Carmine Sarracino lives in south central Pennsylvania with his wife and two
children, and teaches American literature and creative writing at
Elizabethtown College. He has written three books of poetry, and published
scholarly articles on Walt Whitman. Most recently, he co-authored The
Porning of America: The Rise of Porn Culture, What It Means, and Where We Go
From Here, published by Beacon Press in September of 2008.
The idea for the book arose while teaching a course called Growing Up in
America. Just around the turn of the millenium, Sarracino realized that it
was impossible to think about growing up in America without taking into
consideration the enormous influence of porn, which is everywhere in our
culture— shaping the way we talk, our clothing styles, advertisements,
movies, music, television, magazines. Porn is so prevalent that it has
become cultural wallpaper. We hardly even notice it anymore.
But we are all affected by it, especially children. We see evidence in “sexting,”
the widespread practice of middle and high school kids, especially girls,
sending nude pictures of themselves via cell phones to classmates whose
attention they are trying to attract. The clothing young girls wear is
called “slutwear.” (This is not an insult, but the common term to describe
sexually revealing clothing which even the manufacturers use.) “Hooking up”
is an imitation of the “no strings” sexual behaviors in porn movies.
The Porning of America fills out, with more details and examples, this
analysis of a culture increasingly shaped by porn. And, maybe most
importantly, tells us how we can make our way through it.
Carmine is available for speaking engagements.
Please contact him with any interests at:
carmine@carminesarracino.com
Available from Amazon.com