Knowledge and power in the South African debate on pornography 1900s – 1990s: a discursive critique

SUMMARY

Much of the debate on pornography is dominated by moral condemnations and focuses on its presumed bad effect. However, after the fall of apartheid, and informed by a new postmodern cynicism, moral arguments have become suspect while no bad effects of pornography can be proved beyond reasonable doubt. In order to move beyond the impasse and demythologise the controversy over pornography, a study of the debate and controversy itself is undertaken. The study of the debate on pornography is a study of a discourse or discursive practice – a field of pronouncements and practices – through which pornography and the participants are socially constructed. By describing the operations of such a discursive practice, it is possible to identify the various groups, institutions, interests and relations of power and knowledge that are involved. Using a case study, this article traces the history of the South African debate on pornography from its beginnings in the 1990s to the present and uncovers the interrelationship between scientific knowledge and political power that is at stake in such debate.