Rethinking the pornography debate in Greece: a country-specific reading of an ‘old’ argument

Abstract

Given the widely circulated anxieties about the consumption of pornography and its presumed effects on adults and youngsters, as well as the intensification of moral, social and feminist campaigns to counter its spread, especially through online technologies, this article wishes to offer a country-specific contextualization of the pornography debate in Greece. Taking into account the pro-effects reading of the culture of pornography that permeates the Greek context, and a media agenda that mainly concentrates public discussion on children who are ‘at risk’ from the consumption of porn, we wish to argue that it is the legacy of the Greek erotic cinema of the mid-seventies and the particular way the feminist movement developed in the country which account for the public debate on pornography in Greece.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. As reflected in the policy initiative by British P.M. David Cameron to ban access to ‘poisonous’ online pornography, seen to ‘corrode childhood’ (‘Family filters won’t block “soft” porn’. The Independent, 26 July 2013).

2. For a more elaborate insight, see for example Clark (2008); Colligan (2005); DeJean (1996); Halttunen (1995); Hunt (1996); Kendrick (1996); Marcus [1966] (2009); Norberg (1996).

3. Accessed on 7/9/2014.

4. Whereas the eighteenth century was dominated by an Enlightenment optimism that children, with proper education and training by means of adult guidance, would come to tame the inner savage and monitor the balance between passion (the senses, the body) and reason (sensationism) (Egan and Hawkes 2010, chap. 1), the nineteenth century was identified with ‘masturbation phobia’. This practice was deemed dangerous for the body and mind of the individual child and society at large (8). It was believed to lead to physical degeneration and mental derangement, and the medical profession was called in to treat those ‘afflicted’ in order to maintain the state of ‘normality’ (24).

5. Given their reliance on Western models of feminism, the autonomous feminists perceived women’s role in the home as subordinate. This, however, misrepresents the family structure in Greece, where ‘women’s functions are invaluable to the maintenance of [the family’s] integrity and social status, and […] as a result, [they] confer on women a sense of prestige and accomplishment’ (Kyriazis 1995, 274). Women within Greek domesticity were the organizers of the household and in charge of familial cohesiveness in their capacity as nikokyres (‘mistresses of the home’). The term denotes much more than the term ‘housewife’: it carries a positive evaluation of women’s performance of household duties from which derives a sense of self-esteem and pride (ibid.).

6. Protagonists Anna Fonsou, Eleni Anoussaki, Andreas Barkoulis, Betty Arvaniti, Kostas Karagiorgis, Fedon Georgitsis, Hristos Nomikos have often featured in Greek erotica; among the directors are Kostas Karagiannis, Omiros Efstratiadis, Ilias Milonakos, Petros Parasxakis, and Kostas Doukas.

7. Examples are Η Ιδιωτική μου ζωή (1971), Πιο θερμή και από τον ήλιο (1971), Οι Ερωτομανείς (1971), Τα Παιδιά των λουλουδιών (1973), Κολασμένη του σεξ (1974).

8. Ever since the 1950s, Greek mainstream cinema has played with the role of the ‘sinful woman’ and notions of guilt, remorse, honour and virtue within the context of an underground, criminal world. In the 1960s, eroticism became an integral part of youthful mores or associated with ‘fallen women’, without ever becoming too explicit (e.g. Κατήφορος 1961, Τα Κόκκινα Φανάρια 1963, Στεφανία 1966) (Athanassatou 2001).

9. Hence the Greek term ‘tsonta’ which refers to the extra add-in between different versions.

10. For example, the film Πιο θερμή και από τον ήλιο (1972) [Hotter than the sun] runs for 83 min in its original Greek version, whereas its English version runs for 120 (Komninos 2011, 197).

11. Examples are Από πίσω με αγάπη και πιο μαλακά (1983) (Gently, with love, from behind), Ο νταβατζής της Ομόνοιας (1984) (Omonia Square’s Pimp).

12. Greek ‘oldies’ have been a staple feature on television weekly schedules for years. Its actors and producers are often invited on to lifestyle shows, reality TV and chat shows. Most of these films are featured at events such as ‘The Greek Cult Film Festival’, which has now been running for 12 years.