Porn Studies Class Canceled at Pasadena City College
Up until spring semester of this year, Pasadena City College (PCC) in Southern California was one of the few campuses around the nation that offered a class about pornography. The class, called “Navigating Pornography,” was created by gender studies professor and author Hugo Schwyzer to help students think critically about our porn-saturated culture.
“I want them to step into a safe space that is neither sexualized nor prudish, that is neither blithely celebratory of porn nor puritanically condemnatory,” Schwyzer wrote in February. “I want them to wrestle with a wide variety of texts, images, and persons so that they can better understand the role of porn in on our culture. I want them to become advocates for intelligent conversation.”
His course focused on evolution of sexual imagery and put its development in historical context, often featuring guest lecturers from the adult industry. “Navigating Pornography” caused a stir when Schwyzer scheduled porn’s It Boy and former PCC alum James Deen to give a public lecture and the college forced Schwyzer to keep the event students-only.
“Gail Cooper, the college’s legal adviser, told me that she had received word that there might be up to ‘100 protesters ready to march’ on the event, and that the college had decided they lacked the resources to prevent disruption,” the professor wrote at the time. “I frankly have no idea if the college did receive legitimate threats of protest, or if right-wing members of the board of trustees (or other prominent campus leaders) balked at offering a welcome to James Deen.”
PCC’s version of events, stated in a press release, suggested a negotiation had taken place and Schwyzer had agreed to close the event to the public.
Schwyzer is no stranger to controversy. As a gender studies educator, he often wrote about feminism; his attempts to frame feminist issues in ways relevant to men made him the subject of both legitimate criticism and cruel vitriol.
In the end, it was a combination of this criticism, vitriol, pressure from PCC and issues in his personal life that resulted in Schwyzer’s decision to discontinue offering “Navigating Pornography.”
This information comes on the heels of Schwyzer’s announcement that he is retiring from social media.
“I’m sad and hurt by a culture in which what we can say online is policed by clever cynicism masquerading as progressive outrage,” he wrote after deleting his Twitter and Facebook accounts. “I’ve tried for ten years and I’ve had a little success and a lot of failure and made many wonderful friends. I wish you all well.”
Schwyzer has stated he will be back at PCC to teach his other classes this fall.
On August 2, Dennis Romero reported on the LA Weekly that Schwyzer had attempted suicide the previous night and was on a 72-hour psychiatric hold at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.
On September 11, Schwyzer announced he was leaving PCC. “I am on medical leave for the entire fall semester, and in early 2014, will transition into disability retirement status,” he wrote. “I do not anticipate returning to the classroom at PCC, or anywhere else for that matter.” Schwyzer had held his position at the college since 1993.
In mid-September, Schwyzer returned to the internet to write about the passing of his rabbi for the Times of Israel. On his blog he stated he would be writing again, but stay away from issues relating to sexuality, masculinity and feminism.
