EUGENE, Ore. -- (May 26, 2009) - University of Oregon journalism professor Debra Merskin will provide framing comments following the screening of a documentary about the pornography industry, "The Price of Pleasure," at 7 p.m. on June 2, in Allen Hall, room 221, on the University of Oregon campus.

"The Price of Pleasure" takes a look at the pornography industry, placing the voices of producers, performers, industry critics and anti-porn activists alongside candid observations from men and women about the role pornography has played in their lives. The film paints a nuanced portrait of how pleasure and pain, commerce and power, and liberty and responsibility are intertwined in the most intimate parts of sexual identities and relationships.

The free event is sponsored by the UO Center for the Study of Women in Society, Department of Women's and Gender Studies, ASUO Women's Center, Office of Greek Life, Alliance for Sexual Assault Prevention, and the UO School of Journalism and Communication's Communication Studies Program. Viewer discretion is advised for violence, nudity and sexual imagery.

In response to the national controversy surrounding the screening of a porn film at the University of Maryland in early April, documentary filmmakers Chyng Sun and Miguel Picker negotiated a deal with their distributor to make "The Price of Pleasure" available at no charge to any campus that wants to show it, which is exactly what the makers of the porn film had done with theirs. When state legislators in Maryland tried to stop the screening, students on campus fought back, claiming politicians were threatening their free speech rights.

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of the 62 leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Contact: Julie Brown, 541-346-3185, julbrown@uoregon.edu

Link: Center for the Study of Women in Society, http://csws.uoregon.edu/

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