“Deep Throat.” Playboy. Classroom. Porn site.

“One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn’t belong.” Or maybe it does.

According to a new article in the April 3 issue of Time magazine, “Sex in the Syllabus,” many schools across the country are developing new classes to teach what has been dubbed “porn curriculum.”

More sexuality in society

Statistics say today more Americans watch porn than they do football, said Chet Meeks, assistant sociology professor. In reaction to its overwhelming presence in people’s lives, many professors and researchers have turned their attention to the pornography industry and in turn are teaching this information to their students.

While NIU does not currently have any such porn curriculum courses, the addition of such classes in the future is not improbable.

Mishel Filisha, women’s studies and sociology graduate student, has been conducting research on the cyber-porn industry and the way capitalism shapes the way young women form sexual self-schemas. She isn’t surprised by the recent increase in interest in the pornography industry by academics.

“I think it’s the influence of the sexual revolution combined with the increase in sexuality visibility,” Filisha said. “Shows like ‘Sex and the City’ that feature female characters who are open about their sexuality as well as shows like ‘Will and Grace’ that feature positive gay visibility [increase the public’s view of sex]. Now we talk about sexuality with a lot less negative sanctions than ever before.”

Discussing pornography in class

Pornography is a very complicated sexual and moral issue worth discussing academically, Meeks said. The topic of porn often comes up in Meeks’ classes on sexuality.

“When I teach about pornography, I try to approach it from a number of angles and allow students to develop their own opinions of it,” Meeks said. “There are libertarian arguments — the government has no business regulating private issues like pornography. And there are feminist arguments both for and against porn, with some arguing that it promotes the objectification of women, as well as violence towards them, and others arguing that pornography, certain kinds of it, can be used to help educate women and men about sexual pleasure, their bodies, healthy sex practices, etc. One way I try to get at these issues is to have students read the debates within the feminist and lesbian-feminist community from the early 1980s.”

Studying pornography entails more than just viewing porn. However, that is a part of it.

“There is a lot of theoretical debate that you can do without ever looking at pictures … [but] you have to look at porn to study porn,” Filisha said.

To show porn, or to not show porn, has been a major issue for many porn curriculum classes, with many professors opting to use written transcripts instead of viewing the actual pornographic material, according to Time magazine.

However, this can open a whole other debate.

“What is the difference between describing acts in a pornographic scene and actually watching it?” Filisha said. “There are classes at NIU about illicit drug use which deal with these same illegal or taboo issues.”

Determining curriculum

Several of the professors cited in the Time magazine article would probably agree with Filisha’s statement, as some of them do include viewing pornographic movies as a part of their courses.

While many people might have a hard time seeing the underlying academic value of “Debbie Does Dallas,” it is not entirely devoid of content.

Diana Swanson, associate professor of women’s studies and English, said while she would not be interested in teaching a course that required the viewing of pornographic materials, the lessons students could learn from such courses could be very valuable.

“Media literacy enables us to be less manipulated by the media and more critical consumers and citizens,” Swanson said. “I think it would be helpful for students to learn how to critically analyze pornography for the way that visual and print pornography are used to convey messages, values and attitudes towards women, men and sexuality, in the same way that it is helpful for students to learn to analyze and deconstruct media in general.”

The controversial thing about porn curriculum classes is simply, they present pornography. It can be a very delicate situation, Swanson said.

“In order to teach and study it you have to watch [and] read quite a bit of it,” she said.

“That is the double bind of teaching about porn; at the same time that you are working to get students to think critically about it, you are disseminating it.”