--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What pornographic literature does is…" description: "\"What pornographic literature does is precisely to drive a wedge between one's existence as a sexual being - while in ordinary life a healthy person is ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd6/susan-sontag-332_books_what-pornographic-literature-does-is-pre_764161.jpg" --- # What pornographic literature does is precisely to drive a… ![“What pornographic literature does is precisely to drive a wedge between one's existence as a sexual being - while in ordinary life a healthy person is one who prevents such a gap from opening up” quote by Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd6/susan-sontag-332_books_what-pornographic-literature-does-is-pre_764161.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd6/susan-sontag-332_books_what-pornographic-literature-does-is-pre_764161.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd6/susan-sontag-332_books_what-pornographic-literature-does-is-pre_764161.jpg) > “What pornographic literature does is precisely to drive a wedge between one's existence as a sexual being - while in ordinary life a healthy person is one who prevents such a gap from opening up” [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote critiques how pornographic media creates a disconnection between bodily sexuality and everyday identity, urging individuals to maintain integration. **In simple terms:** Porn creates a gap between sexual self and daily life. Key Takeaway Guard against media that fragments self‑identity. Themes sexuality media criticism identity psychology Mood critical reflective Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - personal relationships - media consumption - therapy - education Key Concepts objectification cultural critique self‑integration Questions to Reflect On - How does media shape your sense of self? - Can erotic art be integrated healthfully? A Different Perspective It may overlook personal agency and diverse sexual expressions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Opening up](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opening-up/) [Ordinary life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ordinary-life/) [Pornography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pornography/) ## Related quotes > [What pornographic literature does is precisely to drive a wedge between one's existence as a full human being and one's existence as a sexual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/what-pornographic-literature-does-is-precisely-to-drive-a-wedge-2/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Real orgies are never so exciting as pornographic books. In a volume by Pierre Louys all the girls are young and their figures perfect;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/real-orgies-are-never-so-exciting-as-pornographic-books-in-a-volume/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [I am, and have always been, a pornographic angel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-rodrigues/i-am-and-have-always-been-a-pornographic-angel/) [Nelson Rodrigues](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-rodrigues/) > [Pornographic or erotic stories and pictures are worse than filthy or polluted food. The body has defenses to rid itself of unwholesome food. With…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dallin-h-oaks/pornographic-or-erotic-stories-and-pictures-are-worse-than-filthy-or/) [Dallin H. Oaks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dallin-h-oaks/) > [At the moment my art is situated between the pornographic tendency to reveal everything and the erotic inclination to hide what it's all about.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlene-dumas/at-the-moment-my-art-is-situated-between-the-pornographic-tendency-to/) [Marlene Dumas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlene-dumas/) > [The liberal paradigm of regulation and license has led to a society where an 18-year-old girl has the right to public fornication in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-kristol/the-liberal-paradigm-of-regulation-and-license-has-led-to-a-society/) [Irving Kristol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-kristol/) > [“Where is the line between art and pornography? But there’s always been a huge overlap between the two; you can see scenes of copulation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alastair-macaulay/where-is-the-line-between-art-and-pornography-but-there-s-always-been/) Alastair Macaulay > [Intelligence always had a pornographic influence on me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/intelligence-always-had-a-pornographic-influence-on-me/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [“In real man, the “god-given” genital embrace has turned into the pornographic 4-lettering male-female intercourse.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilhelm-reich/in-real-man-the-god-given-genital-embrace-has-turned-into-the/) [Wilhelm Reich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilhelm-reich/) > [I keep the pornographic stuff in a bus station locker.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-rockwell/i-keep-the-pornographic-stuff-in-a-bus-station-locker/) [Norman Rockwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-rockwell/) > [“Sex may be completely out in the open now, but it's still defined and controlled by a powerful subset of elite men. In the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carina-chocano/sex-may-be-completely-out-in-the-open-now-but-it-s-still-defined-and/) [Carina Chocano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carina-chocano/) > [What turns me on is erotica; what turns you on is pornographic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-willis/what-turns-me-on-is-erotica-what-turns-you-on-is-pornographic/) [Ellen Willis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-willis/) > [“One second, he was in my mouth, my tongue flicking over the broad head of him; the next, his hands were on my waist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-j-maas/one-second-he-was-in-my-mouth-my-tongue-flicking-over-the-broad-head/) [Sarah J. Maas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-j-maas/) > [As we applaud the hard-edged realism of the opening battle scene of Saving Private Ryan, we cringe at the thought of seeing the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-robbins/as-we-applaud-the-hard-edged-realism-of-the-opening-battle-scene-of/) [Tim Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-robbins/) > [Levi's eyebrows were pornographic. If Cath were making this decision just on eyebrows, she would have been "up to his room" a long time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainbow-rowell/levi-s-eyebrows-were-pornographic-if-cath-were-making-this-decision/) [Rainbow Rowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainbow-rowell/) ## More by Susan Sontag > [the appetite for thinking must be regulated, as all sensible people know, for it may stifle one's life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-appetite-for-thinking-must-be-regulated-as-all-sensible-people/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [We are ruled by quotations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/we-are-ruled-by-quotations/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Unfortunately, moral beauty in art - like physical beauty in a person - is extremely perishable. It is nowhere so durable as artistic or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/unfortunately-moral-beauty-in-art-like-physical-beauty-in-a-person-is/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/like-the-collector-the-photographer-is-animated-by-a-passion-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [ Anthropology has always struggled with an intense, fascinated repulsion towards its subject… \[The anthropologist\] submits himself to the exotic to confirm his own inner… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/anthropology-has-always-struggled-with-an-intense-fascinated/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [“Why not eliminate schooling between age 12-16? 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The very working of this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/one-set-of-messages-of-the-society-we-live-in-is-consume-grow-do-what/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Currently intellectuals in Western Europe and North America are extremely demoralized and shaken by the rise of a virulent conservative tendency (which some have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/currently-intellectuals-in-western-europe-and-north-america-are/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [With the modern diseases (once TB, now cancer) the romantic idea that the disease expresses the character is invariably extended to assert that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/with-the-modern-diseases-once-tb-now-cancer-the-romantic-idea-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [As objects of contemplation, images of the atrocious can answer to several different needs. To steel oneself against weakness. To make oneself more numb.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/as-objects-of-contemplation-images-of-the-atrocious-can-answer-to/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The creative phase of an idea coincides with the period during which it insists, cantankerously, on its boundaries, on what makes it different; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-creative-phase-of-an-idea-coincides-with-the-period-during-which/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/photographs-objectify-they-turn-an-event-or-a-person-into-something/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I'm not interested in giving aid and comfort to the neo­-Conservatives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/i-m-not-interested-in-giving-aid-and-comfort-to-the-neo-conservatives/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The feminist movement has been important to me because it's made me feel less odd and also because it has made me understand some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-feminist-movement-has-been-important-to-me-because-it-s-made-me/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) [Explore all 644 Susan Sontag quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. 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