Pornography, which annually generates revenues in the tens of billions of dollars, has long sparked heated intellectual debate. Does viewing it impact male and female attitudes about gender? How does it affect views of masculinity? The Schiller, DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center at DePaul University will address some of these provocative issues during its annual Valentine’s Day Distinguished Family Violence Lecture at 2:15 p.m. Feb. 11 at the DePaul Center, 1 E. Jackson Blvd., Room 8005.  The event is free and open to the public.

Robert Jensen, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and author of the book “Getting Off:  Pornography and the End of Masculinity” (South End Press, 2007), will give the keynote lecture. Cook County Sheriff  Tom Dart will lead an all male panel discussion following Jensen’s lecture.

           
“Each year as Valentine’s Day puts focus on love and relationships, DePaul’s Family Law Center uses the opportunity to bring attention to important legal issues that can greatly impact family dynamics,” said Jody Raphael, a senior researcher at the Family Law Center and noted authority on prostitution.  “Pornography—like domestic violence, prostitution and divorce—is one of those issues that can have legal, moral and ethical implications for families and society as a whole.”

Jensen is a noted authority on pornography who argues that the pervasive misogyny of today’s pornography is altering what it means to be human and what it means to be a man and a woman.  A self-described feminist, Jensen will discuss the effects of new pornography on our culture, especially as it relates to men and their sense of masculinity and violence toward women.

Dart will explore pornography’s impact in key areas, including crime, and highlight recent initiatives designed to address sex trafficking in Cook County. Other panelists are Samir Goswami, director of  policy and outreach for the Evanston, Ill.-based Justice Project Against Sexual Harm and Clifton Spargo, an associate professor of English at Marquette University.

Goswami is a founder of the Prostitution Alternatives Round Table, a project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, and has conducted extensive organizing around sexual and domestic violence prevention and criminal justice reform. Spargo has written and spoken widely about violence and grief.  Patrick Reardon, cultural reporter for the Chicago Tribune, will moderate.