores in their pornographic films…they show what sluts the women are in their whorish makeup and platform shoes.” She also stereotypically frames gay men by writing things like, “For the most part, gay men have an unconflicted ‘anything goes’ attitude toward their sexuality.” And she easily tosses aside concerns of the exploitation of poor women by saying that since “Every performer has to sign a model release…these measures guarantee that there has been no coercion of any kind.” Listen, I’m not anti-porn by any stretch of the imagination, but I don’t fool myself into believing that (as Lust cites) 500-1500 Euros per scene to a woman living in poverty isn’t a form of coercion.
The core issue here is that I’m just really disgusted by the way Seal Press continues to put out books with this kind of trite, limited, White feminist thought(lessness), and people continue to act like it’s not a big deal, and defend Seal Press by saying they haven’t had enough opportunities to do right by WOC or any number of other marginalized groups. Because the truth is that they’ve been given plenty of chances, and they’ve failed too many times to deserve another.
source
note that bfp did not write this, but aptly says in the comments: I said to somebody else-I teach my first year writing 101 students *dont’ fucking use wikipedia as a primary source.* you can use it as a starting point in your research, but primary source? no.
that is enough to me to know that the editors aren’t really looking out for the author at all, and don’t really much mind about the integrity of the relationship they have with the readers-it says they don’t take the readers seriously at all.
By ShandaMeye
Given that some people are rehashing the question of the commitment Seal Press has to social justice, particularly as it pertains to people of color, I think it’s an appropriate time to voice my concerns about the numerous instances of racism and classism, mischaracterizing LGBTQ people, and prostitute bashing in their recently released Good Porn: A Woman’s Guide by Swedish writer and adult filmmaker Erika Lust. I have to start with a caveat: I don’t know what language this book was originally written in (though I assume it was Spanish since Lust currently lives in Barcelona), but since the English-language version says it was translated by X.P. Callahan, I will admit that some of my issues may not be with Lust herself, but with the way the text was translated. She does, however, speak English fluently, and one can only assume she would read the English version of the text to be sure she is accurately represented by the translation. And with that I digress…
So, you probably want to know what the problems I have with the book are, and I’ll start with one of the most egregious: racist imagery. Now, you’d think Seal Press would have learned from the aftermath to Amanda Marcott’s It’s a Jungle Out There. But, no. For some people, putting their hand to the flame does not teach them to keep it out of the fucking fire. And so, in an attempt to criticize porn for not being representative of Asian men, Seal Press decided to represent Asian men like this:
Yes, he’s wearing a conical hat. You know, because that’s soooo Asian-not stereotypical or offensive at all. Nor are Lust’s pat, contextless descriptions of “exotic” things like the Kama Sutra, shunga paintings, and other erotic arts made by “Far Eastern cultures” in the section of the book titled “Orgies of the Orient.” (Yep. That’s her flippantly using outmoded, pejorative, colonialist terminology.) Lust also lets us know that “even today there are cultures that are still using barbaric practices like clitoridectomy,” seemingly with no consciousness of the racist implications of the use of the term “barbaric” in this context, or her own ethnocentric judgment of cultural practices of groups to which she does not belong (or, apparently, know much about). In “Hentai and Other Asian Flavors,” Lust uncritically informs us that “the Land of the Rising Sun has become a world-class empire of porn” and praises the success of Japanese porn with no analysis of how the eroticism and sexual exploitation of East Asian women by White men has positively impacted the sales of Japanese porn. And guess what “the best way to tell if you’re watching an alt-porn movie” is? Does the actress have “a tribal tattoo on her tailbone, a couple of Maori bracelet tattoos…[hair] styled in makeshift dreadlocks…[or] a Mohawk?” Lust gives this list of alt-porn characteristics with total ignorance of the cooptation of cultures.
If I were being generous, I might write this off as lack of exposure-or, better yet, pure laziness, especially since Lust’s discussion of machismo was pulled directly off of the Spanish Wikipedia. Either would adequately explain the complete omission of any mention of the cultural elements of machismo in its page-long definition
and translator’s notes
Ironically, for all of her promotion of women in the porn biz, on more than one occasion Lust denigrates prostitutes and “sluts”: “we’ve had quite enough of men turning women into whores in their pornographic films…they show what sluts the women are in their whorish makeup and platform shoes.” She also stereotypically frames gay men by writing things like, “For the most part, gay men have an unconflicted ‘anything goes’ attitude toward their sexuality.” And she easily tosses aside concerns of the exploitation of poor women by saying that since “Every performer has to sign a model release…these measures guarantee that there has been no coercion of any kind.” Listen, I’m not anti-porn by any stretch of the imagination, but I don’t fool myself into believing that (as Lust cites) 500-1500 Euros per scene to a woman living in poverty isn’t a form of coercion.
The core issue here is that I’m just really disgusted by the way Seal Press continues to put out books with this kind of trite, limited, White feminist thought(lessness), and people continue to act like it’s not a big deal, and defend Seal Press by saying they haven’t had enough opportunities to do right by WOC or any number of other marginalized groups. Because the truth is that they’ve been given plenty of chances, and they’ve failed too many times to deserve another.
source
note that bfp did not write this, but aptly says in the comments: I said to somebody else-I teach my first year writing 101 students *dont’ fucking use wikipedia as a primary source.* you can use it as a starting point in your research, but primary source? no.
that is enough to me to know that the editors aren’t really looking out for the author at all, and don’t really much mind about the integrity of the relationship they have with the readers-it says they don’t take the readers seriously at all.