This course analyzes one type of mass communication that tells stories about what sex is, can, and should be. It examines the production, text, and consumption of pornography in a social, legal, and political context. For the purposes of this course, I define pornography as material sold in stores, presented as movies or videos, and offered by telephone or over the Internet for the purpose of producing sexual arousal for mostly male customers. The course treats pornography as struggle for control of how issues are framed and how terms are defined in law. It includes an overview of the legal, social and political history of the anti-pornography movement; examines opposing feminist analyses of contemporary pornography; and studies the legal, social and political effects of the use of pornography in society.