A rigorous 20-student seminar would usually fill up fast enough, but when its topic is pornography, the waiting list just keeps getting longer.
Jay Clarkson, a graduate student in communications studies at the University of Iowa, has encountered such demand for his fall course, "Topics in Communication Studies: Critical Pornography Studies."
However, this course is not designed to stimulate anything more than the intellect and critical-thinking skills.
The course's description makes the distinction clear, saying, "This class is not [about] how to make or enjoy pornography."
Clarkson said in an Associated Press article that "there are probably some students who will be titillated by the title. They will be disappointed."
He added that there will be no viewing of pornographic films or explicit materials in class.
As a key component of the course, Clarkson aims to introduce his students to all sides of the debate on pornography, including the writings of its opponents.
The course description calls pornography "the most popular and enduring of all video and film genres."
Criticism of the course, however, has come from Iowa House Speaker Chris Rants (R-Sioux City), who does not think that a course on pornography is the best way to spend taxpayers' money.
"Do they know that we're not done with their budget yet?" Rants told the AP. "I'm pretty sure we don't need to increase state funding by $40 million to teach critical pornography studies."
Classical Studies professor Ralph Rosen, who teaches a Penn class called "Scandalous Arts in Ancient and Modern Societies," disagrees with Rants. "I always find it ironic when people try to suppress the study of precisely those topics that are most complex and troubling and really need to be studied," Rosen said in an e-mail interview.
Far from being a permanent fixture in the University of Iowa's curriculum, the elective on pornography will be offered for just one semester.
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