A California community college professor, infamous for teaching a course on pornography, says he’s cancelled the course and is going into rehab from all the stress.
Timothy Dionisopoulos reports for the excellent Campus Reform, Aug. 1, 2013, that two days ago, Professor Hugo Schwyzer of Pasadena City College (PCC) in southern California announced he’s cancelled his controversial “Navigating Pornography” course, and said he’s entering psychological rehab because of all the criticism he’s received for offering the class.
Schwyzer is a professor of history and gender studies at PCC.
In March of this year, Schwyzer defended the “Navigating Pornography” course in an interview with The College Fix, calling the subject matter legitimate: “(The course) focuses on giving students tools to understand pornography as a historical and contemporary phenomenon. Students today live in a porn-saturated culture and very rarely get a chance to learn about it in a safe, non-judgmental, intellectually thoughtful way.”
Schwyzer said students do not view porn inside the classroom. Instead, they watch it on their own time as homework. Assignments include journals, a research paper, and a final exam.
Known widely as the “porn professor” who has admitted to “struggling” with drug addiction, domestic violence, and sexual relationships with some of his female students in the past, Schwyzer said in an email he is “exhausted by threats and controversy” and “need[s] a break” from teaching.
Poor baby!
He also blames university administrators for pressuring him to drop the course: “There is a very hostile climate at PCC right now, faculty do not get along with administrators, it’s the worst I’ve seen in 20 years.”
Schwzer also blames government legislators cutting funding for “explicit learning” (whatever that means), which “forces the porn industry to become teacher as well as amuser and arouser.”
The “Navigating Pornography” course garnered national headlines after Campus Reform reported on a public lecture Schwyzer had organized in February with porn star James Deen. BuzzFeed posted a YouTube video in which Schwyzer says it is pornography’s job to “inspire us” sexually.
PCC’s public relations department did not respond to a request for comment from Campus Reform in time of publication.
To learn more about Professor Hugo Schwyzer, visit him at http://www.hugoschwyzer.net.
~Eowyn