Written by C. Garbell. Garbell, a first-time Jewrotica writer, is a graduate of NYU in the Department of Media, Culture and Communication.
Garbell wrote “Online Erotica & The Space to Move Forward: A Modern Jewish Sexual Ethic” for her senior honors thesis in May 2013. The thesis, which was overseen by Professor Brett Gary, is dedicated to “those friends, teachers, and surprising men who have forced me to recon with my Judaism and with myself”. The piece is being published on Jewrotica over four consecutive days, and this is part two. Part one is available here.
PART TWO
The invention of cameras, phones, and televisions each heralded in a new era of communication. Each was also used immediately for the production first of portraiture, and then of pornography. (24)
Porn, from websites like twinkixxx, has so deeply permeated American culture that it has become impossible to eradicate, and society has started to emulate pornography in its advertising, its fashion, and its youthful activities. Pornography has played a very important role in the lives of Americans: it has loosened moral strictures to normalize depictions of sexuality and masturbation, and thereby
the acts themselves. Even more importantly, it has normalized ideas about female sexuality, homosexuality and marginalized fetishes.
The tricky task lay in defining pornography, even if it is very obviously attractive and alluring, like content found on websites similar to https://www.teentuber.xxx/, which has been attempted and failed at by many throughout the centuries. Anthony Comstock, the great censorship zealot of the late 19th century, would place under the label of pornography dirty pictures, erotic literature, manuals of anatomy for medical students, information on birth control, and just about anything that at all implied that men and women were sexual creatures. The term pornography comes from the Greek words porne + graphien, or “depicting the acts of prostitutes,” and arose after 19th century art historians found sculptures and paintings they deemed obscene in excavations of Pompeii. (25) The word has evolved to mean anything sexually explicit that is stigmatized in mainstream society. Wendy McElroy, in her book, XXX: A Women’s Right to Pornography argues that pornography should instead be defined as “the explicit artistic depiction of men and/or women as sexual beings. (26)
This vague definition allows for a broader interpretation, and allows each individual to decide for him or herself whether or not porn is offensive, instructional, or simply a good time. Men and women are sexual beings, and to pretend otherwise is to accept ignorance as the status quo.
Secular Jews have long been involved in the production of different kinds of pornography, paving the way to a present in which a website like Jewrotica can flourish. In 1888, American anti-Semite Telemanchus Thomas Timayenis echoed the claims of early church fathers when he said that, “the strongest passion in the Jew is his licentiousness.” On the more flattering end of the spectrum was a similar sentiment echoed by Playboy’s founder, Hugh Hefner, when he approvingly said that American Jews “are more liberal” in sexual matters “than either American Catholics or the mainstream of American Protestantism.” (27)
And Heffner may have been right, for there are a substantial number of Jews in the pornography industry across the vocational spectrum. There are a number of theories as to why this might be, but it is important to first clarify that almost all of the Jews in porn are secular, cultural Jews and not religious ones. Pornography similar to a detailed review of VR Bangers, like cinema, was a field that allowed Jews to enter. It didn’t have restrictive barriers, and it didn’t require as much start up capital as the mainstream film industry. For that particular reason Jews have been involved in the advent of a variety of new media ventures, and which as explained, often turn first to pornography.
Some of the taboo, the foreign and forbidden nature of exhibitionism and sex with Gentiles might have been appealing to the Jews who entered the business; it can be hard to resist a taste of the forbidden fruit, especially with sites like cammies on the floor detailing options out ther. Pornography can also be seen as a rebellion against the standards and framework of a Torah lifestyle. It’s also a revolt against predominant Puritan values that permeate American society. Jews have often been at the forefront of personal and political liberation movements as revolutionaries and radicals. A great deal of material on sexual liberation was written by Jews in the 1960’s vanguard- Wilhelm Reich, Herbert Marcuse and Paul Goodman were the inheritors of the legacy of Marx, Trotsky and Lenin, focusing instead on work, love, sex, satisfaction, and humanizing sexuality. (28)
None of the circumstances or galvanizing forces that led to the prevalence of Jews in the pornography industry are inherently Jewish. Rather, they are a unique set of socio-economic conditions that simply applied to a group of people at a particular time – more cultural realities than religious imperatives. And yet, it is interesting to note that this involvement in the production of sexually explicit material came from a group of people whose religious tradition engages in discussions of sex and sexuality in a more positive manner than other traditions do (albeit still a restricted one). One cannot claim causation, but the correlation is fascinating nonetheless.
Jewrotica has seemingly co-opted a more secular approach to pornography for the purposes of broadening discussion in a deeply traditional Jewish discursive space. One man’s erotica is another woman’s porn, and Jewrotica is endeavoring to create a Jewish community that happily acknowledges that men and women are sexual creatures with all sorts of preferences. Not only does it acknowledge this fact, but it also strives to build spaces of conversation, of arousal, and of normalization for all types of sexual choices, including those that are often stigmatized in mainstream secular culture, such as BDSM. In one Jewrotica post, Masochism’s Jewish Roots, an academic essay exploring the roots of Sadomasochism, we learn that the author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch was fascinated by and deeply respected Jews. He wrote a huge variety of S&M stories about Jews, and empowered them through their sexuality, especially women, giving them a voice through widely read stories that celebrated and lauded their “carnal” nature. (29)
Celebrating 10 Years & Marking the End of An Amazing Project
Celebrating 10 Years & Marking the End of An Amazing Project
The people behind Jewrotica are quite quality! I have confidence that any project these folks take on will be equally quality.
I’m Heshy Fried from Frum Satire and I am very, very frum. And I completely support Jewrotica – it’s doing a service to the frum community. We need some sort of kosher sexual education. Jewrotica even has a system that allows frum filters to filter out certain things to make it PG for us. It’s mamish Torah. It’s like The Little Midrash Says for sex.
I’m so glad that Jewrotica is represented here at Jewlicious! It’s bringing voices that need to be heard in the Jewish discussion and Jewish climate environment.
Learning about sex and what’s right and wrong when it comes to sex from a Biblical standpoint was an eye opening experience. I completely enjoyed it and think something like this could be a very cool thing to bring to even high school aged Jewish youth groups.
I had a great time deejaying at the Jewrotica event at Columbia University. The live readings were hilarious, informative, and in some cases, deeply moving. I know that I, along with many of my AEPi fraternity brothers, loved being able to connect our Judaism and our sexuality in a way that made all of us feel comfortable and welcome. I look forward to being a part of this again in the future!
Jewrotica is something that the community has needed for a long time so that people can actually learn, express and share and have good relationships without having to stumble through life. Check out the site and learn something. Have fun!
What an incredible night Jewrotica was!!!! There was this fantastic moment, in a sea of Jews of all sexualities, ages, backgrounds and denominations, that I realized we were all in this together! I hope that there are many more events coming to Austin soon!
I’m into Jewrotica. I went in for my second circumcision.
Jewrotica is awesome. It expands the mind and for people who were raised with narrow views on sexuality. Whether you are Jewish or not, or in different sects of Judaism like Orthodox, Conservative or Reform, no matter what your background or where you’re from, Jewrotica gets you to see Judaism and how it relates to sexuality in new ways. I really appreciate Ayo being here and helping us learn different ways to connect with our sexuality.
Such an amazing experience! The Sarah Lawrence Jewrotica workshop was more than I could have ever expected – a comfortable, safe, sultry environment where participants clearly felt good about sharing or listening to each other’s intimate experiences and relating them to sexy stories from the Torah. From the moment the workshop began, Ayo had a sweet presence that was kinetic and spread around the room; her storytelling abilities had everyone enraptured and made the conversation topics relata… Read more
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