Speaker Series: A.W. Eaton (University of Illinois)

A.W. Eaton is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois. She received her Ph.D. from The University of Chicago in both philosophy and art history in 2003. She works on topics in feminism, aesthetics and philosophy of art, value theory, and Italian Renaissance painting. Her special interests include the epistemological and ontological status of aesthetic value, the relationship between ethical and artistic value, feminist critiques of pornography, representations of rape in the European artistic tradition, and artifact teleology (for more details and publications, see her website). Professor Eaton was a Laurence Rockefeller Fellow at Princeton’s Center for Human Values in 2005-6. She is the editor of the Aesthetics & Philosophy of Art section of Philosophy Compass.

“A Sex-Positive Anti-Porn Feminism”

This paper develops a view that is both Antiporn Feminist and
Sex-Positive.  I argue that while inegalitarian pornography (which is the
pervasive and dominant form) is harmful to women, there is nothing about
pornography per se that promotes and maintains sexism.  This opens the
door to alternative forms of pornography that are not only harmless to
women, but that even promote gender justice.  The underlying commitment
here is decidedly Sex-Positive in its affirmation of sexual desire and its
expression as forces that can contribute to social justice.