Remediating pornography: the On Our Backs digitization debate

Abstract

This article develops a feminist/queer ethics of digitization by considering a recent controversy surrounding the remediation of a lesbian sex magazine called On Our Backs (1984–2006) from print to digital format. On Our Backs is a historically significant publication: it was the first magazine to showcase pornography made by and for lesbians. Additionally, the magazine played a central role in the sex wars, a set of debates that centred on the relationship between sexuality and politics, helping to develop and circulate sex-positive feminist discourses. Given that the sex wars remain an understudied and misrepresented chapter in feminist histories, access to documents associated with these debates is valuable for anyone interested in the politics of sex, sexuality, and feminism. Yet, the benefits of access must be balanced with a digitization approach that values contributor consent to having their images and stories made available online. The On Our Backs digitization debate offers a compelling case study for: (1) thinking through how a feminist/queer ethics of digitization ought to be elaborated; (2) considering how pornography remains coded as an exceptional medium within contemporary U.S. culture; and (3) complicating the pro-censorship/anti-sex vs. anti-censorship/pro-sex dichotomy that characterized the 1980s sex wars debates.

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