Bronstein Examines 1970s Sexual Representation Through Porno Chic

Publisher University of Massachusetts Press, describes Bronstein and Strub's "Porno Chic and the Sex Wars: American Sexual Representation in the 1970s" as follows:

"For many Americans, the emergence of a “porno chic” culture provided an opportunity to embrace the sexual revolution by attending a film like Deep Throat (1972) or leafing through an erotic magazine like Penthouse. By the 1980s, this pornographic moment was beaten back by the rise of Reagan-era political conservatism and feminist anti-pornography sentiment.

"This volume places pornography at the heart of the 1970s American experience, exploring lesser-known forms of pornography from the decade, such as a new, vibrant gay porn genre; transsexual/female impersonator magazines; and pornography for new users, including women and conservative Christians. The collection also explores the rise of a culture of porn film auteurs and stars as well as the transition from film to video. As the corpus of adult ephemera of the 1970s disintegrates, much of it never to be professionally restored and archived, these essays seek to document what pornography meant to its producers and consumers at a pivotal moment."

The new volume furthers Prof. Bronstein's work on the era and its changing sexual mores and gender representation of which she wrote about in her previous book, "Battling Pornography: The American Feminist Anti-Pornography Movement, 1976-1986" (Cambridge University Press, 2011).