Gail Dines

Biography

Dines was born in Manchester, England. She obtained her BSc from Salford University and her PhD in sociology from the same institution, for a thesis titled Towards a Sociology of Cartoons: A Framework for Sociological Investigation with Special Reference to "Playboy" Sex Cartoons.

She moved to Israel in 1980 at the age of 22, where she married and became a feminist, and then moved to the United States in 1986. Since 1986, she has been at Wheelock College in Boston, where she is Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies and Chair of the American Studies Department.

Overview

Dines is the author of three books, including Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked our Sexuality (2010). Her articles have appeared in a variety of journals and newspapers, including The New York Times, Newsweek, and Time. She is a founding member of Stop Porn Culture and co-founder of the National Feminist Anti-Pornography Movement.

Advocacy and views

Dines's view is that pornography distorts the user's view of sexuality and makes more difficult the establishment of real-life intimate relationships with women. Dines maintains that modern pornography is cruel and violent unlike earlier forms of pornography with which the general public may be familiar, and has the effect of tending to generally degrade the position of women in society.

She also advances the position that the prevalence of hardcore pornography is a contributing factor in increasing "demand" for sex trafficking.

Dines believes that pornography is a public-health issue, and therefore legal measures are needed to prevent access to pornography. In an Icelandic television interview in 2012, the presenter told Dines that the minister of welfare in Iceland, Guðbjartur Hannesson, was opposed to legislation and had suggested relying instead on "a change of thought." Dines replied, "I would say, you absolutely need to change the way people think about it, but I would argue we are at such a crisis level that you need a public health approach. So, one way would certainly be education and the way people think, but I would absolutely argue for legislation as well. If you want to stop this then you have to figure out a way for Icelandic men to not have access to hardcore pornography". Later in the same interview she goes on to say, "If you really want women and girls to have gender equality in Iceland then you cannot be feeding your boys and men a steady diet of pornography. The two don't go together."

In 2011, Dines was invited alongside fellow anti-pornography activist Shelley Lubben to debate against Anna Span at the University of Cambridge when it proposed the motion "This house believes that pornography does a good public service." Dines did not sway the house, which decided 231 in favour to 187 against with 197 abstentions. Dines said her opponents won because the chamber consisted mostly of "18-22 year old males who are using pornography on a regular basis."

Reception

Dines' book Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked our Sexuality (2010) received mixed reviews, with some critics citing what they see as her use of inflammatory language.

Dines has also been criticized by some feminists of attempting to foment moral panic, particularly in opposition to sex work and sex workers' rights, rather than advancing an academically rigorous position. Dines dismisses the claim, stating, "To suggest feminists who oppose the pornification of society are stirring up a moral panic is to confuse a politically progressive movement with rightwing attempts to police sexual behaviour."

In 2007, Dines wrote an article on the Duke lacrosse case in which she suggested "we should put some of the focus back on the men in this case," and their behavior because, "as we know much about their behavior that night that is not under dispute. They saw the hiring of two black women to strip as a legitimate form of male entertainment. They didn't see the commodifying and sexualizing of black women's bodies as problematic in a country that has a long and ugly history of racism." Writer Cathy Young criticised what she saw as Dines' double-standards, stating "the same feminists who rightly tell us that a rape victim should not have to be an angel to deserve support apply such a different standard to men who may be falsely accused of rape."

Dines' writing and positions have come under fire from other academics, including Ronald Weitzer of George Washington University, whose essay "Pornography: the need for solid evidence" critiques Dines' writing (specifically Pornland) for being poorly researched and in strong opposition to the existing body of legitimate research on pornography. Dines later wrote, "A Feminist Response to Weitzer", in the same journal stating that her book had used theories and methods of cultural studies developed by, amongst others, Stuart Hall and Antonio Gramsci.

On 30 January 2013, Dines published an article in CounterPunch in which she accused the BDSM website Kink.com of being in violation of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, suggesting, "This is not a fun, fantasy place run by a charming band of outsiders, but a group of savvy businessmen who missed their calling at Abu Ghraib." The statements resulted in criticism from Mark Kernes of Adult Video News who said that a "55-year-old college professor" should "know the difference between what goes on in real life and what happens in movies".

Awards

Personal life

Dines is married to David Levy, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston; they have a son.

Selected works